The Reality of DIY

Tuesday a few girls and I stopped by a local thrift store before our community group. I was excited we found some gems, not literally of course but some great pieces. One thing I've been on the look out for is a new lamp stand. Our old one held two bulbs but a friend broke one and it was too dim after that. We were at the store for 30 minutes or so and I left with... 

This old, broken wall clock ($1.51 - WHAT?!) that I plan to add a mirror and some TLC to and have something like this...

or this...

I'm not sure if I should paint it a gold like color or something different? What do you think?  I also picked up a new bed side alarm clock (also $1.51!) for Ian. I say Ian because Aubrie is my alarm :) 

The last thing I found was a lamp stand, it wasn't 'perfect' but it was do-able. I was so excited to spray paint it and finally have a cute, working lamp for our living room. The next morning after Ian went to work Aubs and I went on the hunt for some spray paint and a simple white shade. We went to 3 different stores... Home Goods with no luck, Target, where we got a shade and Meijer where we got the spray paint. I was already tired from carrying Aubrie in and out of the stores and traffic around here right now is ridiculous but I wanted a completed lamp! So I got to work... The stand was not brass, but a faux wood type material so I sanded it down a bit then started spray painting. What I didn't take into account was 1. the wind and 2. that Ian cut the grass that morning. As I began spraying, a gust of wind blew grass from the morning cut all on my wet lamp stand. !!!! Ugh. I was annoyed. I tried gently to pick off some of the flakes and in doing so obviously smudged the wet paint. I then tried to re-apply paint over the smudged areas to cover up my finger prints. In doing that I sprayed too closely to the lamp and the paint started to drip. !!!! Ugh... getting more annoyed. I decided to take Aubrie and myself inside to cool off (emotion wise, not temperature wise - it was pretty cool out yesterday). I had a granola and played with the girl in the grass a bit.

After we played I re-examined the lamp stand... it looked hideous. I got the sand paper and started sanding the jagged areas with hopes of re-painting in. Remember how I mentioned it was faux wood? Basically the sanding did nothing but make it look more hideous. So I tried hot water and a wash cloth to rub out the imperfections (or something?) and nothing worked. I threw a mental hissy fit and got Aubrie back in the car and we went back to the thrift store. This was not what I wanted to do but I was too far in already. I found another stand ($3.98) and actually liked it better then the first. Things were starting to look up, all I had to do was not screw up this one.

At home I tried the shade I bought on for size, to see if it'd match well. It was too small. !!!! Annoyed all over again. Ian and I went out to dinner and on our way to pick up Aubrie stopped by Target and exchanged the shade with a bigger one. Then I tried that one on for size and it was the wrong kind. !!!! Seriously?!?! I've never bought a lamp shade before so didn't know there were types that need a 'harp' piece and some that don't. Well this second stand I bought needed the harp piece. I went to bed feeling defeated. I knew I'd done too much work and spent too much effort to give up now and buy a lamp from Home Goods or something. This morning Aubrie and I bought that harp piece and I carefully, slowly, cautiously, painted that darn lamp stand.

Flowers from a bush in the backyard and a thrift store vase ($.95)!

Mission accomplished! Happy mama, baby and daddy. He's happy because I stopped talking about the dumb lamp - he's also not a big fan of the color but there is NO WAY I'm re-painting it. Ha ha the nerve. Now just a few tips so you don't get into the fiasco I did. 

- Fully inspect any piece you are planning to DIY

- Take your time

- Spray paint in the right conditions and not on the grass

- Basically have common sense (I seem to forget that at home sometimes)

-Spray paint lightly and farther from the piece then you might think. It's better to do 3-4 coats then have a ruined piece from thick dripping paint. 

That's all I can think of - thanks for reading.