Lamps

Last year I was watching Cityline and one of the hosts described himself as a lamptramp - that`s me!!  I am a lamptramp!!  Don`t know why, I just love love love lamps.  My first big addiction was an alabaster lamp.  I found it on ebay and decided I had to have it.  I love it, it is my favourite always has been always will.  I paid $50.00 in customs fees just to get it and then I had to re-wire it and get repairs done.

I have a shabby chic shade on it that is about 8 years old and faded from the sun, it`s pattern is soft and light and they work well together. 

I love the creamy detail of this lamp.

I had to repair this lamp when I got it (it was wobbly and had to be ground in places) and the repair guy asked me why I wanted such an old lamp.
I loved it so much I got another on ebay a few years later,

A few years ago my Mom got me a mercury glass lamp,

It`s large, bright and I get nervous when I have to carry it around.  It`s now in my Mom`s room where she is getting organized for a whole french black, white, grey look. 
As if I don`t have enough lamps I picked up this at Ikea this summer because I love the pattern, it`s shape and the light it throws off.  It was only about $15.00 which is perfect for such a pretty lamp.

I picked this little lamp up at an antique store, rewired it (Thank you Martha Stewart for teaching me how) and painted it.  I had the Rachel Ashwell Bella Rose Blue fabric but not enough to cover this lamp so I photocopied the fabric and covered the shade with the paper (put a piece of paper behind the fabric and the copy will turn out perfectly, without the paper it gets little black dots). You can see where the paper matches in the back.

Right before I left Ontario I went to Lilly`s antiques and found a lamp sitting on the stairs outside in the rain.  It was tall, weird and full of potential!!  Lilly sold it to me for $10.00 and I started planning what to do with it.  I pulled it apart and painted it with Krylon Ballet Slipper.  It looks light on the can but when painted my lamp suddenly looked like bubble gum!!  It was awful, too bright, too pink, ugh.  But.....  I gave it a light spray of white and it calmed it right down - whew.

It is such a pale pink now, and it works with all the gray crystals that came with the lamp.  It`s heavy, unusual, and delicate.  I re-wired it as well, but didn`t keep a picture of the before so it was hard  to fit all the pieces back together. 

A few years ago I did the taxes and after all that frustration I treated myself to another ebay  purchase,

I always wanted a tabletop chandelier.  These can be ornate and pricey so I stayed within my budget but sometimes I go on ebay and look at them and dream of buying another.....

Years ago I was lucky enough to pick up a lamp for free

After!!

Before

It`s always amazing what re-wiring and paint can do. 

If you need to find me I will be wandering the lamp aisle at HomeSense!!

Until next time,
Patricia

Shadow Box

For lack of a better term, I am calling this a shadowbox (even though there is not a glass cover for it).  About 18 months ago I was at a garage sale and found what looked like a shadow box.  I had seen these shown in Country Home and they had used an old drawer and added cut pieces of wood for shelves.

This is what I started with:

This was after covering it with wood filler (it had deep deep wood grooves which I did not like)

I knew I wanted to use it without the wall coming through so I glued a piece of paperboard on the back (paper covered Styrofoam), cut it to fit and adhered paper to it.  I painted it with paint hanging around and added a tiny bow fancy on the top from a scrap booking kit.

I like it a lot, but as the summer went on I wanted more lighthearted paper.  Since the paper was glued on I took a while to figure out what to do..... then I discovered that if I just placed paper into it it would hold.  Each box holds onto it's own paper.

   

I like how exuberant this paper is. It's from a box of vintage wallpaper patterns that I picked up at HomeSense (love that place!!) from French General.

I love this shadowbox because I can hold all my delicate things, like my vintage mercury glass flower holder,

I love this piece, got it on ebay and it had a twin and I broke it in the move, I still feel bad about that

I also love that it holds my itty bitty teeny tiny vintage mercury glass salt celler:

My mercury glass salt celler is covered by a rose piece that I picked up at the St. Albert Farmers Market and it is as beautiful displayed worn on a necklace.

This sits above my desk and gets re-done at Christmas and Easter.  It's getting cooler so I may change the paper again...... we'll see.

Until next time,
Patricia

Auction Finds

Years ago I had a neighbor who introduced me to auctions.  I had read a lot about them and always wanted to go but didn't really know the protocol so one night she took me and taught me.  As my daughter ran around with her kids I  perused everything and came upon something I really really wanted! 

A mirror, a ratty largish beaten up mirror.  I got it for $20.00!!

Unlike so many things I own I have never touched it with a paint brush.


I love it's beaten up frame, it's darkening glass and all the rough spots that make it unique. 

