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 :)

   

Starting in the living room

A few months ago, my fiancé and I emigrated to the US and moved into the most British house we could find! It’s a 100 year old brick house on a cobbled street, with a lovely relaxed landlord who didn’t mind us decorating.

Apart from it’s beautiful wooden floors, it’s also all a little bit run-down, which leaves plenty of room for DIY and to make it our own :)

We started with the living room, which is currently a tired old yellow.

The living room with it’s wonderful floors and yellow paint. It looks rather cosy here, but a little bit tired and dark in real life

I love modern rustic designs, with lots of glass and reclaimed wood and plants and pops of colour.  The type of thing that’s airy and elegant and full of light and space:

Or something a little like a less cluttered version of our old apartment

My old apartment furnishings

Plenty of books and light and colour

So it was a little on the cluttered side!

So the first part is to paint the living room a bright neutral colour and to buy a slipcover for the sofa. But which colour? Neutral? Red?

I quite like the idea of red…..