Master Makeover: Repurposing Lamps

UPDATE:  These lamps were chosen as one of the Top-Ten for The CSI Project in the Lamp Challenge.  Thank you!

First master bedroom post {HERE}.

Our lamps, pre-master re-do, were from IKEA.  Nice & functional, but didn't give out a lot of light, so I knew they would get replaced, eventually.

When we got the furniture set, it also had 70s-style gold lamps (with pleated shades) to go with it.  Definitely NOT going to fit the feel of the room.  However, with a little bit of spray paint and the right fabric remnants, I was able to help them fit the decor perfectly.

I LOVE how they look now.  It was super-simple too.

GATHER IT:

• old lampstand
• spray paint
• spray primer
• plain white lamp shade (I got mine at Target)
• fabric (I needed roughly a 1/2 yd for two medium-sized shades)
• spray adhesive
• scissors

CREATE IT:

1. Prime & Paint the stand.  We got Valspar gray primer & Rust-oelum Hammered Metal paint.
2. While that's drying, work on the shades.  I wanted the crisp lines of a square-shade, so keep that in mind, as we go.  If you have a cylinder shade, skip to step 6.
3. Spray one side of the shade with spray-adhesive.  I worked on the long sides first.  Then, place it on the wrong side of your fabric, preferably near an edge, so you don't waste any fabric.  Cut a 3/4 inch border around the glued side, so now you are just working with the bit of fabric on the shade.
4. Spray the corner of your shade and press the extra fabric, gluing it down to the shade.  Repeat on the other side.  Then work on the top & bottom seams, spray the shade and wrap the fabric around the little metal bars.
5. Repeat steps 3 & 4 for the other long side.  Then repeat for the short sides, however, there is ONE BIG difference.  When you go to do the corner seams, tuck in your extra fabric underneath itself, then glue it down to the corner.  This makes the seam flush with the corner & not frayable (it might be a word).
6. FOR A CYLINDER SHADE:  Congratulations!  You will not have to piece it together.  Simply, spray the adhesive onto the shade, sections at a time.  Then press the fabric onto the sprayed section.  Continue the whole way around your shade.  Just before the last section, measure out the fabric you need to finish the cover, add 3/4 inch to that, then cut.  Continue, by cutting a 3/4 inch border around the top & bottom.  Tuck in the extra 3/4 for the seam, then spray it on the shade.  Finish the top & bottom seams by spraying the shade  and wrapping the fabric around the small bars.
7. Step back and admire your ability to make something old... new again!

Super simple and it adds so much to a room!

I link up {HERE}.

Master Makeover: The Bed

So--- my excuse THIS time (for not blogging so much) is that I'm pregnant.  I'm actually almost 24 weeks along, which is why all of my blogging (including our family one) has suffered dearly.  He's a boy and due mid-September.  We're really excited, especially since I had two miscarriages last summer.

I haven't stopped creating (you could even say my body is doing the ultimate of creating right now, ha), so I have A LOT of past crafts to share (including travel ideas & a Star Wars Birthday Party).

Today's is actually a recent story.  Since Mr. Nag and I got married (EIGHT years this summer--- whoa), we have never had a great Master Bedroom.  In college, we started off with a full-sized mattress, rented from the school.  A few months into that we bought a barely-used queen-sized mattress for super cheap, since the couple we bought it from didn't want to lug in across the Atlantic (completely understand).  As of two weeks ago, we still slept on that mattress.

When we moved into our first home, one of the first things on my list (besides organizing my pantry) was to work on, little by little, our Master Bedroom.  I really like the Oriental-style of design, especially for a room that's supposed to take me away from the chaos of every-day life.  So, keep that in mind as we go.

Last summer, we painted.  Took the standard 'toasted almond' color out and brought it two shades of blue.

It made a world of difference.

Then, in March, we found out that Mr. Nag's step-mom was moving across the country and wanted to give us the California-King Master Bedroom furniture set my father-in-law and mother-in-law bought when they got married... 30 years ago.  It was even complete with a waterbed.  Totally 70s.  We really wanted it, but were slightly discouraged at how DATED it was.  Deep dark brown stain, brass/gold hardware, the works.  But, we were determined, all we had to do was chemically strip and sand the stain.  And by we, I mean, Mr. Nag because I was barely out of my first trimester and banned from helping.  My part of the help was picking out the stain color. :)

Here's the bedroom after the paint, but before updates. 

Megan--- Mule--- painted the kanji above our bed a couple years ago.  The color palette of the room comes from a Japanese picture we have hanging on the wall opposite our bed.

After a couple months of many nights in the garage, he completed the bed two weeks ago.  Here's the  in progress after (ignore my pregnancy body pillow on the floor):

We absolutely LOVE it.  He still has an armoire, dresser and nightstands to re-do; it's his 'before the baby comes' project.  When he does, I'll hound him more about tips & tricks he has to re-finish furniture.

A close-up of the stain:

To fix the bed, because we weren't about to keep the waterbed, we just updated the plywood-base and bought a new memory-foam mattress on Amazon.  We let it poof up right in the frame, so it fits perfectly.


Next: The new lamps.