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Hello hello hello! What a busy and productive weekend! Not in a fun way, just did a lot of little projects around the house that we’ve been putting off for way too long. Anyone else do that? Put off so many 2-minute projects that by the time you get around to them, it’s a full day of projects? I’m such a procrastinator sometimes.
It started out innocent enough, hanging pictures, patching nail holes in the walls, etc., then I became my own worst enemy… I get antsy. I need a change in the house – more frequently than C would like. I do little things like changing out the artificial plants, and that keeps it at bay a little, then I just go crazy every couple months. This weekend was crazy time.
The way the rooms in our house are laid out, it’s hard to rearrange furniture. Which is probably a good thing! So to get my fix, I move other things around. Nothing that hangs though, because then I get myself stuck patching holes, and who wants to do that?? Lamps, picture frames, plants, clocks – they all get new homes! Doesn’t seem difficult, except when you have OCD like me. I will stand there for 20 minutes moving something back and forth, front and back by about an 1/8 of an inch until it’s just perfect! And as I’m walking between projects, I’m doing that with every object in the house that has gotten out of place. Then I just end up cursing myself because I can’t walk away!
One of the other projects this weekend was lamps. I haven’t decided yet if this project makes me happy or sad…
Here’s the story –
When I moved out of my parent’s house and in to my apartment {I can’t believe that was over five years ago!}, my new bedroom and living room didn’t have lights. Instead, they had a few sockets wired to the light switch so that your lamps would turn on when you flipped the switch. But I didn’t have lamps. Hell, even if I did, I didn’t have a nightstand or end tables to put them on. So for the first few months, at night, I only had the light from the entryway/hall, kitchen, stairs, bathroom, and closets. When that wasn’t enough, I had a flashlight. Seriously.
I bought a few lamps, but what was in my budget {mind you, I was ramen noodles poor at the time}, was pitiful little lamps that really did nothing for me, so I just returned them.
Then my papa came across a set of lamps and bought them for me. They were ugly as sin, but I used them! 1) I needed lamps. 2) They were bright! and 3) I thought it was so sweet that my papa saw them and thought of me. I’m a very sentimental person {it drives C crazy}.
I shouldn’t say they were ugly as sin… They’re beautiful, really. And I’m sure when they were made, they were very much in style. But they’re solid cast brass (very heavy). Who likes brass anymore? Not I.
Fast-forward to last year when I moved in with C. He already had a lamp in the bedroom on his side of the bed. I didn’t feel like I needed one on my side, plus my nightstand lamp didn’t match his at all, so I gave mine away. I couldn’t part with the lamps from papa though. We really had no need/place for them, so they’ve been in the attic ever since.
Now to the present. Since graduation, I’ve started reading again. The lamp on his side of the bed wasn’t cutting it, and I didn’t like having to get back up to turn the light off after I was snuggled in bed, so I decided it was time I get a lamp for my side.
Is it just me, or are lamps really expensive for what it is?? We were going to relocate his and buy two matching ones for the nightstands, but it would cost around $50+. I don’t know that I want a lamp that bad… Then we were in the attic this weekend and saw the brass lamps in the corner.
Here’s where the project begins. We started looking at them, and found out that the sections come apart; they’re just sitting on top of each other with a metal pipe down the center.
We ended up removing the straight section, and C cut down the interior metal pipe. We didn’t like seeing that straight part, it made them look really awkward. They were also a little taller than we wanted, so that worked out nicely. We had two white matching shades in the attic from our old living room lamps that broke {the new lamps came with shades}. Added a coat of metallic silver spray paint, and TADA! Much better!
There was a sticker on them that said Stiffel, so I started doing a little research. It about made me sick. I couldn’t find the exact lamps, but I found this similar pair being sold for $1600!
Holy moly, I was sitting on a goldmine!
I also found this article about Stiffel which I thought was really interesting.
But honestly, at the end of the day, the sentimental value is priceless to me. I’m extremely happy to be using the lamps from papa, and we killed two birds with one stone!
What do you think? Do you like the way they turned out, or are you still digging the brass? Would you have sold them?
I made a few cards this weekend also. These were first:
I was relatively happy with the one on the left, but clearly, the other ended up being a disaster. After a couple of stamps, I had to go ahead and sprinkle my powder on, because I couldn’t see the embossing ink. Then I realized that the ink background still wasn’t dry – the power was sticking everywhere! So I wiped off the powder, hit it with my heat tool, then gave it another go. Still not dry! Then not only was it sticking to my stamping and the wet ink, but also where I had stamped the first time. I gave up. I didn’t want to start all over, so I just went with it and wiped off as much excess powder as I could. C actually liked the way it turned out, he thought it was intentional and that I was trying to make like a starry night/galaxy. I’m just calling it “abstract.” Ha! What do you think?
Then this was my second bunch:
I was really happy with them, but then somehow in the five seconds between me showing them to C and taking this picture, I managed to smudge something on the front of the yellow one. Of course I would! 😦 I’m going to play with it and see if I can cover it. Thankfully the Distress Ink will reactivate with water. I’m going to try to “bleach” it, then reblend that spot. Wish me luck!
A couple of after-thoughts:
- I can’t cut a straight line to save my life. I had to fussy-cut my vellum, because my paper trimmer is one of the ones where you slide the blade across, and it would scrunch the vellum up because it’s so thin. Eventually I would like a dye cutting machine, but in the meantime, I’m going to invest in one of these. How do you cut your small sections of vellum?
- Also on my shopping list is Ranger Multi-Medium {or any other suggestions??}. My roll on adhesive just doesn’t cut it under the vellum.
- I need more stamps!!
Tell me about your weekend. Have you ever defaced a piece of furniture that was worth a decent amount of money?
-L
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