I was inspired by these Pottery Barn (very expensive!) lamps and THIS DIY tutorial called Why Buy What You Can Make?
The premise is simple: take cheap and/or second hand glass lamps, spray them with water, then coat with Krylon Looking Glass Spray Paint. Finally, give them a light sand. Paint will easily flake/sand away from areas covered with water droplets, leaving you with Mercury Glass replica.
I decided to give it a go.
First of all, glass lamps are hard to find.
Second of all, I wasn't exactly sure what they meant? Did the glass have to be clear or was it just a matter of being made of glass?
I did my best at my local second-hand shop and found one metallic lamp and one made of a white glass. $12 spent, total.
I covered the cords and the tops with bags, held in place with painter's tape.
I took them outside (very warm winter day!) and I sprayed them with water and then spray paint.
Krylon Spray Paints are usually sold at Walmart. Our Walmart didn't have Looking Glass Spray paint, so I opted instead to get a can of silver metallic paint and a can of nickel metallic paint.
You can see that the coat is quite thick and opaque. Not at all the reflective look I was hoping for. This is pre-sanding, of course.
Once I started to sand, I noticed two things:
1. The White Glass Lamp was not going to work. With white bits showing through, it just looked like a bad, peeling paint job. That lamp will be kept and used again, in another room!
2. The gold metallic lamp was going to work. Though I wasn't getting the Mercury Glass look I had hoped for, I ended up with a tarnished/antiqued silver look that I love. Perfect for our bedroom which, in the end, will combine lots of weathered wood, silver and white.
I topped it off with a new burlap shade ($12.99).
Now all I have to do is find an un-matching, matching lamp that I can spray for the other night stand!
Have a great weekend!
