DIY antique burlap floor lamp

   

The lamp is finished!  In my last post (here), I took this old lamp which was lovely but not quite the style I needed, primed it and was trying to decide on my next steps.   Spray-paint was my first option, but after testing it I realised it wouldn’t look as realistic as I was hoping.  Then I discovered the great American invention Rub n Buff……………..

Here’s how to do it yourself

The base

1 – Find an old lamp – this cost $10!

       

Cover anything you don’t want to paint (e.g. wires) in primer. I used white, but wish I had chosen grey.  Leave at least 24 hours.  See here for more details!

2 – Cover the base in antique gold Rub n Buff (I got mine from Blic art store), rubbing on with bare fingers, then buffing with an old cloth.  Leave at least 24 hours.  Realise that you don’t really like the colour because it doesn’t look metallic enough!

3 – Gently apply several coats of Spanish Copper Rub n Buff, applying the first layer quite thickly with very little buffing to fully cover with colour, then the following layers thinly with lots of gently buffing.  I found this out because the spanish copper doesn’t spread as evenly and can rub off the original layers.  Watch several movies during this process.

It turned out to have a lovely copperish hue – with an extra red tint from the antique gold underneath

The base is done!

The shade

1 – Take off any existing material, until you’re down to the bare shade

2 – Buy a cheap glue gun (mine was $2.50!)

3 – Take burlap and wrap around shade, gluing in place at regular intervals – I used painters tape to hold the shade in place.  Don’t use too much glue though as some of it started to show through the plastic.  Once the burlap smoothly covers the sides, cut and stick down a narrow margin over the top and bottom.

4 – I’m not that neat, so I realised that my wiggly base line showed through when the lamp was on.  So I made margins using more burlap and heat n bond.  I folded a 4 inch wide strip in half, then folded each side in half again & stuck in place using an iron and heat n bond, using a cloth to stop everything sticking to the iron!

  

Finished!

Here’s a before & after :)