DIY: Free Lamp

About a month ago, on an area free Facebook page, I saw the most adorable Midcentury Modern lamp. I fell in love. I told myself I needed this lamp, and after 3 days of trying to get to this lady's house, I got it.

(the lamp in all it's glory)

However, when I went to pick it up, the lady also had another lamp. Squat, ceramic base and heavy with a cellophane covered shade. Very country and very NOT my style. Well, being the crafty person I am (and nice to a fault), I told her I would find something to do with it.

That ugly little lamp has been sitting in my car for at least 3 weeks.
Friday, I finally decided to do something with it.

I tried sanding the texture off of it (it looked like it had be "artistically" chipped away all over, like a scraped popcorn ceiling type of texture) but to no avail. Eventually I just decided to paint it white all over and start somewhat fresh.

The HORRIBLE shade covering was next to go. Whoever thought wrapping a lampshade (or anything not food-related) in plastic wrap should get their "designer" title revoked. What I was left with was a crumpled and thin shade. I went to my fabric stash and got all the grey scale fabric I could find, finally settling on a hounds-tooth print.

The inspiration for the bottom of the lamp was a graffiti covered church in Washington DC.

After randomly covered it with spots of pink, green and purple, it needed more to tie into the shade. That's when the sharpie came out. It started with random triangles placed on the base and then it grew into an awesome spikey pattern.

The result was possibly the most abstract thing I've done and I love it.