Thrift Store Lamp Makeover

Save money on décor with this thrift store lamp makeover idea. You’ll love this simple way to upcycle a lamp to look like it’s high-end.

When I was doing this thrift store lamp makeover I had no idea I was creating a designer dupe until my friend told me it looked just like a lamp sold by Pottery Barn. So, I went looking and found one from Crate & Barrel too! Mine cost way less coming in at $3.50 thanks to half price day at Goodwill. Now I’m on the hunt to find the exact shape offered by the high-end guys. Until then, I’ll show you how I created mine for way less.

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Supplies you’ll need to do your own thrift store lamp makeover:

You’ll need an old lamp for this project. As I mentioned above, I got mine at Goodwill. It was marked at $6.99, but thanks to half price day on blue tags, I got it for only $3.50!

I started by scuffing, sanding and priming the lamp base. Use what you have around the house for this part – that’s what I did. It’ll save you some cash.

I knew I wanted to paint the shade white, but I also knew I didn’t have enough white primer to do both the shade and the lamp base. So, I used grey primer on the lamp base and saved the white primer for the shade.

PRO TIP: Use painter’s tape to cover any parts you don’t want primer to touch.

I was sure to prime both the inside and outside of lamp shade so the color was consistent.

Once all of the primer was dry, I grabbed some Sea Spray powder and Caviar Dixie Belle Paint. This is what I used to create texture on the lamp base.

I added the Sea Spray powder to the Caviar paint and mixed until I achieved a brownie batter-like consistency.

Next, I applied the mixture from top to bottom with a chip brush.

As you can see below, I wanted the brush marks to show up on this piece.

Once that first layer was on, I let it dry just a bit, then I dabbed the brush in to create peeks.

Then, I let it dry a bit longer and smoothed out some of the peaks randomly around the base.

This is what it looked like with just the Black Sea Spray mixture. It looks great just like this and I love the texture it gives – but I wasn’t done yet!

For the next step, I watered down Dixie Belle Fluff and brushed it on all over the base.

I worked in sections, adding the white onto the base and then misting where I just added it. Then with a dry paper towel, I dabbed at the paint to create more texture.

Play with this part and add as little or as much as you want to create the look you like.

Once I was satisfied with the look, I let it dry fully before moving onto the next step.

Once dry, I added the brown wax in random areas on the whitest parts so I could see the brown on top of the black/grey.

That wasn’t quite enough brown for me, so I used cinnamon to add more of a warm brown tone.

I did this by sprinkling it on and rubbing it in.

Then I took a dry chip brush and brushed off what I didn’t want, adding more in some spots as I worked around the base.

Once I liked how it looked, I needed to seal in that cinnamon so it doesn’t move.

To do this, I used a Satin Clear Coat Spray Paint. I simply sprayed the entire piece and let it dry.

Finally, I painted the shade using the color Drop Cloth and a chip brush. I only painted the outside of the shade since the inside had already been primed.