2 Before & After: A $14 Lamp Revamp

Remember the sad little $5.00 lamp that came home with me after a thrifting adventure dedicated to finding a bedside table that I did not find? Click here to read Tuesday’s post or continue to the before photo below to jog your memory…


Poor little lamp, so dirty and neglected. Nothing a couple swipes with a spray paint can and new lamp shade couldn’t fix.

First, a good dusting to make sure the paint had a clean surface to stick to. Then I detached the base of the lamp from the body, since I wanted to paint them two different colors. Just a few twists of the nut on the underbelly of the lamp and the two pieces came right apart.



Then to the backyard to put a couple cans of spray paint to work. The plan was to paint the body of the lamp grey and the base a glossy white.

To protect the parts of the lamp that I didn’t want to be grey, I put a few pieces of paper between the base and the body and a plastic sack over the top.



After giving the body plenty of time to dry, I covered it with a plastic bag to keep the white paint off of its newly painted curves—wonder where this shopping sack is from…



Once dry, a quick reassembly by tightening the nut I loosened before painting, the addition of a lamp shade I already had laying around and this rehab was a wrap for $14 start to finish!

And because my brother-in-law likes to give me a hard time when I post about a light revamp without posting an after shot with the light actually turned on, this one is for you, Ollie…