Art Deco Lamp Makeover

This past summer, I bought this vintage gooseneck lamp at an occasional sale I frequent in Carver, MN. When I bought it, it was displayed with its somewhat off kilter lamp shade turned upsidedown and a plant in it. No bulb. No cord. It looked something like this:

I think I paid something like $5.00 for it.  Its cord had been cut, I didn't even care if it worked or not. I planned on using it as a plant stand as I saw it displayed in the store.  And that's what I've done for the last several months.  Recently, I've been looking for some fun vintage lighting for a desk my husband and I are building.  On the internet I came across these cool art deco gooseneck lamps that looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't think of why.  Then it hit me; that's the same kind of lamp I've been using as a plant stand for months!  As it turns out, they fetch a pretty penny on online auctions. Mine didn't look as nice, and I wasn't even sure if it could be restored to working order. But I loved the vintage details, even the cool GE knob.

I asked my husband to wire in a new cord so we could see if it would function.  I was so excited when it did!  Now, I could have used it as it was.  I don't really mind the aged patina...kind of like it actually, but I found this website while I was looking for lamps that has really fantastic reproduction barn lights. The website is http://www.barnlightelectric.com/. I would love to purchase one of theirs but it's out of my budget. This got me thinking about what I could do to the shade that would be fun, unique and vintage-y.  I have a few pieces of enamelware in my family room and between the barn lighting inspiration and the fact that I love the enameled look, I got the idea to paint it to look enameled. First I took it apart.

I used blue painter's tape and taped off the threads that screw the shade onto the base. (In the end, this didn't matter as I ended up painting the threads anyhow, but it depends on how tight of a fit you have.  Mine originally screwed on a bit loosely as I implied before when I mentioned it was off kilter.) I steel wooled the shade thoroughly inside and out and used tack cloth to remove the dust. I picked a color that a.) I love b.) makes me think vintage c.) matches an antique fan that we already have.  I used a spray paint that specifically said it works on metal. First, I painted the the outside by spraying on many thin coats until I had good coverage. Make sure to do this in a well ventilated space.  I always spray outside because of the mess. I let this dry completely.

Once the outside of the shade was covered to my satisfaction and dried, I painted the inside.  I chose to go with white on the inside to add to the enameling effect.  I used gloss white, however, the jade color only came in satin finish. I'll tell you what I did about that in a minute. 

As you can see I didn't worry about having a nice, clean line at the edge, because I planned on covering that.  The way I kept the white from getting on the jade when I sprayed it was by placing a plastic bag over the outside of the lamp shade and using blue painter's tape to "seal" the bag around the lip of the shade.  As you can see, a little white got on the outside of the neck, but I'll tell you what I ended up doing there.  Now, the final touch that gives it that farmhouse enamel look.  I poured gloss black enamel paint into a shallow dish just a tin bit larger than the diameter of the lamp shade.  I eyeballed how deep I thought the paint needed to be to caver the lip of the shade.  Then I carefully dipped the shade in the black paint, being careful to keep the shade level and parallel to the surface of the paint.  I dipped the shade in until it just covered the rim. 

Then, keeping the shade level, I carefully lifted it out and used a sponge brush to wipe away drips as they formed.  I had to brush away drops for several minutes until the paint finally stopped dripping, but the enamel is pretty thick, so it didn't take too long.  To allow the paint to dry without running down into the shade, I propped it over something with a slightly smaller diameter and let it just "hang" there until it was completely dry.  Make sure you have something spread out underneath to catch drips. I used tin foil.

You can see in the above photo how I dealt with the white splotches I got on the neck of the shade.  I ended up painting the whole thing black.  The black ends up being a better visual transition from the patina of the lamp base to the jade paint on the shade.  I hand painted it with a small craft paintbrush and followed the contours of where the neck meets the shade to get a nice straight line. Earlier, I mentioned that the jade paint only came in satin finish.  I really wanted the glossy look of enamel, so the final step was to spray several thin coats f a high gloss clear paint on the outside.  The black on the rim and the white on the inside are already glossy, so I only needed to spray the outside.  Once thoroughly dried, I was able to assemble to lamp back together.  I had purchased a fun oblong bulb from Seven Corner's Hardware in St. Paul http://www.7corners.com/. Side note, this is a super fun place to visit if you live close by. They still hand calculate and hand write all their receipts!  It's a refreshing change from the big box hardware/lumber stores. 

Anyhow, here's the finished product.  I really love how it turned out and would jump at the chance to do another one if the right deal comes along!