tip trick tuesday.. refurbishing old lamps..

  

 

 many many years ago when i was about 17 my mom had a friend that was selling princess house crystal.. i couldn't sell it until i was 18 but she took me to meetings and what not to see if it was something i was interested in... and while once i turned 18 i sold it for a couple of years i was never quite comfortable with the whole come into your house have a party thing but i did love love the product.. by the time pete and i were married i had boxes upon boxes upon boxes of princess house.. from glasses to plates to cookware, i had it all and have most of it still.. i probably have 50 fantasia dinner plates.. not to mention the salad plates and dessert plates.. sheesh i think i might be a hoarder or least a crystal hoarder.. but anyway next to our bed for the last 29 years were princess house lamps.. with 12 year old shades {blah}.. and since we decided to re do our entire master bedroom i put them in with the antique furniture in the guest bedroom {which by the way i had my first guest in 12 years stay there she loved it.. } well 2 nights before we were scheduled to have guests i decided i didn't like the lamps anymore and i was going go get new ones the next day.. pete jokingly said paint them, since you paint everything else.. well guess what!! i did.. and they turned out awesome.. then i realized how icky my lamp shades were.. i wiped them down with a damp cloth and they looked worse.. so guess what i painted them too.. and the result.. i love love my "new" lamps.. and it was so easy!!

 

 

this is what they looked before.. {see the cart they are on.. i re did that too check back to see it's transformation..}

 

i knew i wanted the base color to be purple or lavender but i didn't have purple/lavender so i combined a red and blue chalk paint but it was a little too dark so i added some white chalk paint and the color was perfect.. i painted the entire lamp purple/lavender and allowed it to dry.. i then painted it with annie sloan pure white chalk paint and allowed it to dry.. i then took a light grit sand paper and went over everything giving it a distressed look.. i then combined  annie sloan clear wax and dark wax together and waxed the entire piece then i used a very soft steel wool and ran it over everything.. then i took a soft clean cloth and polished it up.. the entire process from start to finish took about 3 hours for both lamps..

you can see remnants of the princess house etched flower in the glass.. i love it..

 



just a hint of the purple/lavender can be seen peaking through.. 

then i decided to do the lamp shades and i was talking and not paying attention and i painted them the wrong color.. gray.. what the heck was i thinking.. but no fear when it comes to chalk paint anything is possible.. so i just painted over it with a combination of annie sloan olive with pure white mixed in.. and it came out pretty cool and compliments the purple/lavender hues in the room.. i also like that the gray comes through in spots it actually looks really good on the lamp..



for a little added touch i added these butterfly pins.. when my aunt was alive she must have had 200+ butterfly pins.. after she passed we gave them out at her funeral to her friends and family and then i got to keep some of my favorites and so did shell.. i thought they would look nice being displayed on the lamp shade.. 

 

so far i haven't found anything that can't be painted with the chalk paint.. it just gives it an all new or old appearance.. i love it and i am officially hooked.. try it i bet you will like it too.. 

 

enjoy and get diy'n!!