DIY painted lamps

A little while ago, I posted some inspiration pics for turquoise lamps.  Turns out I had great directions from my commenters over to a DIY step by step at Isabella and Max from Barbara at HodgePodge, and a perfect example to follow from Emily at Name 5 Things.

It all started with a trip to Home Depot (since we're there all the time I have to occupy myself by looking for something exciting, beyond the wood or nails or whatever functional thing we are buying). On this trip I found a PAIR of lamps for $13 (I didn't put them together for the before picture, but you get the idea):

When I bought them I knew immediately I wanted to paint them turquoise - and figured the worse thing that can happen is that I don't like them, and turn around and sell them on Craigslist (and probably for more than the $13 I paid for them!).

So I went through the tutorial and prepped and primed them with spraypaint. I tried to get even coverage and made sure to do light coats. I did 2 coats of primer:

Then it was time for the fun part - the colour!! I did 2 coats of "aqua" spray paint and 2 coats of gloss spray - easy add on for this project since I could only find the colour of spray paint I wanted in a "satin" finish, but I was going for a lacquered finish. I lightly sanded a couple of rough spots between the primer coat and the colour, but other than that it was pretty smooth:

Nice and glossy!

Here is the full finished product:



Cost for this project:

Lamps (2):  $13

Spray paint (primer, turquoise, and gloss - $6 each): $18

Total Cost: $31. Considering it is next to impossible for me to find a lamp that I like under $50 I think that's a success!

Watch for full bedside photos to come once I finish painting our bedside tables.