Make Your Own Pottery Barn Look-a-like Lamp

Why pay high prices for the looks that you like for your home? It is much more fun to recycle and redesign items into the looks you like. I fell in love with a Pottery Barn lamp. Needless to say it was well over $100.00. So I decided to make my own. I kept my eye out for lamps at the local Goodwill. During one trip I found matching wooden bases. Then all I needed were the perfect size of matching shades.  Bases, shades and the following items were all I needed to make my version of a "Pottery Barn" look-alike lamp:

Enough burlap to cover shades
White Flat Spray
Paint Black Flat Spray Paint
Paint Adhesive Spray Paint
Trim
Hot Glue Gun
Scissos

 

Find a base you like.

 

 

Spray a light coat of flat white spray paint.

 

 

Spray with flat black spray paint.

 

 

Sand off edges to allow the white to come through giving a  vintage look.

 

 

Next find a shade that has a good size and shape in proportion to base.

 

 

You will need enough burlap to cover shade.

 

 

Cut burlap to fit shaed.  (Note: You will need to cut on bias.)  Spray adhesive to fabric and cover shade.

 

 

Glue trim to give a clean edge.

 

 

And for less than $30.00 I have two lamps I love.  (And obviously my daughter loves them because somehow they ended up in her room!)

 

 

Leave comments with ideas you might like to share.

 

 

 

 

DIY Pillow Form (A Recycling Project)

To recycle cotton cut old pillow casing away from cotton.

  

 (Or you may purchase cotton.)

Use light weight cotton for cover.

 Iron if needed.

Create a straight edge the size of pillow you desire.

Create a square or rectangle.

With right sides of fabric together pin around all edges.

Mark two “Xs” for starting and ending place.

Starting a “X” stitch a 5/8 allowance.

At corners raise pressure foot and lower needle and pivot.

Stop at “X

Clip all four corners.

Turn pillow casing right side out and stuff.

Stitch up opening.

You have recycled an old pillow into a new pillow form. To cover pillow form see: Decorative Pillow Form Cover Tutorial

Stainless Steel Friend or Foe

Are your stainless steel appliances working for you or are you enslaved by them?  Are they friend or a foe?  A few years ago we built a new home.  Like most women I wanted the latest and most popular trends for my kitchen.  I have always heard that you should put the most money into your kitchen and your bathrooms.  So I decided to get stainless steel appliances.  And don't get me wrong, I think stainless steel appliances are sleek, classic and beautiful. THAT IS WHEN THEY ARE CLEAN AND WITHOUT FINGERPRINTS, SMUDGES, WATERMARKS AND SUCH!  I work myself silly and drive my family nuts trying to keep them shiny and spot-free.  So if we were to build another home I don't know if I would choose stainless steel for my appliances or not.  PROBABLY!  I probably would if that was the trend. And yes I would be enslaved to them and not know if they were friend or foe.

You might also enjoy:

Cleanups around the Kitchen

Laundry Tips

Shop Taste of Home Individual Products Baker's Treasures 3-Book Set N/A N/A 3 19.99

Cleanups Around the Ktichen

Appliances:

• To rid yellowing from white appliances:  1/2 cup bleach, 1/4 cup baking soda and 4 cups warm water.  Apply with a sponge and let set for 10 minutes.  Rinse and dry.
• Use WD-40 to shine stainless steel appliances.  Follow the grain of the stainless steel.

Dishwasher:

• Run a cycle with white vinegar to help clean filters.
• Fill dishwasher with dirty dishes.  Put a bowl in the bottom of the dishwasher.  Pour 1 cup of white vinegar into the bowl and let the dishwasher go through the entire cycle.  This will remove all film not only from glasses but from your dishwasher too.  (Never put silver, aluminum or brass in the washer when doing this method.)

Clogged Drains:

• Pour a cup of salt and a cup of baking soda into the drain followed by boiling water. 

Garbage Disposal:

• Grind a half lemon or orange rinds in the disposal to remove any unpleasant odor.
• Grind ice cubes to loosen debris.

