Inspired Living: DIY Yellow Bedroom Lamp

I've spent the past couple weeks working on a few fun projects around our apartment. I love my home, but I've lived here for more than 6 years, so lately things have started to feel a little stale, cluttered, and just generally uninspiring.

Since I work from home and often have to entertain here for work, the problem is further compounded. This year, I decided to work on making my home a place that I'm really proud of. I want a space that feels inspiring and conducive to the kind of creative work that I do. I also thought it would be fun to share a few of these here with you!

Hudson, testing out the new bedding & pillows.

I started out with my bedroom, creating some new storage, bringing in a few new pieces, and adding some brighter colors with the help of a new duvet and curtains. When I first moved in here years ago, I painted the walls in my bedroom a gorgeous shade of marine blue (the shade is called "Deep Blue Sea" by Behr, but I had it matched in Benjamin Moore Aura paint, which is one of my favorites).

I kept that as my base, but switched around the accents (previously chocolate brown + lime green) with bright yellow and charcoal. I'm loving the new colors, which feel joyful and elegant against the blue paint.

I had an old lamp that my mom bought me for my bedroom back when I was in college. I've had it on my dresser for years, but it was never very useful as the dark old-fashioned shade blocked most of the light. Whenever I did my make-up, I would take the shade off, and then put it back on when I was done--not the best solution in the world.

So I decided to do something about it! I bought a can of Krylon Sun Yellow spray paint and a new lampshade from Target, and got to work. To prep, I wiped the lamp down very well, and then put the cable inside a plastic bag. I should probably have taped the fixture part a bit better, but eh...whatever. It's hidden by the shade.

The painting process took about four days, since I had to do multiple thin coats. Patience is key when spraypainting. And admittedly, it's not ideal in the freezing winter since you have to open the windows to ventilate, but fortunately the lamp is small enough that it would only take a few bursts at a time and I could close the windows in between coats.

(I definitely wouldn't try to spraypaint a piece of furniture indoors!)

I wanted a bit of the dark to shine through in order to highlight the details, so I stopped once I reached a point where I was happy.  I let it dry a full 48 hours before putting it back on my dresser and topping it with the small shade I bought at Target.

The new lamp looks gorgeous on my dresser, and the light bucket shade lets a lot of light shine through. I'm super happy with it!


****
Love Always Order Dessert? Let's connect! Follow me on Twitter or Pinterest, become a fan on Facebook, or sign up to receive my once-a-week e-mail updates. And if you ever need any entertaining or cooking advice, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. Thanks for reading!