From Ugly Lamp to Pretty Cloche

You know those moments.  You’re walking along minding your own business when BAAM you’re hit with inspiration.  Well while on a recent trip to the Pittsburgh Habitat ReStore I found this ugly old lamp.  (At left in the ‘before’ part of the Pinterest worthy pic)

We’ve all read in blogland about boob lights, right?  Well if these are what Beth at Home Stories A to Z call ‘boob lights’, then this lamp is one of those lamps after sagging from the ceiling for a few extra years!  (Amiright ladies!?!)

But I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it instantly when I saw it.  Ask Belle.  She knew too.

I’m pretty sure my childhood obsession with Beauty and the Beast is why I’m just gaga for this Cloche trend…. but at nearly $120 at Pottery Barn, it’s just not a trend I can financially embrace right now.

Turning this anatomically awkward lamp into a beautiful cloche turned out to be WAYYYY TOO EASY too.  I had prepared myself to use stinky construction adhesives or power tools or SOMETHING….. but, unless you count the swiss-army-knife that is Dad, there was essentially no need for tools.  Let me show you.

To actually lift off the glass, it was simply a matter of unscrewing the top knob and cap and sliding it off, revealing the candle lamp base inside.

Then we removed the second cap that was just below the glass, meant to cover the electrical wiring for the candle lights.  Set aside this cap!  Then, gently unscrew the lighting post from the inside and remove it from the base.  In my case, it turns out that the top threaded neck that the pieces were all screwed onto was only a small piece that came apart (as in, was not part of the full vertical post) as the rest of the pieces were pulled apart.

Once the lamp was all pulled apart, my Dad came through with a washer that was large enough to fit over the hole in the glass, and perfectly fit the threading of the neck piece.

With a pair of hands to screw it all together (his) and a pair of hands to steady the glass (mine) we were able to layer the original top knob and cap then the second cap we set aside earlier on top of the glass, and lock it all tight with a washer and nut underneath threaded on the neck mentioned above.

And now we have this!

There are some holes in the bottom, and I’m not a super big fan of brass, so originally I had planned to spray paint it silver and patch the bottom.  But for now a wintery scene with a hand-me-down gold candle holder (church) would be the perfect filler.

So I measured and cut out some snow…Then I set in the church and added a snowy tree…

Then carefully placed the top on it.

Total cost for this project?  The lamp was $5 at the ReStore, the ‘snow’ batting was a scrap from my Mom’s stash, the gold church a hand-me-down decoration from my Grandmother’s collection, and the trees were $1, so for $6 I have this beautiful cloche instead of the $120 Pottery Barn version!  Can’t wait to pick a spot for it!

~ Beth

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