Shopping In My Own House

BEFORE                                                                     AFTER


Most of you know by now that, when I get to decorating my house, I tend to run around my house looking for things I'm not using and re-purpose them. I'm in the middle of decorating my guest room, but the colors I chose were dark evergreen, black, white, and silver.  

I found a lamp I wasn't using, but it clearly was more Roman than modern, and I knew I had to at least try to paint it.

First, I thought that maybe kind of "pouncing" it with a sage green would be a good start, then layer black and taupe.

I then tried to "pounce" some black into the creases and all around the base.  I stepped back at this point and realized that, even though I did want it to have black, it was getting really dark.

This is what it looks like up close.  You can see that I still haven't covered all of the brown underneath.  Don't be afraid to paint things!  You can see how it's just sort of pouncing paint all around.  

So then I started adding a light taupe but keeping black in the creases and all around the base.  I ended up liking the lighter taupe better, so virtually none of the green remained when I was done with this color.

Closer view...

And even closer on top...

And a closeup of the bottom.  Sometimes I used a paper towel to wipe off paint to make things look softer.

I found a new lampshade on Amazon for $12.  I like the way it looks against the evergreen wall and on the black night stand. 

I think it works quite well in the new guest room - way better than the "before" version!  Don't be afraid to paint things.  You can always paint over them!  I'd love to see your favorite projects, too!