Crea(c)tivism

It's already a few weeks ago that I was walking home from a day out shooting. I can never pass a skip on the street without risking a quick look inside. And this time I struck lucky. Look what I found in that skip:

 

No, not the chair (however much bashed to pieces that is - blame the cats!). And neither the chocolate biscuits! I am talking about that cute lamp!

Well, it didn't really look so swish when I dug it out of that skip. There was a load of builders' rubble in there, plasterboard pieces and such like. And the lamp was in a slightly sorry state when I pulled it out. Initially I only wanted to take the tall lamp - the other two table lamps were just too disgusting, I thought. But then reason kicked in: I was only five minutes away from home, so why not lug all three with me. I could always throw out the other lamps if I couldn't do anything with them. All three lamps were in horrible brown-y shades. Who would want a rust coloured lamp, I ask you??? And the shades were dusty and broken.

But nothing that a little bit of spray paint couldn't fix. I was feeling creative today, so I put on my oldest jeans today, flung over an old cardigan and headed for the garage for a bit of crea(c)tivism. I dismantled the shade (which was a bit of an effort - it had been screwed to the light fitting so tight, I had to use my husband rough force to loosen it) and covered the cord with some masking tape. After a little rubbing down with white spirit, I gave the lamp three coats of white spray paint. Very much unlike me, I waited impatiently to let the paint dry before spraying again.

Then it was back up for some electrifying. I had to fix a plug onto the cord and find a bulb and a new shade for this little beauty. Done in 15 minutes. And now this sweet, slender thing graces my bedroom window and will light up my reading corner.

All set up with the essentials for good reading: Light, a couple of biscuits and a steaming hot cup of tea. (Pity you can't see what it says on my mug: "I'd rather be with Colin Firth" - how very fitting for this night which happens to be Oscar night - and I expect my favourite actor, aforementioned Colin, to win for his superb performance in "The King's Speech".) I bet those builders' wives are kicking their husbands now for having thrown out this lovely lamp.

Well, two more lamps to come, soon!

Best,