Two DIY Lamp Redos

Baby's gotta have a little light in their room right?  We reinvented two lamps for our Noah's ARC nursery.  I don't have many pictures of the process, but I thought I'd share the before and afters anyway.

First up is this little table lamp.  Coincidentally, the pattern of the metal shade happened to be the same as one of the fabrics used for the suitcases.

It basically has two shades: a metal cut-out one that matches the finish of the base, and a white fabric shade inside that. So in order to refinish and recover it, we had to disassemble.  I'd say this was a simple effort of man and screwdriver, I mean... there were only three screws holding the shades one, but MAN were they in there like a teenager on Facebook! Pavitra got one out, but had to have someone at Home Depot help with the other two.  I'm not sure how they got them off, but they did!

Then all it needed was a few coats of white spray paint and some new fabric over the shade.  Guess which fabric we used... Yep! the green one that was the same pattern.  It's always effective to echo patterns throughout a design. This is a simple way to make things look cohesive.  Here's the final product...

Second, we have this floor lamp with its interesting base.  We thought the lines were whimsical and fun, and knew we could transform it with a little paint and a new shade.

We gave it a coat of primer...

... and a coat of "Colonial Revival Sea Green."  Then Pavitra followed this tutorial to create the burlap lampshade over an inexpensive plastic shade from Ikea (I bought it before Christmas for about $5).

Because of its location in the space, I couldn't get a good picture of it in situ.  In the photo below you can see why.  It was impossible to get a full-length photo of it without showing you all of the lovely Salvation Army store.

We put it in the corner by the toy chest to create a sense of height on that side of the space and to carry the green color over to the other side of the room.

Lighting really dresses up a space and I think these lamps add the perfect finishing touch of whimsy.

Noah's ARC Nursery Photos

Happy Friday! This weekend is the last weekend that the Noah's ARC Design Challenge vignettes will be up in Orange County Salvation Army stores and the last few days for you to bid on these awesome upcycled donations made fabulous by design students from Westwood College, Art Institute, Saddleback College, and Interior Designers Institute (including moi!). So even though I still have a few more projects from the Noah's ARC Nursery to show you, but I wanted to share my photos of the final space.  In addition to these, Ruel of R-2 Visual Studios in Orange County photographed the spaces, so feel free to check out his website for more photos of us and our competitors.  You can also read more about the competition on the Salvation Army's blog as well.

Get ready for picture overload...

If you want more details about how this space came together check out my posts labeled "Noah's ARC Design Challenge."

DIY Baby Bedding

Are you having trouble finding the perfect baby bedding for your nursery?  Why not make some?   By recovering a crib bumper, pillows, and a standard changing pad (all found at the Salvation Army) with some inexpensive fabric from Joann's, we created a custom look that's bright and cheery.  Kathrine was our seamstress extrodinare for the project, so lets give a big thanks to her for all her hard work!

So how did this begin?  As I told you yesterday, Katherine and Pavitra picked out these lovely fabrics...

Not only do they work with our contemporary coral and mint color palette, they also bring in some brighter greens and a little yellow.  This works because the colors are in the same family and we spread them throughout the room to create a sense of balance and unity.  You'll see the more intense greens in the fabric covered suitcases, the storage bins in the armoire, and on the table lamp (which I have yet to tell you about); while the more muted green is used for the back of the armoire, the side table, frames, and the floor lamp.

Anyway... moving right along... we found various size pillows at the warehouse.

As well as a changing pad and crib bumper (which you can see in the box below).  Duchess thought I brought home a bed for her, but to her disappointment, the pad (along with the bumper and pillows) was sent to Kathrine's for a new cover.

First Kathrine measured out pillow sizes... 

Then she sewed some simple squares with the machine (good sides facing each other), popped the pillow inside, and sewed them shut by hand.

She also took the existing bumper and simply covered it with our chosen fabric.  For the ties, she simply cut small holes for the original ties to fit though. 

As you can see, she ran out of fabric at the end, but picked up some more and matched up the pattern to finish it off.  She also used this happy fabric to create a new changing pad cover.

My kitty wasn't the only furry creature excited about these projects!  But anyhow... she also made a fitted sheet for the mattress, which I don't have photos of, but there is a simple tutorials here.

Rachel also repainted the crib, which was the most time-consuming painting project of all.  But all that hard work paid off.



  The cirb with all its fresh white and new bedding looks amazing!

All of this bedding, the changing pad cover, and pillows are still on silent auction at the Huntington Beach Salvation Army.  So stop by and name your price!  And here's a few more shots of the goods in situ. Enjoy!