Have you ever been in someone’s home and everything looks amazing, yet there is one piece of furniture that seems out of place with the others and you think, why wouldn’t they just replace it? That’s how I felt about this black halogen floor lamp. It has been the visual bane of my residential existence for over 20yrs, however the blinding bright light it emanates is so brilliant that I could never replace it. I have tried. Catalogs have been poured over, stores have been shopped – there was even the great dry pasta experiment of ’05. Who would have thought uncooked angel hair would warp in the heat?
Inspiration sometimes strikes at inappropriate hours – like 12:45am on a Saturday night, but being semi-compulsive, that’s when I decided covering the ubiquitous dorm room staple in scraps of gold glitter contact paper. If you’re thinking of emulating this project, I recommend using new sheets of contact paper – it will adhere smoothly and be easier to burnish air bubbles.
Embellishments on furniture are no different then jewelry on the body – sometimes I just don’t know when to stop, but I can always justify adding one more thing. The shade seemed a little unfinished so I added two rows of small brass ball chain purchased at the hardware store. I justified this addition as a precaution for potentially uncooperative contact paper strips that may lift over time.
Random (possibly useless) ephemera somehow always finds its way to me. This would explain why I happen to have had a gallon bag of homeless & carless keys which would create the intriguing, but decorative pattern on the lamp’s base. (As a professional organizer, I am very good at removing my clients’ clutter, however it takes a real act of procrastination for me to decide to clean out my craft closet.)
Once all the components were in place, my unattractive, yet functional light source became the center piece of the living room and I actually get a little happy when I open the door to my apartment and am greeted with a lightening bolt of shimmering gold.
Stay golden Pony Boy,
xxoo.
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