lamp project

I painted my living room lamp the other weekend.  My mom got this lamp at a yard sale when I was little - little enough that I don't remember not having this lamp in our house.  I was at her house last fall and it was just hanging out in the hallway, on its way to the basement to be stored.  So I asked if I could have it and she said sure.  It felt very 70's to me - an oatmeal colored urn-ish base with a burlap tall drum shade.  I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it - paint it white and swap the burlap shade for one in white so it would brighten up that corner even when not lit.  Originally, she didn't want me to paint it in case she wanted it back, but she eventually relented.  And I finally got around to painting it.  Three coats of glossy white spray paint later and I was done!

It even felt a little Jonathan Adler-esque due to the tone-on-tone design around the middle.

And I had bought a black and white floral drum shade from Target - part of their Liberty's line, natch.  I mean, look at how freaking pretty this is!

I put it all together (forgot to take a picture) - and - hated it.

The white of the shade turns cream when turned on and isn't designed to go with a harp while my lamp base is so it's not very sturdy.  And then the base is just too flat of a white.  It looks awkward.  And as much as I tried to talk myself into the black and white print and how I have lots of other black and white accents in the room, I knew that it just didn't go or fit my vision for this room.

So I went back to the burlap shade, thinking I would recover it in a pretty color.  But...hmmmm...now the white base doesn't seem as stark.  And I could always paint the end table in the same shade.  I've wanted to paint it for a while anyway...

Then I figured it out!  I don't need to fully recover the shade, I just need to add some ribbon trim.  Maybe Greek key in green and white?  A formal detail in a funky color, which is exactly my style.  Off to scour the earth for ribbon that blends these two pictures!