I especially love it with candle light in front of it,

From my previous post you know I got my great little coffee table at an auction and I also got a dresser.  It's 8 years old to me and I don't know how old it actually is. It was $60.00 and is what limited my bed choice in my new room due to it's size.

It may be hard to tell but the drawers are wavy and there is a carving on top of the mirror and at the bottom of the drawers.   I retained the original knobs and just sprayed them with a little spray paint.  The mirror is getting dark in parts, and the whole thing together is ridiculously heavy but I adore it. 

Once I even got a Christmas present at an auction,

I purchased it for my mom who always wanted a Venus on the half shell.  It's  alabaster and marble.  Since there were no numbers on the bottom it too was $20.00.

Alas, this great auction place closed it's doors and I haven't found anything else like it. My house is now full enough but it was a great run at the auctions while it lasted. 

Until next time,
Patricia

shabby coffee table

Years ago I picked up a coffee table at an auction and it was requested that I not paint it so I tried to work it into my decor..... oh boy did I try,

This was in my previous living room and I tried and tried to make it work. In some ways it sort of matched the fireplace but it was still not at potential. Since it had 3 large square stains on the top I had a mirror cut to fit. A mirror is amazing on a table because it reflects candles, flowers, glass.  It works because my daughter was past the play dough phase. 

I tried but it still didn't work so I painted it.

The move was a little rough on it so I just re-painted it.  I love the detail on this little table.

I get restless with decor sometimes and change a few things out but this table is never one of the things on the list to go.

It is a perfect shabby chic coffee table.

recovery

A few years ago I recieved the family bible.  I had been expecting something baroque, ornate, and I got this:

Well, it does not look great, but whats inside  it made up for it. 

I love this, so I decided to make it more beautiful so that I could enjoy it more.  I went to http://www.tatteredchic.blogspot.com/, she has an etsy shop that happens to carry bookcovers.  I chose one, she emails the pattern and your off!  My book was larger than the pattern so I just added on.  I decided not to permanently attach, just folded it around the edges. 

 That's it under the clock!! Soft, subtle and so worth it.  I love it.

It works in the living room now.  It makes me wonder why I didn't do this before, as it used to sit in the closet. 
Until next time, and thank you for all the nice comments I'm getting!  Seems  there are some issues with leaving comments, I'm working on it.

A nice change

Isn't paint wonderful?  Such a difference it can make.  We started out with flat brown walls with spots of paint ideas.  We contemplated grey, what a difficult colour.  Grey sometimes looks blue and lavender.  We finally settled on a creamy white.  High Gloss.  I know, many people cringe and say it will show all the imperfections.  What they don't tell you is it makes lamp light glooowww, candles are brighter and chandeliers sing.

with my $5.00 dresser

We are still in the process of getting it together.  Today I will begin painting the brown cabinet.    In the kitchen there is a wall that is open and after painting it needed something on it.  At homesense I found this ugly piece,

 UGH, never seen such a horrid combination of colours on such a pretty piece.  I painted it with a mix of colours, mostly a light grey and the result is beautiful.

This piece works well to distract from the electrical plug in and the phone etc.  Not bad for an ugly piece. 

Getting it all together is still a work in progress, but it makes it so nice to come downstairs to light and bright.  We are still working on some elements.  We have a hole above what should have been a fireplace.  No fireplace, just a hole.  With electricity which cannot be covered.  I hate these things, too high for a tv too recessed for anything.  I will provide pictures and show our solution.  More work to do, gotta go.

Until next time, Patricia

chic little clock

My Mom and I are in the midst of painting the living room, dining room and kitchen a warm creamy white.  What a difference light can make.  I have never been able to live in dark and a flat brown paint qualifies as dark.  Pictures to follow. 

Last fall I got into a bling frenzy (as witnessed by my previous post!) with a clock and decided to do another one.  I have had this clock for 15+ years, it was brown and never worked (because I couldn't get the back off to add the battery) but it had potential.  One day I figured out how to get the back off and then I was off!!

I painted the clock cream, then started adding bling,

It is a small clock so 1 dollar store bracelet covered the brass around the face.

Then I added a crown on top which was from a cell phone charm and then added an earring to the bottom.  I then needed pink shiny at 3 and 9 but it looked off.  I left it for a while and thought. 

What was off was the clock mechanism under the glass was brass.   I tried and couldn't get the glass off and the brass upset the look of it all.  What worked was pasting a dollar store earring onto the glass face.  It covered the brass and because the same detail was on the 3 and 9 it worked. 

I now have it on my desk. 

I love it so much that when I had sold my house I moved into my Mom's for 2 months and I brought it.  It doesn't keep great time (the battery needs to be changed about every 5 weeks) but it is a tiny bit of beautiful. 


I even liked it under the Christmas tree,

Back to painting!

Patricia