Help Me With This Lamp

Home & Garden Discussion and Questions
#1

Ok so, I found a relatively unattractive late 80s or early 90s table lamp, but I saw so much potential in it.

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I immediately knew I wanted to disassemble it and rewire it as a pendant light. (There were actually a pair of these, but pendant lights should be in odd numbered groupings and I don’t need two matching lamps, so I gasp split up the pair, but now I really want to go grab the other one and make an extra for a friend or maybe even to sell…)

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This is more or less what it will look like hanging.

And here is the glass with the old country-blue paint removed from the inside:

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My initial thought was to do a faux mercury glass technique, which is technically opaque but with the spotting would allow light through the sides, plus the opening on the bottom is fairly large, so it will allow a fair bit of light out the bottom. But now that I ha e it all clean and looking like a gorgeous paper lantern, I am questioning it. I could do a black detail in the depressions and a cherry red transparent/translucent on the rest, but I am worried my husband won’t really like the light that casts. Or a sort of frosty white all over so it just glows when it is on. There are so many options here! Help me decide! (All of these would be reverse painted like the original, on the inside, because I prefer that look, and I have already done my research about spray paints and bulb temps so that is a non-issue.)

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#2

I like the frosted look idea. It will be more flexible with any decor.

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#3

That is so gorgeous. I’d go back for the other one!
I love the look of faux mercury glass. If you had both lamps you could try 2 ideas & keep the one you liked best :wink:

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#4

I would have painted the exterior with a sand paint to make it look like carved stone.

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#5

Very cool looking with the paint removed…how do you put in a bulb? Is the bottom opening large enough to put a bulb in? I love it clear but fit it to your style. Can’t wait to see it completed.

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#6

This was also my thought. Also it would provide the most neutral lighting, and since I am making it for a specific place that is low-light I want it to be less moody and more functional.

#7

See, I had already decided to stop and get the other one on my way home today but it honestly never occured to me I could make two different ones and just keep my favorite. Brain stuck in problem solving mode, ignores obvious solution!! Thank you!

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#8

This would also look freaking awesome, but the nature of the space I am lighting requires a pendant. My home’s living room is an unwieldy dimension and has no mid-floor plugs or overhead lighting. I need something overhead, during the off season, in the corner where the Christmas Tree goes. Lol

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#9

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Yeah, it’s quite large. I’ll get a shorter threaded rod than the one the lamp came with, and some additional little bits and pieces, and then just reassemble it upside down from how it came, basically. Plenty of room to change bulbs, but since it is a table lamp, I will have to change, or add to, the actual cord itself so that a) it is long enough to reach the floor and b) it has a switch in it, and also I will have to remember that the switch at the bulb should always be on. I’m going to reuse as much of the original electrical as possible; since this lamp is only about half as old as I am, it’s wiring should be sound and I am not about spending extra if I don’t need to. Lol

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#10

Wow, that is an amazing difference once you took the paint off. I like all your ideas, but have a weakness for mercury glass.

I can’t wait to see what you do!

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#11

I’d vote for frosted, too.
My living room also has a difficult corner where I put the Christmas tree, but I stole the pendant for my studio.

How did you remove the paint?

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#12

I think because the paint inside was never intended to come into contact with anything, including dust, cleaning products, water, or hands or whatever, because it was all sealed inside, there wasn’t any kind of protective coating on it, so I pretty much just scrubbed it off with steel wool, and used hot water and the sprayer on my kitchen sink, and a total of two damp Q-tips, to get into the crevices and crannies. It took all of 45 minutes from beginning to end to disassemble the lamp, clean out the paint, and then wash the whole thing inside and out until it was squeaky clean.

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#13

Wow, I would have been certain it wouldn’t come off, and never even tried! Good lesson.

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#14

When I bought the lamp there were only two things I could think of that would put a spanner in the works. One was that for some reason the base at the bottom was closed or narrow, instead of open. Logically, I assumed it would make more sense for it to be open, and apparently I was correct about that, because it was, but there was always a chance that it would be a closed shape rather than a bell shape, and that would completely derail the project. I was willing to take that chance, though.

The other was that the paint proved difficult to remove. I fully anticipated having to get paint stripper to remove it, but before I spent the money I did a scratch test with just my fingernail, and paint chipped right off, so that worked out. With paint on glass, honestly, outside of acid etching, there aren’t many chemicals that will ruin a glass finish, and glass is inert, so it won’t react weird with anything, so I knew that the worst case scenario would be liberal use of a paint stripper, and that is really no big deal in this case. Turns out I didn’t need it, but never be afraid you won’t be able to remove paint from glass. lol There is ALWAYS a way. (With the possible exception of bake-on finishes like Pebeo glass paint? I don’t know about them. But it’s still just a surface finish, so. shrug)

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#15

WOW! I love your sense of vision and can’t wait to see it all finished! I also think that the frosted look would be great. You’d get quite a bit of light, but not actually see the bulb.

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#16

P.S. I went back over my lunch break and bought the other one. And also almost walked, or like… I dunno, trudged heavily, out of the store with a 1960s La-Z-Boy recliner, fully working, quite comfortable, and in it’s original bright orange red upholstery. I WANT that chair. But no. I resisted.

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#17

I wonder if a matte semi-opaque look of carved stone might still be possible or beach glass.

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#18

I picked up the hardware I needed to make the conversion to a hanging lamp, although I may upgrade it to silver tones at a later date, but my local hardware store had a limited selection, and I am going to go with a shorter threaded rod, so the light bulb will be higher in the lantern bit, but figured I’d post this pic of how it will actually look hanging, so maybe that would inspire more ideas. But I actually think I am pretty set on a matte interior finish to diffuse the light, but haven’t decided if I will paint the irises an accent color or not.

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#19

Looking good!
I wonder how it would look with just the irises matte. Do a light etching all over inside to diffuse the light, then etch just the irises heavily on the outside. It might be pretty subtle, but you could add color later.

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#20

Etch the surface to make it look like Lalique?

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