Junk lamp makeover

We needed more light in our living room so I have been lamp shopping for a while.  Turns out, lamps are kind of expensive.  I needed cheap and ugly but with potential!  After a few thrift store runs with no success I discovered this in my parents basement:

Unfortunately, this is the best before picture I took.  The lamp shade had that accordion fabric cover on it, it was a breeze to pull off.  I cleaned it really good, see how shiny it is : )  Then I primed it and painted it this fabulous yellow!

I scuffed it up a bit to get the shabby look I wanted.  Then I used a gloss varnish to seal it and make it just the right shinyness : )

Now for the shade.  I got some inexpensive fabric and traced the lamp shade by rolling it over the fabric and marking with a pencil on the top and bottom of the shade.  Then I cut it, leaving about a half inch extra to sew.   I hemmed the top and bottom, then sewed the two ends together.  It slipped right over the shade.   It needed a little something still, so these fabric rosettes worked perfect!

 See that fun yellow pot?  That was the inspiration for the yellow.

  I am thrilled with how it turned out!  I love a good cheap project : )

Burlap covered boxes

I needed some custom bins to fit into the custom mud room locker set up my talented hubby built.  Rather than shop and measure and shop and measure and then pay a lot of money, I decided to just make some.  I saved some Costco wipes boxes.  I just had to cut the top off and they were a perfect fit.

 

I covered the boxes with this shelf liner contac  paper so the blue wouldn't show through.

 Next, I busted out the ever dependable Mod Podge (mine is from KD craft from like 12 years ago; apparently it will last forever!)  I just cut some burlap to size,  wrapped and glued until the box was covered.

 Then I added some knobs we had laying around that came as extra's for a dresser.  They were white, so I just painted them a dark brown to match the stain of the wood and hot glued them to the center.  Cheap, functional, and cute!

 

 See how the shoes are all straight and not in big piles?  This is not what it usually looks like.  There are kids using it after all,  I straighten it up every now and then : )