Before and After Party!

It's a par-tay people!!

I feel like I should title this post "Lamp Pass and Lamp BIG FAT FAIL." I recently redid two lamps and only one turned out like I had hoped. The other...well...notsogood. The first started when I found this cutie little drum shade at Goodwill for $2.99:

I am quickly becoming obsessed with drum shades. I just think they are uber cool. I had been wanting a new shade for the lamp on my self-made sofa table in our living room for ages. The shade I had there was just so GINORMOUS:I was just going to cover the denim, but when I went to remove the trim, it all came off pretty easy. Then I realized I could just peel the fabric right off the shade. Who knew?:

I had some extra fabric from try No. 2 with our dining room drapes years ago, and I covered the shade with it like I showed you here.

Drum shades are easy peasy to cover, no angles to worry about. ;)

For the unfinished edges on the inside, I always add a little trim (also from another project):

A little hot glue does the trick!

The trim also helps to cover the uneven fabric that you wrap around the top and bottom. The fabric looks fine without trim covering it until you turn on the light -- then it shows all the edges.

Loverly!:

This one is a pass, right? I think so. I absolutely love it!

The next one...well. I'm not so sure about. I wanted a new lamp for our dresser in the bedroom and was on the lookout for something with a cool shape at Goodwill. I found this one for $7.99, brand new with tags:I LOVED the shape and size. The color of the wood, not really. I already have three spray painted lamps in our bedroom, so I was really hoping to stain this one instead.

I sanded this sucker down with my electric sander because the finish would just not. come. off. otherwise:

I was so stinking excited, thinking how GORG it would be with my walnut stain!

Uhhhhhh....no. It looked like total butt. It was so uneven and just grody. I didn't even take a picture because I was so totally annoyed I had just spent all that time sanding the blasted thing.

So, once a spray painter, always a spray painter I guess:

Oh yeah, I know it looks OK from afar. I sprayed it with my oil rubbed bronze paint, and it's OK. But oh my goodness, the finish is SO uneven. It's a Mona Lisa -- you know the type. Looks good from far away but when you get close...ewwww...

It's not the crack that bothers me, I like that. Dang it! The pictures don't do this thing justice. For the first time in eternity, the picture looks BETTER than real life. How often does that happen? Usually it's the other way around. I am OK with it...it's staying so when I get over my tiff with this one, I'll work on it more... ;)

So what before and afters have you got to show off today? I can't wait to see!

You know the drill -- use the link from that post, not to your blog, to link to the party. (I have to delete those -- and I don't like bein' mean!!) :)