Vintage Industrial Style Lamp Makeover

Remember this sneak peek picture?

It was a lamp that I was working on.

I've been on the hunt for a lamp for Hubby's side of the bed in the master bedroom, and while this wasn't exactly what I was looking for, it was similar.  I found it at Goodwill for 3.99.

I removed the black plastic piece surrounding the bendable arm to give it a bit more of an industrial feel (and less of a plastic-y feel).

I gave it a coat of primer, and then a couple of coats of Rust-oleum's Hammered Metal spray paint in Dark Bronze.

And here's how it turned out.  I didn't notice until I was editing these pictures that the top of the lamp is slightly out of focus, but honestly, I just didn't feel like retaking it.  I realize that's a blogging no-no, but I just have too much going on right now to be too worried about it.

It's an improvement, but I'm still not completely happy with it.  It's not quite the right shape that I'm wanting, and I wish that I had gone with Oil Rubbed Bronze instead of the Dark Bronze.  If I get a bolt of energy and motivation maybe I'll change it's color.  But don't count on it.  (Hubby insists it looks like the Pixar lamp)

I took a close up of this little guy 'cause I thought you might be wondering about it.  It's an old rusty drain pipe/gutter guard that I got at a yard sale for .25.  I dropped in a votive and holder and voila...a cute candle holder.

It gives off a nice glow at night.

It'll do for now, but I'm still on the hunt for the perfect one.

In other news, I have nothing planned for the next 3 days.  Today begins potty training for Little Man so I'm sticking close to home the bathroom.  It took my daughter 3 days to be completely daytime trained, so I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for similar results with him.  He is very different from her in almost every way, so I'm not expecting the exact same results, but one can always hope.  : )

Wish me luck!

                                         

Linking up to:

Wow Us Wednesdays - Savvy Southern Style

Fun Friday Finds #8

Hello again my faithful readers.  Here we are for another Fun Friday Finds.  The kids and I left the house this morning at 9am and by noon, with my trunk still basically empty, I was feeling like the day was a total loss.  We were finding n.o.t.h.i.n.g.  There were plenty of sales, but just nothing worth buying.  One of the first sales we stopped at I spied a beautiful old wood crate with gorgeous typography, as well as an old wire basket....already spoken for.  I thought for sure that was a sign that this was NOT going to be a good day.  But FINALLY my luck changed and I found 2 sales that made the whole day worth it.

 I think I may start a sub-section of Fun Friday Finds of the fun things I find under the coffee table when I scoot it back to take pictures.  This week it was some scraps of paper, a matchbox car, a toy bus, and a ball.  We did better though, at least there were no popcorn kernels this week.

Total spent - $18

Handful of wooden nickels - .25  (probably will sell unless I find a creative use for them)

There was a whole box of hundreds of these, and I sat there and thought and thought about what I could possibly do with them, but couldn't really come up with much right on the spot.  The lady said that I could just buy some of them if I wanted to so I grabbed a handful.  Later I passed by that way again and stopped in to see what she would want for the whole box, but she had changed her mind about selling them.  Oh well.

Cast iron children's shoe forms - $1 (haven't decided if these are a keeper or for the shop)

These and the next 4 or 5 things came from the same sale.  Once again, my favorite kind of sale.  An older gentleman who was cleaning out his closets and just wanted to get rid of stuff.  Everything I asked him about he would say $1 or $2.  I was tempted to kiss him.

Old Scrabble game - $1

I've seen so many cute projects with these little tiles lately that I decided to buy some for myself.

Hand painted wooden canisters and salt and pepper shakers - $2 (shop)

Vintage Kodak movie camera - $1 and lighting to go with it - $2

I couldn't believe he let this go for $1!  

I didn't know anything at all about these lights and hadn't planned on buying them, but he seemed to really want to sell them to me, so for $2 I just went with it.  I'm glad I did.  Their value seems to be in the $75 range from what I can tell, maybe more since this in perfect condition and even still has the original papers around the bulbs.

