The completed lamp makeover...

I only had about an hour and a half to myself today whilst my daughter was at a party. As luck would have it, the lamp embellishing item I ordered from America arrived this morning so I thought rather than start on the cupboard doors I'd sort out the lamp.

This is a tiny copper stencil that would have originated in Europe. I bought it from this Etsy shop and it came so fast with a little card with a tiny woven laundry label in the same initials. Sweet touch. (I went for an intertwined J and E for my husband and I.) These are sometimes called Dowry Stencils.

Here's what the Alpenhimmel shop says about them...

''These lovely monogrammed copper stencils come from Germany and were used from around the mid 19th century to mid 20th century to mark a young girl’s dowry linens. Brides marked their kitchen towels, table linens, bed linens, and sometimes even their under garments with their initials. After stencilling, the initials were then embroidered with either white or red thread. A classic tradition that can be reinvented by you! Use these vintage stencils to mark your own linens or use them to add a unique finishing touch to your artwork, quilts, or other handcrafts.
Each stencil is 60 - 160 years old.''

(This is NOT a sponsored post. I just like this shop. You can also find these on eBay.)

Here's the before again...

 

If you remember I had a little trouble painting the basket part. You can read about that here.

Well, I cracked it. I just attacked the final coat of paint with a wire brush and it all looked fine.

Phew.

So the shade got covered with linen and looked rather bland. I fancied a bit of a faux grain sack look.

I masked off some stripes with Frog tape.

 

Frog tape is well worth the extra cost if you ask me. If you've ever been desperately frustrated by pound shop masking tape that rips...not all masking tapes are created equal.

(This post is NOT sponsored by Frog tape either. But I like it.)

With a stencil brush and a tester pot of Wilkinsons paint I stippled between the tape with a dryish brush. Grain sacks have a worn look about them so you don't want to just paint between the lines...

I let the stripes dry, it didn't take long, and taped the little monogram stencil over the central stripe.

I stippled over this with a dark red, then joined up all the stencil lines with a tiny brush and a steady hand. Because I hate the look of stencils.

Wehey.The great thing about these copper stencils is that they are so thin, they bend. This made it super easy to fit the curve of the shade.

Yes, the monogram is pretty dinky. If I did this again I might source a larger stencil but most of them seem to be small and I wanted our initials which narrowed the search.

Most importantly I'm happy with the outcome! I thought I might have to give up on this makeover several times so I'm thrilled it turned out okay.

Happy weekend!


p.s. If you want to follow me on Pinterest you can do that here

If you'd like a 20% off code for the Alpenhimmel Etsy shop, head over to my newer post.

Another lamp makeover...not very good at all.

I absolutely love baskets. They're useful and perfect for that country look. I'd been after a basket weave lamp base for ages. They had one in a shop called OKA a few years ago. They still do a few versions here. Beautiful but well out of my price range.

About a month or so ago, I picked up this basket weave lamp base at the boot sale. I paid £2 for it. Last week I scored this lampshade for 50p. I meant to give both of them a makeover. Obviously. What is the point of buying a thing if I can't change it in some way?

The other week I received the new White Company autumn catalogue through my door. I never buy anything but I do like to window shop! Their interiors are just divine and how I'd like my home to be.

I couldn't help noticing a striking similarity between the shapes of my second hand lamp and theirs. Theirs is £100. Mine was £2.50.

When I pointed out how lucky my husband was to have me as I had saved him £97.50 he wasn't impressed. He said that we already had a lamp. Why did we need another one?

That's not the point. This one is better. It suits the room more than my lace doily creation. And it's much more baskety.

We agreed to disagree.

So, ignoring the husband, I set about transforming the base with the White Company catalogue to guide me with it's loveliness.

Ah, so true...

It all started out so well.

I turned to my trusty basket painting colour, a trial size tin of F&B Skimming Stone. Usually I dilute this and do a wash of paint but seeing as this is an electrical item and I didn't want loads of water getting inside, I used it as it was, pushing it into the nooks and crannies of the basket weave.

It looked really patchy when it dried. I did a second coat. Hated it.

I went at it with a wire brush and it was marginally better but still very anaemic. I waxed over it with antique pine wax. I hated it. I was getting fed up.

I tried a new paint colour. An Oops paint, darker than the Skimming stone. (£1 a litre!) Hated it. Really fed up now...

Dug out some F&B eggshell and had a go with that and walked away. I cannot spend all day painting the same thing over and over. I wished I'd left it dark.

I didn't have much better luck with the shade. Here's how I covered the shade in pictures... because I don't want to talk about it.

 Got that?
OK, so now we have a bland anaemic base and shade. I thought I'd make a ruffle to attach to the shade. It looked so rubbish. You can see the discarded ruffle next to the lamp.

OK, how about livening it all up with a graphic from Graphics Fairy to add a little zing.

I trudged all over town in the rain, trying to find the right sort of photocopy shop. Got my copies. I tried the blender pen transfer method. Nothing happened.

I tried the Citra-Solve method. Here's what that turned out like...

 
Rubbish. With a capital R.
Fortunately I did this on a spare piece of fabric.
Unfortunately I melted a carrier bag all over the back of it.

And the iron.

So there we have it. Thanks for stopping by. Now you know how to create a really uninspiring lamp. It looked so good in the White Company catalogue. Mine just blends in with the surroundings. Perhaps I need to paint the whole room white for it to work? (Sob)

I'm off for a lie down...

And I miss the hedgehog.