I have a thing for ugly lamps. A love and makeover story.

I totally have a thing for ugly lamps. I don't know why. Don't judge me.

One of my more recent acquisitions was from - okay try to stay with me on this one - a former neighbor's (kind of) ex husband's deceased father. The family had one of those junk cleaning companies coming over so we went and pillaged anything that was remaining that we wanted. We got some good stuff: an ancient, but built to last dehumidifier; a snowblower; a lawnmower; some crazy cool salt and pepper shakers; a beautiful old camera; an East German coffee carafe set; a mini picnic table set; a lamp that looks like a lantern (which is a future project) probably stuff I am completely forgetting about...and this beauty...

Gorgeous isn't she?

A closer look at the coloring...yes it is olive green (with black speckles) and black. And don't get me started on the shade, but that has a happy ending too!

I may have mentioned before...the people at my local home improvement store might just think I am responsible for half the graffiti in the city with the amount of spray paint I buy.

Outside with this lamp for her new look...

I debated what color to paint her. I want it to be shiny and bright so I bought both a glossy white and a silver.
Silver won.

Spray paint is my fav because I am such an instant gratification woman. In a matter of minutes I had a whole new lamp with a whole new much classier look. This lamp turned out so gorgeous!!!

Now the shade had to be dealt with too. You couldn't put the hideous monstrosity back on this now shiny lamp.

Besides my addiction to spray paint, I also have developed a small collection of the sample size paints. My last trip to the store I wasn't sure if I wanted a yellow (you can see it on the cardboard in the above picture) or a dark purple. I was painting another lamp shade in out guest bedroom and those two colors matched the bedspread...the guest room has the yellow shade.

Left over was a gorgeous purple called fashionista! Bring it on...

Here is an actual before picture...I always forget to take before pictures. I get so excite about the project all documentation flies out the window.

I used a foam paintbrush and went to town...

It was amazing how much paint this bad boy soaked up, but remember it is probably a 40 year old lamp shade,

The shade turned out so much better than I could have ever imagined...the whole project actually. The lamp went from ick to awesome.

Here it is finished in the garage (waiting for the shade to dry).

And here it is back in the house...

What a difference.

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!!!

After looking at it for a few days I asked myself - aka the internet - if you can paint the inside of a shade. This one was still that old yellowy dingy color.

Guess what???

Of course you can. I was going to brush on a metallic craft paint, but would need to go to the store, so I used most of the rest of the silver spray paint. 

It is really hard to take pictures of the inside of a lamp shade...

The beginning.

I did need to touch up the edges with the purple paint, but it is pretty awesome.

It looks like a frying pan...a cool silver frying pan.

Back in the house. It is really tough to get a good picture with it lit.

It is really amazing how much the silver helps to reflect the light. Before the silver the purple absorbed quite a bit of the light.

SO happy with how it turned out!

So the moral of the story is I learned quite few things with this project...

• Painting a lamp can completely transform a room
• YES, you can paint a lampshade
• YES, you can paint the inside of a lampshade
• YES I am sure I will be doing this again...I have a lampshade I covered (very poorly) in fabric and I see a pain job it the near future. I just need to check on my pain supplies first...