I’ve been dying to share my latest second hand find. This morning Cora was compliant enough to let me take some pictures [while she kicked around on our bed], and I was even able to get a bit of a blog post together too. I am feeling very together and boss-mom. For now. I suspect this is a fleeting feeling.
A week or so before Christmas I stopped into Second Abbey to see if the gloriously kitsch dove lamp I spotted months before was still there, and luckily, it was [I’ve had terrible luck lately with things I’ve not bought being long gone the next time I go back to buy them]. The lamp was in good condition [meaning, it wasn’t broken], but it was in need of new paint as it was yellowed and scratched, and a new shade was desperately needed [the current shade was transparent red ribbon wrapped around the wire and looked terrible when the light was on].
First I cleaned and repainted the doves with white furniture paint. Robert wasn’t too keen on the dove’s anatomically correct beady red eyes that looked directly into his soul, so I painted them white along with the rest of their bodies. Don’t worry, they’re just sleeping! Very in keeping with their new bedroom environment.
I next focused on updating the lamp shade. The shape of the original shade really didn’t suit the lamp. It was far too narrow and made the lamp look very bottom heavy, so on Monday evening I headed to B&Q with crazy lamp in hand and tried a bunch of shades for size. It came down to either a gold glitter lamp shade [which I was very in love with but it unfortunately gave off a very strange glow when the light was on], or a rectangular black shade. As you can guess, the black shade won. The shape is so perfect for the lamp – it’s hard to tell but the size of the shade perfectly balances the oblong lamp base and anchors all the crazy going on below. But the lamp’s update is not completely finished yet. Because our bedroom is painted nearly black, the black shade disappears into the background. I’m thinking of maybe re-covering the shade in a different fabric and adding sassy tassels, but I’m going to take my time and think about what colours and textures might suit it before rushing into anything.
Yeah, it takes up nearly my entire bedside table, but I give zero cares. I just look at how amazing it is and then I get over it.
It's just simply gorgeous, Alex! Wonderful that you saw the potential in it & personalised it in the way, only you can xx Enjoy every second of it – I'd be exactly like you! Bet you're constantly looking for excuses to go in to the bedroom, just to have a peek! (P.S. Bravo Cora for letting Mummy blog xx)
Thank you so much Hilda! You're so right, when I'm in our room I fuss over it a little bit when I'm tiding my side of the bed. It can't be helped!
Awww I think it looks ace with the black shade! And I agree with Robert, those red eyes were freaking me out a little. A nice shade of white works perfectly and turns it from batshit crazy to perfectly awesomely crazy 😉 Also yay to Cora for being a little star for Mommy!! xx
Hahahah, I saw its perfectly awesome crazy potential behind all that batshitness! And so did Robert, and right away! I was so proud of him when his face lit up when I showed it to him. He's come so far.
I didn't appreciate what you'd done with this, in the glimpses I'd seen before. But now seeing a close up of how the doves looked before, I really love how your painting has transformed them! As well as covering the chips/scratches, it's made them look softer and more serene, very good work!
xx
I forgot to mention in the blog post that I had to use a mental nail file to chip away at some of the build up crud that was on the poor love doves for I don't know how long. So there was a bit of work put into it! And I didn't realise how bad they looked until I put the before and after photos together … They weren't doves before. I don't know what they were in that colour!