Kitty-Kat Parti-Lites - $2

Aren't these party lights hysterical?  They are totally kitschy, and not at all my normal style, but I thought they were hilarious and for some reason I wanted them for my shop.  Again, I'm glad I did.  Their value is anywhere from $50 - $100.

Christmas Advent calendar - $2 (keeping)

This is all handmade with felt pieces stitched together.  The fabric is covering a thin sheet of metal and the ornaments have a magnet in them.  Then each day of December you can move an ornament up and decorate the tree.  As I was editing these pictures I realized the ornament for #19 is missing.  I'm hoping it fell off in the trunk, but I haven't gone out to look yet.

Embroidery hoops and 2 clear plastic ornaments - .25

I've seen lots of different projects with the hoops lately, so I picked them up to add to my crafting stash. The ornaments are the kind you can fill and they make great homemade gifts, so they're going in my stash too.

Girl's play rug - $4

You might remember I got Bubs a play rug for his room a few weeks back and now both kids play "cars" on it every single day.  So H was excited to have a girly version for her room.

Now let me explain why I included a picture of a Little Tikes toy.  Bubs found this same little mower/popper toy at another yard sale and fell.in.love. with it!  He was pushing it everywhere.  BUT, it was marked $4 and to me that's way too much to pay for a used toy like that.  (Everything at that sale was priced high)  I asked the guy if he'd be willing to come down on the price, I was thinking like $2, but he said $3.50 was his bottom dollar.  We passed it up and Bubs lived through it without so much as a hiccup.  Then, 2 sales later we found the exact same mower for .50!  Now that's more like it...and Bubs was very excited!

Ok, I saved the best for last.  Well, the best in my opinion because it was my favorite of the day.

Old wooden ironing board - ??  Patience....patience, I'll get to the price in a second.

When I first spotted this it was folded up leaning up against a wall and at first glance I thought it was just a regular, modern ironing board.  But then I caught sight of the wood....and then the metal...and then I turned it over and saw the vintage label and I was in love.  I thought for sure it was going to be way out of my price range.

Just look at that combination of aged wood and metal.  It doesn't get any more purdy than that I tell ya!

I thought for sure I had read the price tag wrong and even asked to make sure, but yes, it really said......$2!!  Yep, rub your eyes and adjust your glasses if you want, but I really did just say two dollars!  Woo hoo!

The label says it was patented in 1909 and even has the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.  That was the same year GH started giving those seals of approval, so this has the potential to be one of the first products they did that for.  I think that's pretty neat.

There's no going to the shop for this piece, this baby's all mine. 

When I took this picture I thought there were only two layers of muslin type fabric on it, but as I was folding it up to put it away I realized there are actually 4 layers on it!  I'm dying to know what the wood looks like underneath.  

But that will have to wait for another day.  Right now I have 7 giggling little girls sprawled out in my living room watching movies and eating popcorn....and now I think they're ready for the Oreos, so off I go.

                                               

Linking up to:

Saturday Nite Special - Funky Junk Interiors
Wow Us Wednesdays - Savvy Southern Style

Rustic Sign with Reclaimed Lumber

  Remember I showed you this sneak peek picture last week?  Well, today I'm sharing one of the projects I completed with that wood.    

I had been on the hunt (a.k.a. watching the side of the road) for the perfect wood for a project for our bedroom, but hadn't had any luck.  Then one day a couple of months ago, Hubby and I were cleaning out the shed and I came across these pieces of wood that went with the extra bed frame we had stored in there.  We put the bed in the garage sale pile and I kept the wood for myself.  I figured whoever bought the bed could find their own wood.  Anyways, they were perfect for the bedroom project so I rescued them.  There were actually 3 of them, but for some reason I only stuck 2 in the picture.  

BUT....the bedroom project has nothing to do with today's show and tell.  A week or so ago I received an invitation to a wedding shower for a cute young couple in our church who are getting married next month.  It was to be a household shower and gave the typical places they were registered, but it also mentioned that their style is rustic.  My wheels began turning on what we could get for them that would be cheap, but not cheap.  Know what I mean?  Cost effective/frugal/easy on the wallet.  You understand.