Refrigerator:

• An open box of baking soda will absorb food odors for at least a month or two.
• A little vanilla poured on a piece of cotton and placed in the refrigerator will eliminate odors.
• To prevent mildew from forming, wipe with vinegar.  The acid effectively kills the mildew fungus.

Sinks:

• For a white sink, place paper towels across the bottom of your sink and saturate with household bleach.  Let set for 1/2 hour.
• Rub stainless steel sinks with lighter fluid if rust marks appear.  After the rust is gone, wipe with your regurlar kitchen cleaner.
• Use a cloth dampened with rubbing alcohol to remove water spots from stainless steel.
• Spots on stainless steel can be removed with white vinegar.
• Club soda will also shine stainless steel.

Similar Posts:

Stainless Steel Friend or Foe
Laundry Tips

Vinegar

I have a Home Economics degree, so I guess you could say that makes me a home economist.   I sometimes wonder why I chose that field.  But then when I look at all the things that have intereseted me in my life and my hobbies I guess I get my answer.  A Home Economics degree is kind of like vinegar IT COVERS IT ALL!   There is a saying that, "All I ever needed to know I learned in Home Eonomics." (Today it would be Family and Consumer Science.)   Well one thing you can't do without in your home is vinegar.  Did you realize vinegar has many uses?  Here are a few of my favorite vinegar tips: 

Cleaning:

• Clean the microwave by mixing 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar and 1/2 cup water in a microwave-safe bowl. Bring it to a rolling boil inside the microwave. Baked-on food will be loosened, and odors will disappear. Wipe clean.
• Remove the grime on the top of the refrigerator with a paper towel or cloth and full-strength white distilled vinegar.
• Remove soap buildup and odors from the dishwasher by pouring a cup of white distilled vinegar inside the empty machine and running it through a whole cycle.
• Spray shower doors with full-strength white distilled vinegar after you’ve squeegeed the glass, or before you step in and turn on the water. This helps release the hard water deposits so they don’t remain on the glass.

Laundry:

• Remove perspiration odor and stains on clothing, as well as those left by deodorants, by spraying full-strength white distilled vinegar on underarm and collar areas before tossing them into the washing machine.
• Forgot that you left wet laundry in the machine and it now smells moldy? Pour a few cups of white distilled vinegar in the machine and wash the clothes in hot water. Then run a normal cycle with detergent.

Health and Beauty:

• Make nail polish last longer. Wipe fingernails with cotton balls dipped in white distilled vinegar before putting on nail polish.
• Get rid of heartburn:  Take 1T. of apple cider vinegar for heartburn.  (Heartburn has to be really bad for me to do this.  But it works.)

Cooking:

• Tenderize meat with white distilled vinegar. Use it in marinades or when slow cooking any tough, inexpensive cuts of meat.
• Make onion odors disappear from your hands by rubbing with white distilled vinegar.

These are just a few of my favorite tips.  I actually found a website that list over 1001 uses for vinegar.  Check it out:
1001 Uses for Vinegar

Oozing with Talent

"Is there anything that you can't do?"   That is often my question to my sister.  She is oozing with talent.  And since she is not the type to toot her own horn, I am going to TOOT it for her.  I have always admired the many talents that my sister possesses.  She is the "Jack of all Trades" but she would say, "And the Master of None".  Just to mention a few, she can draw and paint just about anything. A few years ago she actually made a good living painting Christmas shirts for the Opryland Hotel and was featured on QVC. A better seamstress you couldn't find. She has decorating skills that others acquire through training.  She can create something from very little. And as of lately she has been upcycling and redesigning beautiful furniture items. But probably one of the most noteworthy characteristic is that she is..."all that"...but yet one of the most humble, kindhearted individuals that considers herself, "Not all that".  So when asked,"Is there anything that you can't do?", she will continue to laugh and say,"Yeah lots" as she puts the last finishing touches on the headboard she is building.  And I will just shake my head and think to myself how my sister is "OOZING WITH TALENT!"

Salvaged and Redesigned Furniture