So.....no one sells pink lamps. Like, nowhere. (Except the short pink lamps at Target.) When I started down this path I had no idea the difficulty involved in finding a not-lilliputian and not-covered-in-butterflies pink lamp. Or I would have come up with a different plan. Beware, all ye who seek pink lamps. Behold my sorrow and despair.
I don't want to spray paint lamps. I have done it before (see here, here, here, here, and here) and it is always a pain. I hate spraypainting lamps. I prefer to avoid this debacle if possible. Plus, I didn't have any lamps that I wanted to cannibalize.
So, I was going to buy some pink lamps--the only non-miniature pink lamps anywhere on the internet under $299 apiece--from Lamps Plus. They have multiple shades of pink, and depending on the model lamp, they are about $99 to $150 per lamp. However, just to be sure of the color, I stopped by a Sherwin Williams to check out the paint chips. My front runner was Coral Reef, which is a very pretty coral on my computer screen:
and very brownish-orange on the chip (although if you google SW Coral Reef many beautiful bright pink rooms come up):
There are other shades, but most of them are Pantone colors. Apparently until two weeks ago, you could get Pantone paint chips at your local Lowes. But the day I decided to order a lamp in a Pantone color, Lowes got rid of that display.
I decided to hope for the best and get one of the Pantone color lamps, sight unseen.
Then I took three kids to the dentist and got a bill for 12 teeth with sealants, and decided that I would give spraypainting a go after all.
I used my least favorite lamps--a pair of yellow ginger jar lamps, one of which that has a wonky harp that I'm hoping I can fix. I already had primer and pink spraypaint in the garage. The pink was a pinky-pink with blue undertones, not like the coral in the rug, but it was in my garage and free. I put on three coats, it came out nice but sort of flat, even though the paint is gloss.
Everything was going so well I decided I would attempt a clear gloss coat, even though my experiences with that in the past have been bad.
Should have listened to experience.
I sanded it down, even though in my experience, once it wrinkles you can either take ALL the paint off, or just get it flat and live with the crackles.
I started again with the primer. It too wrinkled. Sand down, clean off, prime again, lather, rinse, repeat. Four times.
Cookies were eaten. Curses were muttered.
I'm spending a ton of effort and time on lamps that have a crooked harp and that aren't as tall as I'd like them to be. The pink is wrong; everything in the room is coral-ish and this pink is candy-ish. Good advice: stop with these all-wrong lamps and just wait till I can afford new ones.
Does anyone ever take good advice?
I don't want to spray paint lamps. I have done it before (see here, here, here, here, and here) and it is always a pain. I hate spraypainting lamps. I prefer to avoid this debacle if possible. Plus, I didn't have any lamps that I wanted to cannibalize.
So, I was going to buy some pink lamps--the only non-miniature pink lamps anywhere on the internet under $299 apiece--from Lamps Plus. They have multiple shades of pink, and depending on the model lamp, they are about $99 to $150 per lamp. However, just to be sure of the color, I stopped by a Sherwin Williams to check out the paint chips. My front runner was Coral Reef, which is a very pretty coral on my computer screen:
and very brownish-orange on the chip (although if you google SW Coral Reef many beautiful bright pink rooms come up):
There are other shades, but most of them are Pantone colors. Apparently until two weeks ago, you could get Pantone paint chips at your local Lowes. But the day I decided to order a lamp in a Pantone color, Lowes got rid of that display.
I decided to hope for the best and get one of the Pantone color lamps, sight unseen.
Then I took three kids to the dentist and got a bill for 12 teeth with sealants, and decided that I would give spraypainting a go after all.
I used my least favorite lamps--a pair of yellow ginger jar lamps, one of which that has a wonky harp that I'm hoping I can fix. I already had primer and pink spraypaint in the garage. The pink was a pinky-pink with blue undertones, not like the coral in the rug, but it was in my garage and free. I put on three coats, it came out nice but sort of flat, even though the paint is gloss.
Everything was going so well I decided I would attempt a clear gloss coat, even though my experiences with that in the past have been bad.
Should have listened to experience.
I sanded it down, even though in my experience, once it wrinkles you can either take ALL the paint off, or just get it flat and live with the crackles.
I started again with the primer. It too wrinkled. Sand down, clean off, prime again, lather, rinse, repeat. Four times.
Cookies were eaten. Curses were muttered.
I'm spending a ton of effort and time on lamps that have a crooked harp and that aren't as tall as I'd like them to be. The pink is wrong; everything in the room is coral-ish and this pink is candy-ish. Good advice: stop with these all-wrong lamps and just wait till I can afford new ones.
Does anyone ever take good advice?
Oh my gosh. I had such hopes. I kinda knew with the sentence about sealant that this wasn't going to end well for you. I have so been there. I make a wrong move, and then I just keep going down that bad path because I want it to work, dammit. And I'm stubborn. (Luckily, this was just lamps. Trust me, it can be much worse. Like, when it's marriages.)
ReplyDeleteYour pink lamp day will come. I know it.
Ha, you knew after sealants? I didn't even talk about the five cavities, that would have been an even bigger giveaway. You're right, it is just lamps. I'm grumpy about it, especially since I told myself I am not going to waste my time with DIY this time around, but that's apparently what I did. I may just move the itty bitty lamps back into my bedroom (I will have to wrest them away from Princess first), and just wait until some other fabulous lamp reveals itself.
DeleteOh my word, this is so me. I do this stuff all the time. I think I have the same exact rug. I bought it on impulse at a thrift store and it doesn't go with anything in my living room. So now I have to either get rid of my couch and chairs and start over or sell the rug. At least I got it for a song and hope to make some money if I sell it. But, I kind of like it and am sick of what I have but can't really afford to replace the couch/chairs and you never get any money trying to sell them, at least not enough to replace them. Then I went and bought two overstuffed chairs on Craigslist and when I got them home - oops! they were huge! So very huge! They didn't seem huge in the lady's house where I got them from. Now do I sell the chairs and the rug or keep the rug and sell the couch and other chairs or sell everything and start from scratch or sell the new chairs and rug and go back to what I had originally?
ReplyDeleteGoodness! If you're on a budget, I'd keep the sofa and sell everything else. The big chairs will always be too big, and the rug will always not match everything else. The hard part about furnishing one's house inexpensively on craigslist is that it takes a long time to get the right pieces.
DeleteHi Lisa,
ReplyDeleteso sorry that the you are having all these problems. Is there anyway that you could add something to the base of the lamp to give it extra height without it looking silly ? Or would you reconsider adding pink lampshades to white or brass bases ? I have seen a fabulous tutorial somewhere where they make lampshade covering seem so easy . There was a post at cottage and vine on April 13th that has lovely hints of pink that you might like looking at to cheer you up.
Kind Regards
Cathy
Don't worry, Cathy, I have solved all my bedroom problems. My bedroom looks fab; pictures to come. I even recovered some lampshades. However, now my living room is having issues.
Delete