At first I was thinking the usual - Walmart gift card, bath towels, or crockpot, etc.  But then it dawned on me...a 3rd piece of extra wood...rustic style...no money involved...but meaningful.  I decided to make them a sign.  I already had almost everything I needed so there wouldn't be much money involved and it would be more meaningful than say a gift card.  That is, if it turned out ok.  Otherwise they might have had a mini-shopping spree.  Very mini.

But thankfully, I was satisfied enough with how it turned out.

1) I used my Cricut and some scrap paper to figure out the size of the letters, spacing, etc. and then marked it for Hubby to cut.

2) I used my vinegar and steel wool solution to stain it.  (Handy tip - be sure to wear gloves if you ever use this solution.  I didn't and my fingers still look like I dipped them in iodine and it's now 4 days later.)

3) I then cut out a stencil pattern using the Cricut and some Contact paper, and over the next couple of days I painted each section as I had the time.

4) I tasked Hubby with the job of putting in the picture hangers.  His left brain is much better at getting things straight on the first try.  These were the only things I had to purchase for this project.

Here it is all painted, but before I sanded it to finish off the rustic look.  This is only the 2nd sign I've made and I'm still learning.  There are things I wish I could have done differently, a little bit better spacing, etc.  But hopefully they aren't as picky as me.  Hubby's opinion is that only 1% of people in the world are as picky as me, so I was pretty much counting on that.

And here it is finished up in all it's rustic-ness.

Since I don't get to do "rustic" for other people very often, I decided to have fun with it and continue the rustic theme right on into the wrapping.

I started with brown craft paper, layered with a vintage sewing pattern, and topped with a vintage newspaper article (found inside the sewing pattern).  

I wrapped that with twine, added a small wooden spool from my collection, and tucked in a few Queen Anne's Lace that were growing in the yard.

I thought the whole thing turned out pretty cute, and the bride-to-be seemed to like it so I think it was a win.  : )

                                                

Linking up to:

Wow Us Wednesdays - Savvy Southern Style
Saturday Nite Special - Funky Junk Interiors
Sunny Simple Sunday - Sunny Simple Life

Fun Friday Finds #7

Welcome back to Fun Friday Finds. 

 I didn't actually go to any garage sales this week.  I decided I just had too much going on with VBS and a birthday party, and an extra large Etsy shipment to get ready, so...I didn't go.  It was kind of rainy anyways, so it's probably a good thing I hadn't been looking forward to it like usual, or I would have been disappointed.

But....I do have some things to show you none the less.

Last week on Saturday, we decided to take a little family trip to a town about an hour away from here.  We had heard they were having a "Trading Days" flea market.  Well, as it turns out it wasn't very big, maybe only 12 vendors or so, but I did find some good things.

A pair of great old metal pulleys for $15.  These things are heavy, I'm guessing maybe 15lbs each.  I haven't decided if I want to keep one and sell one, or sell them both.  (Can we say "flat rate shipping box?")

Two great little wooden levels - $3. 

 I think I'm keeping these.

An old feed sack for $3.  

The man who was selling these said he got a whole tub of them at an auction for $4!!  He only had 3 of them with him at this sale, and this was the nicest of the three.  I'm thinking of keeping it and using it as a photo prop for some of my Etsy pictures.

A stop at Goodwill during the week produced some clothes for the kiddos and I, and this funny little glass jug cloche thing for the shop.

And this last piece was a side of the road find for free.  It's a good thing it was just at the end of our street 'cause I could just barely wedge it in my trunk, and then I drove very slowly back home as it hung out the back.

I'm thinking it was a display rack for a store or something, maybe to hold bread or pastries.  It has casters on the bottom of it.

I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with it yet, I have a few ideas swirling around in my head, but I wonder what you think?  What would you do with it?  What creative things can you suggest?

                                               

Linking up to:

Saturday Nite Special - Funky Junk Interiors

Busy Week & A Few Sneak Peeks

Today's post is just going to be a few sneak peeks of some projects I have in the works.

This week is a busy one for me.  Our church is having their VBS and I'm helping out each night so I won't have as much time to post.

But I have a few things in progress so I should have something fun to show you soon.

Hang in there, I'll be back.