Revamping a Lamp (Before+After)

My decorating tendencies consist of picking up pieces that excite me when I see them. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing.. the pieces you choose to furnish and decorate your home should make you happy. But up until recently, that was pretty much all I went by when choosing pieces.

That method left me with a lot of mismatched pieces that I like individually but don’t really love altogether.

Recently I’ve picked up where I left off some months ago and dove back into finishing the decor around our apartment. I’ve been purging closets and drawers of random things and started really giving more thought to the pieces I have around the house.

Do I love this? Do I need it? If its functions, can I make it work better somehow?

Case 1

This lamp came into existence solely because I loved the shade. I purchased this shade when I was a freshman in college and wanted it somewhere in my dorm room. I bought a plain black base with some interesting details and that’s how it’s been. 6 years later, that lamp still looks that and has sat on Josh’s night stand. He has not been a fan of it, but it’s free so it stayed there.

Until last weekend.

I mentioned incorporating turquoise blue and yellow accent pieces/accessories into the living room. I decided to donate the shade since it’s the perfect example of something fun and vibrant but doesn’t really match anything else I have or the look I’m going for.

Target [not surprisingly] has been a place of inspiration for redecorating and incorporating neutral color and patterns into our house lately. None of the pieces are boring,  just a little bit more sophisticated and more gender neutral that Josh and I can both be happy with. I picked up a lovely white lamp shade with subtle details.

I attacked the black lamp base with the same turquoise-blue spray paint I used to give some bang to those black picture frames I found recently.

I’m so excited about the way it turned out! Still not totally sure about the blue candlesticks right next to it.. I’ll probably switch those out soon but overall – a much better look.

Reuse, Reduce, Renew.

I’m adding lots of details to our home lately. It’s a slow process but the results are thrilling.

I’m transitioning wild, all-genre type decor details into a neutral palette made up of wood, cream & whites, dark brown, and grays in our living room. I’ve decided to add in color through accessories and to focus on a turquoise and yellow theme, where possible.

I’ve also been cleaning out drawers/closets/side tables. I’ve found some things I didn’t realize I’d stashed.

I assume I planned to do something later with these two simple, black frames that I threw in a drawer who knows how long ago. But they just now resurfaced 10 months later.

This was last weekend. I set this on my coffee table because I just felt like I could find a purpose for it in the near future.

I came across train and bus ticket stubs from Amsterdam, my ticket to the Louvre and Eiffel tower, a 1 pound note.. lots of little mementos from Europe that weren’t totally touristy. They were bits & pieces of our trip.

I had meant to do something with those stubs and tickets when we came home from our trip, in January of 2012. A year and a half later, I finally did.

After a few coats of a turquoise blue spray paint and a few moments determining placement, my London tube map now sits in the living room as one of my more personal accessories popping with color.

Upcycling from my own home might be my new favorite thing!

New year, new look

I’ve been working like crazy through the holidays to get things in order to start the new year off right. Today I’d like to share my file cabinet that got a new look for the new year.

This baby is a total hand-me-down from my parents, who have used it.. for who knows how long. It had files in it from when I was a baby.. so over 20  years.

It’s had paint drip on it from the different times I painted my bedroom at the old apartment, and just looks like it needs a little TLC. I’ve been experimenting with spray paint more recently and have been drawn to brighter colors of late. What better way to cheer this sad, tired looking file cabinet up than with some school bus yellow spray paint?

It did take me 3 cans to completely coat this bad boy to my satisfaction. For whatever reason, this spray paint (Krylon Fusion in the brightest yellow on the shelf) disseminated through the air and turned the floor outside of the drop cloth yellow as well!! (but luckily came off when I hosed the porch off) But just a warning in case you are inspired to turn something in your home a bright cheery color, by spray paint.

 

I love the yellow so much, it almost makes me WANT to file all my papers. 🙂