lamp makeover with spray paint * how to spray paint a lamp

You may have remembered seeing these lamps around and me promising I was going to do something with them! I found the pair (always a plus to find 2!!) at Ross

and they were marked down to $16.99 each, how could I pass them up -- especially when they included the shades? I wasn’t crazy about the taupe-ish color because purple just hasn’t ever been one of my favorites, but I figured some spray paint could take care of that.

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This lovely color was at Lowes -- it’s called Valspar cobalt cannon in a gloss finish. I had it in the basement -- I was going to use it for something else (can’t even remember what!) but I thought it would be pretty on these. The temperature was up in the 50’s this week, so I just taped the metal parts off and did about 6 SUPER LIGHT coats because I didn’t want drips. Lightly spray, let it dry for about 10 minutes, lightly spray, leave it, etc.

And that was it! I may put a protective finish on it, but I put an automatic plug-in timer (like these) on the outlet and they turn themselves on at 5 and off at 11 so no one really touches them.

They can look dark and gray or rich and blue depending on the lighting, as you can even see from the picture here:

Moral of the story: don’t give up on lamps just because you don’t love the color. Give them a chance!