30 Year Old Lamp Redo

A long, long time ago, when my parent's got married, they bought all new furniture for their fancy sitting room.  Maybe not a long, long time ago, since I did reveal that they have been married for 30 years here.  So 30 years ago (approx), they bought two lamps that looked like this:

Now, said lamps were a tad bit more maroon than this picture would lead one to believe.  They did, at one time, have lampshades.  And 28 years later, my parents decided to FINALLY redo their living room and get rid of these lamps.  And guess who inherited them? Why yes, that would be me.


However, given my addiction to spray paint, I REALLY wanted to change their color.  But my roommate wouldn't let me get rid of the maroon.  We are, after all, Bulldog fans.  Maroon just suited our MSU apartment.  But, when David and I got married and moved, all spray paint limits were off.

I informed David that I was going to be spray painting our lamps, and he, like my roommate, was skeptical.  But he came home one day to spray painted lamps.  Now, if you've already seen photos of our home, you may recognize these lamps from our bedroom.  If not, you can go here to see our home.

I started with primer spray paint and added my favorite oil rubbed bronze spray paint and wound up with this...

I loved the change! But I was beginning to regret throwing away the lampshades as I could find NONE that would fit these lamps.  I needed them to be big, but not overpowering.  Enter my mother-in-law who took me to a place in West Memphis, Arkansas to purchase cheap shades.  And they match our bedspread so well!  You can't see all the way in this picture, but there are stripes that sort of somewhat resemble zebra stripes on the shades.  You can see our bedspread next to the end table and you can tell how well they match!

I love these lamps.  1. Because they were free.  2. Because they have family history. 3. Because if I want to throw them away and get new lamps one day, it won't be a big deal.  Here's hoping I can do it before 28 years of marriage.  The lamps would be approximately 58 years old then!  And maybe by then, there will probably be a new form of electricity!

They are perfect for us right now though!  Let me know what you guys think!  {More projects to come this week...as I did the projects 3 months ago and am just getting around to sharing}.