The story begins a year or two ago at a garage sale. I bought two matching lamps (minus the shades) for $15. One had need of a minor repair, but very good bones...Pottery Barn bones, if you know what I mean. Here's the way the lamps came to me (minus the shades)
Are you noticing the Pottery Barn"ness"? I had seen a similar lamp in the PB catalogue but it was painted white and distressed--an easy fix that I had always intended from the moment I saw them. BUT, a good friend, who advice I admire, thought they were gorgeous the way they were and urged me NOT to paint them. What to do???? So they sat unpainted until I couldn't stand it any more and took them out in the yard and sprayed them!
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| A closeup of the distressing on lamp #1 |
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| A closeup of lamp #2. Each lamp dictated how it would be distressed. |
I love them so much more now! I liked them before, but I have so much stained wood in my house that I'd love to paint, it is only a matter of time before I paint any unattached piece of wood that I encounter! I've got the bug to paint and I love white, ivory, antique white, etc...
Here's some of the inspiration
Here are the lamps final resting places in our house...
That concludes this tale of two lamps. What do you think? Are you a stained wood is beautiful sort-of-person, or paint and distress sort-of-person? There was a third option I played around in my head with--strip them and leave them unfinished in a Restoration Hardware sort of way. You can see what my choice was.
As always, thanks for reading...
Linking Up With
No Minimalist Here
Common Ground
The Brambleberry Cottage
Stone Gable
Primp
Faded Charm
Boogieboard Cottage
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The Dedicated House
Coastal Charm
Sarah Dawn Designs
A Stroll Thru Life
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Common Ground
The Brambleberry Cottage
Stone Gable
Primp
Faded Charm
Boogieboard Cottage
2805
The Dedicated House
Coastal Charm
Sarah Dawn Designs
A Stroll Thru Life
Cedar Hill Ranch
I love the white distressed lamps. I love wood on most of my furniture, but I love to paint the accessories. Hugs, Marty
ReplyDeleteThe white is perfect! You did a great job staying true to the inspiration photos.
ReplyDeleteWell, Robin, you know what my choice is. I am loving painted furniture and accessories more and more. Of course, my shop is full of that type of thing and my success in the business is showing me that a LOT of women are going more and more to this way of thinking. Thanks for your blog. I look forward to reading it and know it will be interesting.
ReplyDeleteThree cheers for painting the lamps! Your lamps are even more lovely than your inspirations, and with a $15 price tag, well . . . I don't think it gets any better than that. Fabulous taste. Fabulous job.
ReplyDeleteI just looked at your book group list and couldn't be more excited to see so many of my own book group's readings on the list. (I, too, LOVED the Kite Runner and would have starred it. It's one of those books that forever changes the way you view the world.) We're reading Saving CeCe Honeycut this month. I've been thinking about reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, but your asterisks have made it a priority on my library list. So glad to meet a fellow book lover!
ReplyDeleteThe wood was nice as it was, but I MUCH prefer the distressed white...it's jsut something about it, speaks to me. I always have that affinity for old white. I like your NEW finish!
ReplyDeleteohmygosh, I love these, they're gorgeous! Pottery Barn perfection!!
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job on painting these lamps. I like the contrast with the wood table you put them on.
ReplyDeleteMary Alice
OMG, you lamps are so pretty, now! You did a great job on painting them. As I type this I'm looking at my lamp for the longest time I haven't done anything to it, now I know what I'll do! You really did a great job on transforming them. I think the white looks great! My fingers are crossed you will share all your lamps makeover at Sunday's Best going on now!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, the paint does wonders for those lamps and the distressing looks amazing.
ReplyDeleteIf you get a chance please come link up your lamps at my Pin Party.
http://sarahdawndesigns.blogspot.com/2012/07/pintastic-monday-link-party-2.html
I like the white! With all your other wood tones, the distressed lamp just pops!
ReplyDeleteI really like the white and you did a great job of distressing them.
ReplyDeleteBabs
Yes, I think you made the right decision. I just love the lamp the distressed white finish. Thanks for sharing your post with us at "Cowgirl Up" party.
ReplyDeleteGreat look in the distressed white. Nancy Carr in Vieques, PR
ReplyDelete