As you remember from our house tour, this place has lights in the kitchen (17 bulbs), in the hallway (5), in the bathroom and in the office. That leaves the living room and all 4 bedrooms quite dark. We've come to realize that lighting is one of the more expensive parts of setting up house. I had this idea of a chandelier in the living room, buuuut, those price tags scared me off.
"Secondhand" came to mind because I still have two table lamps that I bought sophomore year in college at a garage sale ($5 each!). So I went to our local thrift store and found 1 floor lamp and 2 matching (!!) table lamps. My main focus was a working lamp and a decent shade.
Here's what I found:
Brass really isn't my style. The table lamps also had a forest green plastic piece that made up most of the lamp, but the brass was really not going to work.
Spray paint saves the day!
It was the easiest makeover I've ever done. Just remove the shades, wipe down the lamps, tape off the sockets and cord, spray a thin layer, then another final coat a few minutes later. Voila!
The color is called
Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze, but it really just looks like a metallic charcoal. I love it. It's so elegant. Plus, it was a primer and a paint all in one!
Total spent: $15 (3 lamps) + $7 (spray paint)= $22. If I find a good chandelier, what do you think I'll do??
NICE!! Love how they turned out! We hear you on the cost of lighting - we just dropped $130 to replace a bunch of special light bulbs in our place. Yuck!
ReplyDeleteThey all look great! You are too clever! Happy chandelier hunting! XXOO Mom. PS Looks so good with the grey walls!
ReplyDelete