Poor crooked lamp
How can I fix my beat-up lamp?
by
Katie
+5
On valentines day while I was enjoying a nice soak. My boston terrier Pearl alerted me to trouble barking.My hubby and other dog were in living room. LUNA our 1yr old lab pointer rescue mix destroyed my lamp. She knocked it over shattering the weighted base.Bit the metal base. The whole darn lamp is crooked. It was my granny's lamp! I will not get rite of the thing. I tried quick temporary fix by securing the base with a terracotta flower pot tray. It stands up now. Everytime I look at it now it makes me sad.Please everybody how can I breathe life into this?
Shade not bent but beat up from fall
My tacky quick fix
Still crooked leaning against window.
String is my valentines balloon from daughters.
Dog claws or bite marks
Sounds like the base of pretty much totaled. Here is a site that sells bases for lamps. That would at least be place to start. http://www.mylampparts.com/Departments/BASES.aspx
You can try to fill in base with plaster. Not sure how it's bent. Teeth marks are just a part of the new history of lamp. It's not an old lamp and if it is, the shade is not original, so go ahead and replace it. Good luck.
Tighten the base up real good. Minus the terra cotta thingy. Once tightened up. Step on base w/ both feet and slowly tilt in the opposite direction. That might help.
the lamp is leaning, there is a nut on the bottom it needs to be tightened
Take a ballpein hammer and make more marks on the Base.. like hammered Copper ... Take the whole lamp to Lowes or Home Depot and let someone help you get it Straightened..if the Shade is ok use it other wise give the whole lamp a couple spray Coats of antique bronze or pewter or silver and get a new Shade...just a Suggestion.
All these answers are super helpful.
My husband and I are debating options.
Thank you guys. Any more suggestions are welcome.
Well this brought a chuckle to my day! I think your tacky quick fix is quite genius!
Wow... sounds like you borrowed my dog for a weekend. Mine has eaten the antenna and bumper from my car and the corner of my cell phone. And now he's learned to jump over a six foot chain link fence and is bringing home shoes from one of the neighbors' houses... I wouldn't mind so much if he'd just bring them home in matching pairs ;)
As for repairing your granny's lamp... I think you've got all the solutions in previous answers. Tighten the nut before attempting to straighten the crooked lamp. The dents can be gently hammered out (It will never be perfect, but the damage could now be considered part of the lamp's history as someone else suggested.) or blended in using a round hammer (the ball-pein hammer previously mentioned.) Damage to the shade isn't obvious in the pictures, but as someone else suggested, the shade can be replaced. If you *must* keep it, use a soft scrub brush (the vacuum attachment would work) and do what you can to clean it and get the nap going the same direction.
Good luck with your efforts... and when you want to puppy-sit again, just let me know, I'll gladly loan you my destructive mutt.