Torche Lamp Makeover Tutorial

Happy Monday, friends! I hope that you had a restful weekend! I enjoyed just padding around the house and doing a little meal cooking for the upcoming week...I LOVE it when I can get all of the meals for the upcoming week all lined out in advance!

Today I am going to share a trash-to-treasure project with you. The lamp shown in the photo below was actually saved from going in the trash. A few years ago when I worked at Special Services, we were moving to a new building and my friend/co-worker Kristin no longer wanted this lamp and was going to throw it in the dumpster:

I asked her if I could have it for my son Justin, and she happily gave it to me. (Thanks, again, Kristin!!) Anyhoo...when Justin bought his house last fall, the modern look of this lamp didn't go with his rustic outdoor/western décor, so I decided to give the lamp a makeover for him.

I started out by purchasing a "hammered metal" black spray paint that I found at Hobby Lobby; then my sweetie painted the base and lamp pole with it. I then painted the glass shade to give it an aged/antique look. Here's how I did it:

Begin by carefully removing the glass shade and placing it on old newspapers or a paper sack that has been cut open. Gather all of your supplies...I used various acrylic paints, a stipple brush, a sponge brush and a sponge dauber:

Wipe the shade down to remove any dust. Apply your darkest color to the glass shade first. (You will build the color/texture from darkest to lightest colored paint.) Don't stress over being too perfect with the paint...that's the beauty of this! You want your project to look rustic/imperfect...like it's got some age to it!

Once you've completely covered the shade with the darkest color, allow it to thoroughly dry...

I then combined a pearl-based paint with a golden brown paint, and stirred it together to create the color that I wanted to use for the next layer:

Here's what that color looks like when the 2 paints were combined:

I applied the second layer of color using a dry stipple brush. Once that layer dried, I used the sponge dauber brush to add a light layer of just the pearl paint, and this is how my shade looked:

Once everything had dried, I re-assembled the lamp and took it over to Justin's house. It looks GREAT sitting at the end of his sofa in the corner of his living room! Here's what it looks like with the light on and shining through the shade:

I love the old/splattery/rustic look this lamp has now! Best of all, the total transformation only cost about $8.00 - SWEEEET!

Thanks for stopping by to read my blog today! Have a TERRIFIC week, and don't forget to do something nice this week for someone who would least expect it!! :)

Blessings,