Bedroom Table Lamp Makeover – Before And After

So after a pretty exhaustive search for a lamp that I could work some DIY magic on to make it look similar, I finally found two of these lamps on Facebook Marketplace for the amazing price of $40 for both.

I actually liked the shape of these better than the original lamp, so I was excited to find them. But because of my excitement over the shape and size, I overlooked just how heavily textured they were.

So they required quite a bit more prep work than I had anticipated. But after a lot of sanding, I finally got all of that heavy texture smoothed out so that I could paint them. I did most of the sanding by hand with 80-grit sandpaper followed up by 220-grit sandpaper. But I did use my orbital sander for the larger flat areas. I tried using my Dremel with a detail sanding attachment for the smaller areas, but it was too powerful, making it way too easy to dig into the actual resin. After it was sanded smooth, it looked like an even bigger mess, but at least I had a smooth base to work with.

Then I gave it two coats of primer. I used Zinsser oil-based primer in the spray can. Here’s a look at the original next to the sanded and primed lamp base.

It’s not perfect, but I was able to be a pretty nice, smooth finish on it.

I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to find the perfect orange, but I did! I’ve never used this brand of spray paint before. It’s called Ironlak, and I found it at Michael’s.

I couldn’t believe how close it was to the orange/coral color in the bird fabric and the coffee-dyed trim for the draperies. The color I used is called Halloween.

I gave it about two coats of paint, let it dry for an hour, and then brought it inside to paint the details.

For the gold accents, I used this liquid gold gilding. This is the Martha Stewart brand, which I’ve had for probably two years now. I don’t even think it’s still available.

I used a small, flat craft paint brush to paint the gold gilding onto select areas of the lamp base, and then I used regular latex paint in my go-to white (Behr Polar Bear) for the white areas.

Once those accent areas were painted and dry, I added a new lampshade that I found at Lowe’s, and it was finished. Here’s a look at the lamp with its new look.

I ended up not using the original finials. I thought they looked too big and bulky, so I opted for new smaller gold finials that don’t draw so much attention. These original finials were just a bit much for me.

Overall, I’m really pleased with how this lamp turned out. I might make a couple of tweaks to it, though. First, I’m not sure that the liquid gold gilding is shiny enough for my taste, so I might go back and add gold leaf to those areas. Also, I think my go-to white paint color is a bit too white. I might need to find another white that isn’t quite so bright for those areas. But I think after I make those tweaks, it’ll be perfect!

And the total cost for each lamp, including the new lampshade, came to about $50. That’s quite a steal!

I think the color is perfect. I still can’t believe that I found the right orange in a spray paint.

So once again, here is the lamp with its original finish and lampshade…

And here it is with its new look…