I saw the light

Before

Ok, I can finally post about one little project I have been working on here and there for a while now. It really isn't quite finished as Matt will need to put a layer of polyurethane on it, and I have a couple more small touches to do to it. But as much time as I feel I have spent up close and personal with this project, I am ready to be d.o.n.e. and post it.

I noticed this cute lamp at Kirklands a while back before we even knew whether we were having a boy or girl. By the time I decided I wanted it, the lamp had been marked down to clearance and our local Kirklands no longer had an "N". As usual, my mom came through for us and found the appropriate letter at a Kirklands near her.

And thus, the fun began! The lamp was two shades of green which is far from Natalie-ish (or at least the colors of her room). So I pulled out my cheapo craft paints that I used to paint the chipboard letters for her name and started painting.

Painting and painting

And painting.

Painting some more.

And yet, still painting.

I made the mistake of not sanding the lamp before I got started. It had a glossy coat over it which made the initial coats of paint I tried adding look like a tiny yellow film over the green. Matt is sitting beside me as I type this and wants to be sure that I add in the fact that he told me before I started that I needed to sand it or to just spray paint it. Of course, being the intelligent wife that I am, I ignored his silly advice ... and paid the price.

The lamp and I have been one now for what feels like half of my existence. I cannot begin to tell you how many layers of yellow I added. It felt like 47,000 (but I am afraid that would be an underestimate). Anyway, I think it is safe to just say if you do decide to paint something, check first to see what type of material is already on the surface and make your life easier by removing it first! Lesson learned.

So as much time as I spent painting this thing, you can now understand why I want to say "sayonara" to the lamp and put it on Natalie's dresser where I don't have to work on it anymore!

The rather easy part was adding some matching ribbon over the existing green ribbon and spicing it up a little with some beaded trim. Here is the result:

After

Like I said, there are a couple of other things I'd like to do to it, including adding a little wooden butterfly near the bottom. This thing was so close to being totally complete that I couldn't resist making a post for it. Matt is getting closer to completing his big project, so hopefully I will get to share that with you soon. He is doing a great job so far! I just wish I could help, but it involves chemicals and stain, so Natalie probably wouldn't be too happy with mommy helping with such things!

Matt's suggested title for the blog was "I love lamp".