I scored this broken vintage floor lamp for free off marketplace.
I took this sad lamp home with plans to replace the broken electrical wiring, paint the stand with a bright pop of color and source a new lampshade to complete it's look. Read about how I makeover this vintage floor lamp into a funky statement piece of decor for a retro style living space, all on a very low budget!
-Ol' Bettie DIY
Let's talk about another Dumpster DIY!
What the heck is a dumpster DIY?
I have a love for taking old items and materials that have been thrown into the garbage due to being broken, unuseful or maybe just plain ugly, and transforming them into something awesome! I also find satisfaction from utilizing trashed materials, or an old piece of furniture to be something functional and attractive knowing that I was able to achieve it for next to $0, plus I saved the materials from being thrown into our landfill. For a DIY project connoisseur, I don't think it gets much better than that!
Yes! This chevron address sign was made out of garbage!
I have been creating brand new decor items out of material such as marker sticks that were pounded into the ground by pipeline companies and later chucked into a dumpster bin behind the building I work in. I have now dumpster dived twice pulling out as many of the those sticks as my body could contort to reach, out of there. These, along with my scrap wood pile that lingers in my garage, I have more than enough material to plan out small DIY projects and keep them on a low budget.
A great place to source budget material before heading to the big box stores, is your local ReStore Habitat for Humanity. If you don't know where I am talking about, it is a store where tons of different building supplies and home items get donated to, and sold to the general public to be reused. I'm in Canada, so your country may have the same sort of store but a different name.
Check out more Dumpster DIY projects like this one by heading to olbettiediy.com
Check out this cute lamp makeover!
As mentioned above, I scored this lamp from a lady off of marketplace. She posted this vintage floor lamp up for $10, I messaged her immediately and said I was on my way. While I was headed her way, she messaged saying, "I'm sorry, but I just discovered the lamp won't turn on, it must be broken so I am tossing it in the back alley by the trash. If you still want it, that's where it will be."
Could I fix the electrical in a lamp? Will it be worth picking up garbage and taking it home just to possibly bring it to a donation center? Is it a cool enough lamp to go through the trouble? Clearly, I thought it would be!
I got my inspiration for this bright colored vintage floor lamp from a room tour video on YouTube, where an item of similar color was displayed and I thought it was such a great way to add in a pop of color without going too overboard. So, when I saw this lamp on marketplace, I immediately thought it would look so great in a retro light blue color! I'm not positive what the year this lamp would have been made in, but I could imagine early 80's maybe late 70's could be possible? If you happen to know, let me know!
What supplies did I need for this DIY
I already owned most of the items needed to do this DIY, however you could source most of them budget friendly from your local ReStore(or building supply donation center).
lamp wiring kit (I found one at my ReStore for $3.99)
wire cutters and needle nose pliers
painters tape
120 grit sandpaper
cardboard or plastic for a backdrop to paint against
newspaper for covering surface area (for me it was the glass tabletop)
spray paint color of your choice
spray lacquer in clear (if you want the extra finish added)
lamp shade if your lamp doesn't come with one (you can easily thrift one for a couple dollars like I did)
Side Note: I do not know anything about electrical, so please do not try anything I am sharing ahead unless you are confident doing so, or have someone to help you!
How to paint an old lamp on a budget!
Following are the steps that I took to take this old broken lamp and turned it into a colorful, unique accent piece for a retro esthetic interior.
Step 1: Remove the old wiring and housing. DO NOT MAKE MY MISTAKE. I immediately thought to cut off the plug end of the wiring so I could pull the cord out and make room for the new one to slide in. WRONG. I learned later that the best way to fish through new wiring, is to use the existing wiring as a feed.
What you want to do is cut the plug off the end of the cord, then simply tape together the new wire end to it so it creates an extension of the old wire.
Now you can pull the old wiring out while the new wire is following through behind it waiting to fish through the opposite end. Once the new wire has made it through, then you can proceed to remove the tape to separate the wires, and expose of your old wiring. I wish I realised this technique earlier as it was a huge pain in the butt to get that sucker fed through that tiny metal rod hole!
Step 2: Now that the new wiring is fed through, it's time to install the wires into the new housing. I am not going to share any details on doing this because I am not experienced nor qualified to tell anyone how to wire electrical. What I can say is follow the direction sheet your lamp wiring kit came with or get help from someone who has experience.
I was able to get mine installed with some serious patience and it definitely took me a couple tries to get it right. I made sure to test the electrical by placing a light bulb it the lamp and sure enough, it worked!
Now that your lamp is lighting up again, it's time for the makeover!
Step: 3 Use painters tape and scrap paper to cover up any areas of the lamp you don't want painted such as the power cord and bulb housing.
In my case, I have a glass table top to protect so I covered the top and bottom of it with scrap paper and painter's tape to protect it.
Step 4: Prep for paint! This old lamps' body is all metal and covered with a shiny brass finish, so I needed to take this step to insure my paint would adhere properly. You don't want your new paint job to scratch off or wear down.
I simply took my 120 grit sandpaper and began to scuff up the shiny finish, you may need to take this step as well depending on what finish your lamp has. If you do need to sand prior to painting, make sure you are wearing gloves and a mask. The finish actually scuffed up fairly easy and it only took me a few minutes to do. An alternative to sanding a shiny finish like this would be to spray it with a primer. You can buy spray paint primer at your local hardware store, it does come in handy for projects that are awkward to paint.
Step 5: Set your lamp on a cardboard or plastic backdrop and get ready to paint! I chose the color "Hidden Sea Glass" by Behr in a gloss spray paint rather than a can of paint. The reason why I chose to spray paint is not only that spraying is a MUCH faster painting method for something awkwardly shaped such as a lamp, but also how flawless the finish comes out. To brush on a paint would be time consuming, plus it would leave horrible streaks and voids all over the item which you would need to sand down of buff out before each additional coat.
I effortlessly sprayed on 3 coats of this beautiful blue paint, while allowing each coat to dry overnight, although I believe you could do all 3 coats in one day if you spaced out the hours enough. I highly recommend this nifty spray nozzle tool to add to your DIY box as well. This spray paint attachment is genius and makes spray painting so easy and smooth. Just push the nozzle onto the top of the spray paint can until it clips on, it can be a little difficult to get on at first. Now you're ready to spray your piece with ease! This nozzle attachment should be available at at your local hardware store as well as Amazon which I have provided links to:
Step 6: Source a lampshade for your lamp if it didn't come with one. I found this white cylindrical lamp shade at a thrift store for $2, although it did have some stains on it which I knew I could clean out of with a scrub brush and some solution. However, I do plan to recover this lampshade with something suitable to the lamps new retro vibe!
So, stay tuned for a continuation of this vintage floor lamp makeover!
How much did this DIY project cost me?
(I am not counting in the tools and supplies I already owned)
Lamp: Free
Spray paint: $17.98
Lamp wiring kit: $3.99
Lampshade: $2.00
Total: $23.97 and one more item saved from the landfill!
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