DIYs, Recipes, Furniture, Art - Whatsurhomestory

Your family's story through your home

  • Home
  • My Story
    • Contact
  • Our Home
  • Tutorials
    • DIY & Crafts
    • Furniture Makeovers
    • Sewing
    • Gardening
    • Room Makeovers
    • Home Tours
  • Holiday/Seasonal
    • Christmas
    • Winter
    • Spring
    • Summer
    • Halloween
    • Fall / Thanksgiving
    • Parties
    • Indian Holidays
  • Recipes
  • Advertise
    • Privacy Policy
    • Features

The Story of a $5 Lamp Base

September 17, 2014 By Vidya 6 Comments

The Story of a $5 Lamp Base

As with all the stories with me these days this one too started on Craigslist. I was looking for Chinese Ginger jar lamps for a while but never found them as a pair or in my budget. A few months went by with me following up with every seller I found but nothing seemed to work out. Then I came across these 2 ladies….

The Story of a $5 Lamp Base

And for the price of $5 each!  I had to go to Montgomery county, MD to pick these up. You know, I had my daughter in the car (I was picking her up from dance) and wasn’t sure if I had made the right decision to pick something up from someone I found on Craigslist. Thankfully I had checkout the neighborhood and the place out in advance. It was Spring, the house was on top of a hill, a hill full of Azeleas in peak bloom. Azeleas in every color possible. It was so pretty! I could have just gone there to see that pretty sight. The lamps were just a bonus. The lady who was selling these turned out to be a flea market seller. The day I went to pick these up one of the flea markets that she had planned to go had gotten cancelled because of rain and her home was full of the stuff she had to sell. I mean every nook and corner of her living room and hallway was filled with loads and loads of vintage and antique things. I was like a kid in a candy store and in my excitement I tried to explain to her that I’m a home decor blogger n all. But sadly I couldn’t have picked a more inappropriate time to pick up my lamp goodies; she was having dinner and didn’t like that I interrupted it and wouldn’t go instead I was chatting away to glory about how much I loved this stuff. I soon sensed her discomfort and made a quick exit. I did get the details of her Spring market location though (haven’t had a chance to go check her store out yet but that is a different story).

Anyways I did find my vintage lamps, they are painted white glass and brass but the brass were in pretty bad shape all tarnished and spotty.

The Story of a $5 Lamp Base

Nothing a little Brasso and elbow grease can’t fix.

The Story of a $5 Lamp Base

Look at all the yuck that came off!

The Story of a $5 Lamp Base

After a second round of scrubbing we were talking nice and shiny.

The Story of a $5 Lamp Base

Here’s a zoomed out shot of the clean and polished lamps.

The Story of a $5 Lamp Base

When I put them up in the newly painted guest bedroom something seemed lacking, you know like it needed a bit more pizzazz.

The Story of a $5 Lamp Base

That’s when I remembered I had some left over Liquid Gilding from my frame project. Ta da!

The Story of a $5 Lamp Base

Sorry, didn’t take an pics of the process. All I did was take a brush and paint a line on both the edges. It was that easy. Like I mentioned in the gilding post, be sure to do this outside as the smell is very strong. And you do need to air it out for a couple of days.

The Story of a $5 Lamp Base

What a difference a touch of Gold makes! It finishes off the piece, don’t you think? I think I’m going Gold crazy! Everything looks better to me if it has a touch of Gold. How about you?

← $50 HOTTT.com Giveaway Pumpkin Decorating →
« $50 HOTTT.com Giveaway
Pumpkin Decorating »

Comments

  1. lrahmeyer says

    September 17, 2014 at 11:02 am

    Love the lamps and shades with the gilded edges. Perfect with the rest of this beautiful room!

    Reply
    • Vidya Sukumaran says

      September 19, 2014 at 9:53 am

      Thanks Irah.

      Reply
  2. Vintage4YourHome says

    September 17, 2014 at 12:46 pm

    That’s a bargain on those lamps., I have only one.. Left by my grandmother and love it

    Reply
    • Vidya Sukumaran says

      September 19, 2014 at 9:54 am

      That is so special J. I hardly have any heirlooms. 🙁

      Reply
  3. Reshma Sanjeev says

    September 17, 2014 at 3:39 pm

    Worth the $5.

    Reply
    • Vidya Sukumaran says

      September 19, 2014 at 9:54 am

      🙂

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Hi! I'm Vidya, an IT professional by day, a mom to my 2 darling monkeys, a wife, a home maker, an avid gardener and home decor/ DIY enthusiast round the clock, and a blogger in my free time. Read More…

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
subscribe img

Categories

Love this outdoor space with a beautiful red and blue outdoor decor with a flamingo pillow, metal tray side table, and loads of green plants

Finally the long overdue post, our new screened in porch reveal. This space has undoubtedly become our favorite room in the house now. To tell you the truth, I was against the idea of ripping apart our good size deck and replacing it with a screened in porch but B insisted that this was the…

Read More »

Archives

Features

Features

Networks

POPSUGAR Select Homemarthabadge1
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

HOME | MY STORY | OUR HOME | TUTORIALS | HOLIDAY/ SEASONAL | RECIPES | TIPS & TRICKS | ADVERTISE | PRIVACY POLICY | FEATURES | SITEMAP
DIY, Crafts, Recipes, Gardening – Whatsurhomestory.com COPYRIGHT © 2020 WHATS UR HOME STORY

Like What You See? Subscribe to Receive WUHS Posts via Email!
Your information will *never* be shared or sold to a 3rd party.