THE TWO YEAR LAMP MAKEOVER

Seriously, you would think that a 2 year lamp makeover would just be fabulous, but it's really just kinda cute.  However, I learned some very important lessons with this lamp, that will make any future lamp makeovers much easier.

It didn't start out cute.  It was just a sad and kind of nasty lamp with a stained shade that was left in one of our rental properties.  Of course, I had to rescue it and was so sure I could make it look better because, hey! it was a free lamp.  Okay...not free because the renters skipped out on 2 months rent.  Maybe I should have called this the $750 dollar two year lamp makeover, but then no one would be reading this.

First mistake....I thought it was wood.  I didn't really look at it that hard but upon close inspection, it's some kind of resin composite made to look like wood.  So...spray paint seemed to be in order.
I primed the lamp and all the parts.

I spray painted them silver because I like silver.

Second mistake, I thought it would be easy to pick up a replacement shade.  No.  Now days, most of the replacement shades for small lamps are the kind that go over the bulb and sit on the lamp base. I needed one for a harp.  So.......it sat for about half a year and I kept moving it to the back of the projects list.
One day, as I was getting something off of a shelf in my old craft room, it literally fell on my head.  Hmmmm.  Maybe it wants attention.  OK.  I decided to paint the shade with craft paint.  This seemed like a brilliant and inexpensive idea.  Wrong.  Mistake number three.  It had some kind of spongy lining on the back and it absorbed the paint in an uneven and swear-inducing kind of way.

It looked horrible when lit.  The lining had to go.  Easy right?  No.  It was a pain the butt.  Now you may ask what kind of special tools are required to perform this kind of light surgery.  Let me just demystify that for you right now...

Two kinds of scissors, (one being the highly technical fingernail scissors), an exacto knife and the all important tupperware orange peeler.  Just start one little hole separating that liner from the cover and you'll immediately find a use for the rest of the tools pictured, I promise.
So I got the liner off, and was pleasantly surprised to find that my grey craft paint made the outer fabric kind of look like screen.  Cool, right? 

Wrong...because when it was lit, it looked like this.....

Every bit of glue from removing the trim, every spot where the paint was uneven was illuminated just for your viewing pleasure.  The thin fabric gave it that blinding bare bulb prison lighting effect.  ARGHHHHHHHH!
I said some swears and put the whole thing back up on the shelf for another day month year.
Six months ago, I was in the fabric section of a store and came across a pretty piece of fabric and some cute black trim.

The fabric was all shiny and elegant looking and I couldn't decide between the trims, so I bought both.....and then put them away for another several months because I was still saying swear words in my mind when I thought about that lamp, which is no way to begin a project for the third time.
BUT...my dear friend Judy came from Arizona for 12 days this month and she finished this project up for me....

Isn't she awesome??!!  She made a pattern for the shade from tissue paper and glued it on with Alene's Turbo Tacky Glue and used the same for the trim.

Finally, after two years, this little lamp was done.  I love my friend Judy and I don't know what I would do without her.  She helped me with several projects while I was here.  I'll be sharing them with you soon, but in the meantime, let's just enjoy this lamp....

I can't decide where to put it.   It lives in Jacob's room.

It's easy to move around because it's small.....

See that little picture on the top up there?  You may remember that I made it for my bedroom in the other house.

Framed Clay Medallion

It's kind of a fun clay medallion that I made and framed and then promptly lost in the move only to be found last month when I was frantically searching for something else.  Playing with clay is as much fun now as it was when I was a kid!  You can see how I made it by clicking the link at the bottom of the picture.
And the little silver sign in the center...

That's Jacob's night time prayer.  He says his regular prayers first, and then he likes to read this, just for extra insurance, because you never know what's lurking around in the dark!  At least now he can turn on a cute little bedside light if he hears a bump in the night!

Thank you Judy for getting that long overdue project finished for me!  You're the best! (But I'm still going to post about how you broke my new sewing machine. LOL!)

Linking up:
 

A TRIO OF TREES

Even though I am taking a hiatus from my own blog, today, I am over at the fabulous Suzan's blog Simply Vintageous....by Suzan sharing a little holiday project. 

Actually.....3 of them.  A trifecta.  A "Hat Trick"...she's Canadian after all.
You can check it out by clicking HERE or on the picture below.

Really, don't you want to know about a naughty little black lace tree?

WHIMSICAL THANKSGIVING PUMPKIN

You know those crazy whimsical pumpkin stems that you see at Halloween?  I'm going to show you how to make one on a pretty fabric covered Thanksgiving pumpkin.  It's easier than you'd think.

I did this project for a guest post over at Distressed Donna Down Home.  Come check it out by clicking HERE.

DREAM SIGN

This post is all about making a dream out of a disaster.

Lovely isn't it?  It wasn't always so.  It was born from a disaster.  
I had this fun little cabinet.  I got it at an antique store on sale for $20.00 and it really wasn't that great, but I fell in love with the door on it and used it for years.

