Before and After: A Family Heirloom Lamp Is Renewed and Re-Loved with an $87 DIY
Whether in chandeliers, sconces, or drop-down pendants, white frosted glass globes are a trendy bulb shape and shade in lighting at the moment.
One of DIYer and blogger Morgan Nelson’s (@palmettohighway) recent projects finds a way to mix the contemporary shape with an older silhouette — a three-arm brass lamp that was actually Morgan’s family heirloom.
“This was my grandmother’s lamp that she used to have in her home,” Morgan says. Although Morgan liked that the piece had a family connection, she hated its dated style, especially the glass skirt shades.
“I decided to paint the base black and add white globe lights to give it new life in my home,” Morgan says.
She used a self-etching primer and then used black spray paint to cover the base. Morgan was worried because she typically struggles with a smooth spray paint finish, but her Rust-Oleum primer worked well for her project, and she recommends it for similar brass coverups.
Her other spray painting tip? “Spray in sweeping motions rather than just holding down the buttoned covering it as quickly as possible,” she says.
Although Morgan likes the final look, she says if she were to do anything differently, she “maybe wouldn’t have been so quick to paint it.”
“Maybe I would have liked the globes on a brass base, but I think it’s too late to go backward now,” she says.
Morgan’s favorite part (or three favorite parts, rather) of her new lamp are indeed the glass globes. “They look so great in my space,” she says. They would have been an easy add except for the fact that she dropped the third one during the installation process and it shattered.
“I ordered two more, and now I have an extra, just in case,” she says. “If I had the paint, primer, and globes beforehand, this project could have been completed in a day! It was super easy and just required time for paint to dry!”
In total, the project cost about $87 (including the backup globes)— $15 each for the globes, $6 for the primer, and $5.50 for the spray paint.
“I’m most proud that it’s actually being used,” Morgan says of her revamped lamp. “I hated having this family piece just sitting in storage. Giving it new life feels like I’m bringing my Nana back into my home.”
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