DIY Vintage Chic Lamp

The story about my floor lamp makeover all started back in December.  I had decided to repaint my living room walls because, although aubergine is a wonderful color,  after six years of it on the walls the room was beginning to close in on me.  Once I had committed to a light, but nearly white “cool gray” paint color I realized that all my furniture and accessories were also too dark .  Two months later and I’m still working on the transformation.  Life is a work in progress!

The latest piece to succumb to the lighter and brighter decorating treatment is my floor lamp.  Before it was black and red and quite a nice fit for a bohemian chic look, but the truth is I never had any other red in the room, so it had to go.  Before photo:

Here are the steps to transforming a lamp to achieve the vintage distressed look:

The lampshade.  I chose to paint my lampshade.  It is important to remember that painting a shade will block out the light that goes through the shade.  The lamp will still be very useful as a reading lamp or corner lamp, it just won’t light up the whole room.

• Choose between spraying the paint or using a brush.  Spray paint (left photo) will cover much easier, but color choices may be limited.  If using a brush (right photo) you will need several coats of paint.

The base.  If the base is wood, lightly sand the base to remove some of the laqcuer finish.  A metal base will be more likely to acept spray paint.  I chose spray paint for this base as it was quick and easy to use.  After drying I distressed the surface of the base to allow some of the black to show through.

I bought some gold tasseled trim to soften the lampshade.  It was however a bit too bold so I softened the look with some white paint using the dry brush technique.  Then I hot glued the trim to the shade.

Finally, I toned down the brightness of both the shade and base by applying a wash of bronze paint and wiping it back with a damp cloth.  And here is the finished product.  It will look great in our living room (unless I decide to keep it here in my studio because it looks so good!)  What do you think?