Lighten Up Your Lighting by Taylor

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I wanted to share with you an easy way to update the lighting in your home.  As many of you know, good lighting can help your room go from cold and dark to warm and inviting.  You don't have to pay hundreds of dollars for lamps either.  I found this lamp at Goodwill for around $10.00.  It was a newer lamp, so I knew it was a good price.

The shape of the base of the lamp looked like it had good potential and I could already picture what it would look like if I painted it ivory!  At home, I took the shade off and spray painted the base.  I then took my sandpaper and sanded the paint off of some areas to create a scruffed up shabby chic look (of course!).  

I didn't really like the old burgundy lampshade, so I swapped it for a floral lampshade from a lamp I had bought at Marshalls.  By the way, most home stores sell shades (I like Marshalls and TJ Maxx's Homegoods stores and Target).  I even ended up selling the old shade for 5 dollars at our yard sale, so I got half my money back!  This is the finished product:

 

 I hope you like it!  I'm gearing up for a new school year, so I'm sure I'll be grading lots of papers by the light of this lamp!