Turning an ugly duckling lamp into a swan

I seem to have an entire closet full of old lamps, pillows, and other random accessories that at one time, I must have thought were really cute. Not so much now. I have had a pretty ugly wood-looking lamp with weird circular cutouts for several years, not knowing what to do with it. This all changed the other day when I was shopping for a client. I saw this lamp at IOMetro.com.

I really liked the way it looked, and I had a lightbulb moment. I could spray paint my ugly lamp to get this same look! Of course, it wouldn't be exactly the same, but I can live with that if I can save $150!

So, I started with a can of spray paint. I gave the entire lamp base several coats. I also gave the shade a coat. It was kind of a dingy beige and needed some sprucing up. I apologize for not having before pics.

This is the lamp after spray-painting over the ugly faux wood look.

I wanted my lamp shade to stand out, and I wanted it to coordinate with my bedding. I bought a $5 stencil at the fabric/craft store, and used some orange spray paint to add this really neat pattern to the shade! I just made sure to cover/tape everything that I wanted to keep white.

Here is the finished product! MUCH better, and for only about 7 bucks!

It is now sitting on my dresser in my bedroom. I think it looks great with the pillows on my bed!!