I decided to use it in my new coastal themed bedroom, but it was going to have to be prettied up a little first.  I painted it with Annie Sloan Old Ochre Chalk Paint.  Two coats.  It was beautiful.  I gave it two coats of Miss Mustard Seed Clear Wax.  It was gorgeous.  I was buffing out the last coat when my table broke and the whole cabinet came crashing down onto my concrete garage floor.  That beautiful door broke.

I said a lot of swears.  Sam felt bad enough for me that he tried to fix it with some Gorilla Glue and clamps.

I was fearful that it wouldn't hold up to the pulling that a cabinet door would get.  I decided to touch up the damaged paint on the rest of the cabinet and use it without the door.  I couldn't toss the door though because I loved it so.  I decided to make a little sign out of it and maybe something to hang my robe and jammies on.
I had this metal sign that said "Dream" and I wired it onto the front.
I also had this awesome metal seahorse pull that I was going to use on the door anyway, but it was "chippy" and I wanted it bright and clean.  I gave it a coat of spray paint.

So began the bones of this new project.

I taped the edges and gave the border a quick coat of Annie Sloan "Provence".

 Then, I just left it out and stared at it for about 2 weeks.  I tried several things and settled on some beach glass, shells, starfish and glass stones - all attached with my trusty finger-burnin' hot glue gun.

I added a few hooks....in the wrong place, which led to adding a few more shells.  Finally, I was pretty happy with it and mounted it to my walk-in closet door.

I did salvage the rest of that cabinet, but that's a different post coming soon to a computer screen near you.
In the mean time, I'm enjoying my new robe hook/sign.  

Kind of goes with my beachy wreath don't ya think?

I have had a lot of fun making decor for my master bedroom...maybe too much fun.  As soon as I get the mate to my nightstand and paint it, I'll show you the rest.  In the mean time...I'm packing up my craft room and moving everything out of it because I'm getting all of my flooring replaced, except the kitchen.  That's right...all of that beautiful coastal cypress that was installed less than 5 months ago has to be replaced.  Installation failure.  Glad we had professionals do it because I would not want to have to fight that fight with the company myself.  So....replacement won't cost me anything, but can I just tell you what a pain in the butt packing everything up and moving it out is?  It seems like I just did that!  (Oh yeah....it's because I did.)  I know...first world problem, but still.  I can tell you that some swears were said over that issue as well. (My swear jar overfloweth.) Hope it ends as well as my cabinet door disaster.

Linking up to:
center>

Sherry from Thrift My House Guest Post

I can't tell you how excited I am to have the one and only Sherry from Thrift My House guest posting here today while I'm finally unpacking my craft room.  This project is so awesome, it's all the motivation I need to keep moving and get organized!  Take it away Sherry.....

I am so happy to be guest posting here at Silo Hill Farm! Everyone knows that Danni is the Queen of crafts so I am honored to be here sharing one of my latest projects. 

Let's get it started!

I rarely know exactly what I'm going to do when I start a craft project. It starts with an idea and evolves from there.

Recently, I saw these wood things at Lowes.... Contractor Shims.

I thought they were interesting... and cheap. Less than 4 dollars.

 I had no idea that they were wedges.... hence the name, shim...

I got out my glue gun and proceeded to hot glue them together to make even little boards. 42 shims make 21 boards. 

Honestly, I thought, this will take a while, so I got my coffee and glue gun and got comfortable... it took less than 10 minutes and I got interrupted at least 10 times.... so no worries, no big deal.

I put a bead of hot glue down the ends and middle of one board and smashed them together. It went very fast.

Then I played around with them and figured out a shape that would use up all the boards. A pkg of 42 Shims (21 boards after glue)  made a pretty good size board. 

I then hot glued them to a piece of foam board. I cut the foam board slightly smaller than the overall shape of my board. 

It looks like a shutter here. 

I like the rough, rustic feel of this board.

I painted it white and decided to put the words Beach House on it.

I used gray paint for the letters. It needed something else....

So, I added an arrow and then took my sander and distressed it a bit. I love how the words look when they're distressed. 

This was one of the visions I had for the board but my butt was too tired to paint on all those stencils. 

I craft because I get satisfaction when I take a pile of whatever, in this case boards Shims, and come up with something that I like.

It. Is. Therapy. For. Me.

Thank you so much Danni! This was fun. I hope you guys were inspired and thank you so much for reading. I hope you will visit me at Thrift My House. I'd love to visit you!

Thank you Sherry!  You are one amazing crafter!  Being land-locked here in the mid-west, I long for the ocean and love all things beachy!

Sherry does so many projects that are inspiring, you'll be sure to want to go over and follow her so you don't miss any of her awesomeness.  

If you used to follow Sherry before and then somehow lost her, you may not know that she re-started her blog, so you'll need to head over and follow her again at Thrift My House.