This makeover tutorial is a perfect study in why it is important to be flexible when you DIY.  This didn’t go AT ALL like I had planned it, but I kept going and I love the final result!

I came across this lamp as I was driving down the street one day past a house that had belonged to an elderly lady that had passed away.  The family was cleaning out her garage, and there was a big pile of junk on the front lawn with a “FREE” sign.  I asked them if the lamp worked, they said yes, and into my back seat it went.

Here’s a close up shot of the funky texture.

Check out that horrible 70’s awesomeness!  The shade was pretty gross too, but structurally it was in perfect condition.

My first thought with this lamp was that I could just spray paint over the texture, so I tried it!  The best thing about items you get for free is that you can attack them with a “what have you got to lose” attitude.  If it doesn’t work?  You’re only out the price of the spray paint, right?

I pictured a faded ombre effect, starting with blue on the bottom and fading to a green on the top, so I grabbed the spray paint and went to work, taping off the cord and the light fixture at the top first.

And I hated it.  Really hated it.  The texture was so thick that the spray paint was having a hard time covering it, and the finished effect just looked trashy.  I wasn’t ready to give up yet – the lamp is the perfect size and shape for my living room – so I let the spray paint dry, then used my small detail sander on the textured parts to sand them smooth.  It was MESSY and dusty and smelly, but relatively easy to do.  Once the majority of the texture was flattened, I cleaned the surface well and tried again.

Getting an ombre effect with spray paint is pretty easy to do.  I started at the bottom of the lamp with the blue and gave it several coats, each time going over what I’d already done, but going up just a little higher.  I did the same thing with the green starting from the top.  Once the top and bottom are solidly their respective colors, then spray each color in the middle – holding the can back a bit so that you get a misty-type spray that overlaps.

Problem #2 – I hated it again!!  Before I had even finished , I knew that the blue/green fade that looked so great in my head just did not look so great on the lamp.  Still, I decided to have one more go at it before I gave up.

I grabbed a can of white spray paint and covered all the green, so now I had blue on the bottom, fading into white on the top.  Perfect!  That was just what it needed.

As for the shade, I ripped off all the old fabric and trim (gag!  Really should have been wearing a mask…) and cleaned the shade form underneath.  Then I just purchased a half yard of white ruffled fabric and hot glued it on.  SO easy and fast (and only $5 with my Hobby Lobby coupon!)

Print these coupons quickly, before they disappear.

–Stride Gum Single Pack 5 to 14 piece, Buy 1 Get 1 FREE up to $0.96

–Trident Gum Single Pack 9 to 18 piece, Buy 1 Get 1 FREE up to $0.96

These are great coupons, and will likely be gone quickly!  Remember, you can print each coupon twice.

We wanted to give you a heads up about the INCREDIBLE Black Friday sale that Shelf Reliance will be having this weekend. Black Friday can be a busy time and we want to be sure you have a few days to plan your shopping instead of just surprising you on Friday morning! We will post quick reminders throughout the weekend, but wanted to make sure you had a bit of notice.

This sale is AMAZING!

• Every single THRIVE product is on sale.
• Cansolidators are 56% off, the Harvest is 46% off and
• There is a large selection of emergency supplies that would make great stocking stuffers!

A Few Important Notes:

1. All of these sales are “while supplies last.” It is very likely that Shelf Reliance will sell out of some products before the end of the day on the 26th. So, we suggest getting your order in as soon as possible. In fact, you may even consider filling your shopping cart now (make sure you are logged in) and then just logging in to pay on Friday morning. The website will very likely be slow on Friday because of this sale.
2. EVERY SINGLE THRIVE Food item is on sale for the lowest price all year! Make sure you browse around the site here, because EVERYTHING THRIVE is on sale!

View Everything On Sale By Clicking Here!

If you have any questions, email Misty at thrive@pinchingyourpennies.com

Print this EcoTools Product $1/1 coupon quickly, before it disappears.  My local Walmart has the Loofah Bath Sponge for $0.87 daily, so FREE after coupon!  Walmart’s coupon states that you will receive the difference if the coupon value is more than the item value.  Remember, you can print each coupon twice.

We inherited this credenza from my husband’s grandparents several years ago.  I absolutely fell in love with the shape of it, but the color wasn’t so great.  I knew I wanted to paint it and finally this week I got around to getting it done.

I need some sort of intervention to help me remember to take a proper before picture!!  But, all I had done at this point is remove one of the doors.  Note the diamond shape on the remaining door on the right – it was what drove the final finished design.

I removed all the doors and went over everything lightly with a sander.  I knew I wanted the finished product to be pretty shabby, so I didn’t sand too much-just enough to roughen up the glossy surface. Then, I taped off the wood on the center door and spray painted the metal screen with black and copper.  I also spray painted all of the original handles with black spray paint and rubbed them gently with a paper towel while they were still wet –  just enough that they looked a little worn.

Next up was to try and figure out what to do with the diamond shape.  Originally, I thought I could keep it and just paint around it so that it wasn’t gold.  On closer inspection, I found that they had clearly been painted over numerous times and the paint was very thick and messy.  There were also a couple of places where the diamond was chipped, so I decided to go ahead and just remove them – thinking that it was probably just a plastic embellishment.  Wrong!

I tried to get a screwdriver under the diamond, expecting to pop it right off, but it turned out to be made of wood and VERY well attached to the door.  I chipped it all off and sanded, but was still left with an impression of the diamond shape.

My original plan for the credenza was to paint everything white, then to stencil or paint a design on the top.  Since I couldn’t get the diamonds to completely disappear, I decided to go for disguise and chose to put the design on the doors instead.  I call this a happy accident because I just adore the way it turned out!

I painted everything with Gripper primer (see this post here if you’re not sure what that’s about).  Once that was dry, I painted with two coats of matte white indoor house paint.  Since the body of the credenza is pretty straightforward – just painted it with a brush – I’ll focus on what I did differently on the doors.

I painted the two outside doors with one coat of primer.  Once that was dry, I used an inexpensive foam Fluer De Lis stamp and some black craft paint to stamp a design on the doors.

Let that dry THOROUGHLY, then paint over the whole thing with a coat of white paint.

Once that is completely dry, start sanding the white paint back off, especially focusing on the areas where the black design is.  I ended up doing this twice – sanded, re-stamped, re-painted with the white then sanded again – before I was happy with how it looked.

Give the rest of the piece a good, rough sanding as well, to make it look shabby and aged.  Reassemble the doors.

If you are looking for it, you can still see the faint outline of the diamond on the left; you can’t see it at all on the right.  But the fluer de lis design is what you notice first, so you no longer notice the flaw unless you are really trying to see it.

A Scooter Wild Style Blue
$30.00
Reg: $39.09
Free Shipping
Save an additional 5% when you use a Target REDcard
Use code TGVDZMMS to save $10

TARGET LINK