If you’re looking for a beautiful new lamp but you’re on a budget the chances are good that you have one of these old cut glass lamps lying around. (If you don’t Goodwill definitely does!).
So when I started looking for a lamp for my guest room make-over (without spending a bunch of money) I knew exactly where to look. My Mama’s house…
Isn’t that where you go to get all the good old stuff that should have been taken out behind the barn and shot already? She’s had a few of these old cut glass lamps stashed in her closet for years (really as long as I’ve been alive).
Honestly I don’t know how many of these babies I’ve seen over the years… I think everyone has one in a back closet somewhere. Mom has two or three!
It’s really not a bad little lamp… it just needed a little facelift to fit into my sage, grey and navy color scheme! So I grabbed a little transparent glass dye, a little spray paint and got started.
Check it out!
Supplies:
White Spray Paint and Gray Spray Paint (flat)
Thrift Store/ Mom’s Old Lamp 🙂
Cardboard
Lamp Shade
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Step 1: Take Your Lamp Apart
I wasn’t sure how this transformation was gong to go but I knew I wanted to keep the glass portion of the lamp transparent… so spray painting the entire thing and calling it a day wasn’t going to work!
I started by completely taking this baby apart… trust me it was a learning experience! Normally these are the types of projects I casually bat my eyelashes at the hubby for… but he was busy with a job interview so I tackled this one myself! (Pray for us… he really wants this job!)
In order to take this little guy apart I started by turning it over and loosening the bolts in the bottom of the lamp. This gave me enough slack to pull the top wires free from the little gold compartment they were in. It took a minute but I finally read the little “press” sign on the side and figured out I could squeeze the top portion like a spray paint top and pull it off.
You learn something new every day!
From there I simply unscrewed the two little screws and took off the wires… then I pulled the wire out of the bottom of the lamp and volia! All of the pieces were loose!
Of course don’t forget the most important part… take plenty of pictures so you know how to put the darn thing back together! I don’t know about y’all but I’m not a lamp technician so I would be absolutely lost without a photo to put this baby back into working order.
Step 2: Paint Your Glass
Here’s the easy part… paint your glass! I used DecoArt Glass Stain in the blue color to paint the glass portion of the lamp.
I simply placed all three glass portions on a bit of cardboard (trust me… this is about to get messy!). From there squeeze paint onto your glass… that’s it! I started from the top and let the paint fall down the sides… gravity baby!
Just make sure to thoroughly cover each bit of glass… and if any bubbles form pop them right away! This stuff dries doesn’t cure for 24 hours but it dries super fast so if you leave a bubble for 30 minutes it will be a bubble forever. (Learned that the hard way!)
Once you’ve finished one piece move it to a clean section of cardboard so that it’s not sitting in a pool of paint. Other wise the paint will dry and form a seal securing your glass to the cardboard… no bueno. I went ahead and moved my little glass pieces about once an hour for the first 3 hours. The first and second times they were glued to the cardboard and needed a little pop to come loose. The third time there was only a little bitty teeny tiny pop and the fourth time they were dry enough to pick up with no pop at all.
If the whole written guide isn’t working for you I made a quick little video for you… if you thought it was that easy? It really is that easy!
Don’t you love it when that happens?!
Step 3: Spray All of the GOLD
Once your glass is drying I moved on to the the fun part… spray painting the little golden sections! I really wanted the base of the lamp to have an antique finish so that it fit in with the rest of the room. So I started with a coat of white spray paint to cover all of the gold.
I simply laid all of the pieces out on a cardboard box and sprayed a light layer of paint.
Bonus Tip: To spray the middle rod without it getting paint everywhere I simply made a small hole in the cardboard! It held up perfectly!
Once the white dried I sprayed a light layer of hammered spray paint… this is definitely the ugly stage but it’s so worth it! At this point the entire thing looked like brown and white polka dots. Yuck. Of course, the next step makes it all worth it.
The third coat was simple flat grey spray paint but this is where the magic happens. A light coat of gray over the hammered effect leads the paint to crackle.
It’s glorious!
A gorgeous antiqued crackle effect, swoon!
The only thing left to do was spray the electrical cord. I used a magnetic clip to hang the cord from a nearby drain pipe… then I sprayed a few feet at a time. Just spray 2-3 feet while rotating the cord then push the clip up a few feet on the drain pipe! Once the entire cord is painted let it dry. Easy peasy!
Ready for the big reveal?
This might be redundant but I love it! From the stained glass to the crackled finish this little lamp is the perfect combination of color with an antique finish!
I think I might just swoon again!
If you loved this transformation don’t forget to pin!
P.S. 15 Gorgeous Table Lamps, How to Accessorize your Nightstand, and DIY Pet Bowl Stand (with Storage!) Using an Antique Box
