Old Lamp Shines Again!

Valerie Burge
by Valerie Burge
2 Materials
$2
1 Hour
Easy

I bought a box of odds and ends at auction and when I got it home I noticed there was a little touch lamp in the box. It was old and tarnished and when I tapped my fingernail on the shade it sounded like plastic. It looked like maybe the “stained glass” might be stickers. But I had been looking for a little touch lamp for my sofa table…and this one worked perfectly for size and functionality…so I thought maybe I could jazz it up?

Tired old lamp

The first thing I did was give it a good cleaning with soapy water and then take it all apart. This was easy enough – I just had to remove a few screws.

Cleaned and dis-assembled

As I was cleaning the shade, it started to really shine and sound/feel more like glass than plastic! So I cleaned the shade a second time with rubbing alcohol. And once all the years of dirt and grime were washed away, I was very delighted to realize the shade was glass after all!!

It's actually glass!

The next step was to paint the lamp. I placed the cord inside a baggie and used an elastic band to keep it in place.

Covering the cord for painting

Then I folded up a paper towel to push down into the light socket, to protect it from paint over-spray.

Protecting the socket

Then I painted everything, except the glass panels, with flat black spray paint. I was really hoping the “touch lamp feature” would still work after it was painted. And it did!

Flat black

Then I reassembled everything and brought it to its final destination – my sofa table. 

I’m so happy with the way this project turned out. It was so quick and easy and the cost was next to nothing.  It was definitely a reminder that sometimes a little effort goes a long way.  

Resources for this project:
Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
Hometalk may collect a small share of sales from the links on this page.More info
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
Comments
Join the conversation
4 of 32 comments
Next