Legend has it that I possess a little lamp, half borrowed from YsD when she found lodging with us many years ago.
The wood piece on the lamp -which belonged to YsD- was originally blue, but I could not reconcile the thing, since my contributed shade was burgundy.
I do not have considerable skill in DIY, unlike some… but decided to tackle the problem of the blue wood piece anyway. I painted it taupe, using the latex from the recent bedroom re-do. That was hideous, so then I ordered a little tube of silver (what was I thinking?) and it became pretty damn festive. If I thought the taupe was bad… ugh.
Then and only then did the thought occur to sand everything off down to the wood and stain it.
So I did. It took many days because I sanded it by hand. Well, not everything had come off; the blue had seeped into the wood and dyed it in places… and I was sick of sanding.
I thought the right stain would leave the wood looking almost nice. Well, I didn’t buy the right stain and I didn’t read the directions before tackling the project. Of course.
After four applications I couldn’t get it any darker, so I gave up. Something in me wants to strip it all down and try again, but not right now.
It actually looks okay at night when the light’s on, but when it’s not? Heh.
Now I’m thinking of papering the shade with old maps.
The good news is, I’ve been able to clean my kitchen counters off. 😉
