A light in the darkness......

Mod Podge and spray paint to the rescue. No money spent today. A completely stash based project.

So - I had these lamps. Cast iron and heavy brass floor lamps. Free lamps. The wiring was damaged, they were in terrible shape. We used them at halloween because they were creepy. And they have been sitting by my kitchen door since then - please don't judge me.


So - I had this little cancer surgery. I'm home and have some serious restrictions on my physical activities. I actually feel sorry for the Man at My Address, he would come home and I was all ready to paint walls and do other stuff, because I was sitting there looking at them ALLLLLLL DAAAAYYYY.

Anyway, I decided that I wanted to convert these two lamps into candoliers or my front porch. Handling the lamps and spray paint cans, mod podge and paper was all within doable. I hobbled to the porch and took the first one apart. YUK. Rust and decay, and spider webs and creepy crawly critters abound. I cut all the wire out and then proceeded to wire brush the individual pieces.

This lamp at one time had a night light in the base. The lens is plastic and cracked. No worries. Check back later in this post to see what I did.

Hammered black spraypaint, with the new trigger sprayer (which I'm really not all that fond of), a couple of coats.

That night light lens - ModPodge - great stuff. I simply covered it completely with a garden themed tissue paper.

The rod cover was horrid, sorry these are out of order, but more tissue and ModPodge to the rescue.

Here's the reassembled base and rod. Happy Girl. But now what to do for candle holders. I wanted something fun. Back to the stash.

Small purple wine glasses glued to ModPodged jars and an inverted vase for the center with a dessert cup.

Still needed "something". Some "bling" So I added sewing hooks to the vase with E6000, and added some drops that were once upon a time part of a candle holder that I broke.


A little bit of an issue with stability on the wine glass assemblies. Think Think Think.

Styrofoam spools - E6000 again glued to the little base cups. The bases (tiny baby food jars) slip right over and the spool makes the assembly stable.

Run assembled lamp outside into the yard after dark last night. Add candles and sit on the steps - wishing I could have a glass of wine or a margarita with this moment.

College Girl came home to find me there - on the kitchen porch steps - candles burning. She joined me there in the dark with that little circle of light. I really can't remember being that relaxed and happy. We talked about being cancer free. She thinks I am the strongest person she knows. I told her how proud I am of her and who she is becoming. She leaves for Spain this afternoon, a Maymester trip with school, I am so proud that she wanted to go and then went to the effort to make it happen.

I have one more of these to make - because it will be a stash project - it will be similar, but different.

This was worth the effort to make - because last night we took the time to talk - to slow down and really talk. I am ready to make my front porch more of a living space, because this current cancer situation has made me more aware of the fact that we all need a time and a place to slow down and relax and really talk to one another.

Have a wonderful day.