UsedEverywhere.com

My Garbage Chair

I’ve always loved the idea of finding great furniture in the dumpster (although, still not sure why people don’t list the items for free on their UsedEverywhere.com city site). For so many years I’ve seen chairs and stools and tables rescued from the curb and made into something spectacular. I’ve always been a fan of the people who pull over and take someone’s junk to make it useful again. I have just never felt comfortable doing that myself.

So, when I saw this chair on the top of a large pile of discarded household furnishings (someone moved out) I drove around the block to take a better look. Then I drove around again, wondering if I should stop and get it. Then I kept going and got almost home, but turned around and went back. I drove past reeeal slow. I felt like a stalker. I pulled off on a side street and told myself I was being ridiculous and garbage day was the next day and it would get crushed up for no good reason. So, I went back. I pulled into the driveway and took that chair and put it in my car. Of course neighbours were out raking and getting their mail and they totally stopped and looked at me (and in my head they were judging me something fierce) but I had my prize and I took it home and looked at it for a while. I am so glad I stopped!

 

The chair is a mid-century piece but it’s a knock off of a designer chair. Not the best quality. However, under the fabric that had been nailed to the legs, was the original cushion (orange. So perfect) and it was FREE. It was missing a leg support and the finish was cracking all over but these were easy fixes. I sanded it down all over, just a quick sand but I paid attention to the rougher spots. I got a 3/4″ dowel and cut it to size, glued the ends and put it between the legs where the old one was cut off. Those got a nail in each end. Then, I painted.

 

A paint that I find really useful for these kinds of projects is Tremclad. They have a paint that’s for wood and metal, and it comes in flat, gloss, and high gloss. I used the regular gloss because that is what I had at home already. It dries quickly and has a really great sheen on it. It is also water soluble so it’s easy for clean-up.

 

For the cushion, I used a remnant I had picked up at the textile store a few months ago. It cost me a whole $1. I put it right on top of the old cushion, as it was clean plus I like to keep old fabric underneath when I can for someone else to discover somewhere down the road. I always like finding the original fabric on something! Staple guns make this kind of job much easier. I use a hand powered one, not an air compressor or electric one. One day I would like to get a fancy staple gun, but for now my father-in-laws will do.

 

So, that is really all that it took to take a $1 chair from the garbage back from the brink and into the modern world. I really love this chair, and am glad it was an easy fix. Sometimes a coat of paint and a piece of printed cotton can really work wonders. I am definitely stopping to pick up treasures again.

UsedEverywhere.com is encouraging it’s users to snap pictures of discarded future-treasures and post the pictures to Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #ShouldaUsedOttawa (#ShouldaUsedVictoria, #ShouldaUsedVancouver, or #ShouldaUsedRegina etc. – depends on the city you live in of course). It’s much easier to find free stuff on a UsedEverywhere.com site than driving around searching for unloved items that could already be damaged by the elements.

 

Has anyone else rescued something from the curb and put it to good use?

Getting creative with furniture restoration

Something that I always try to be, whether it is fashion, housewares or furniture, is original. Having something different is fun, to me at least. Vintage clothing is usually fairly unique and different. You won’t have to worry about someone else showing up to the office party wearing the same dress as you! Awkward moment avoided!

I like thrifting. A lot. A lot a lot a lot. My house is a veritable treasure trove of weird and wonderful things. Nobody else has my candlesticks or place mats or chair covers. And I like that. It is fun to tailor your home to be something that is totally unique and awesome. And while it does take some time, your creativity and You-ness can really shine.

It is really easy to make furniture be a centrepiece of this identity. Its usually big, you probably actually use it, someone besides yourself will sit on a chair or couch. What are some things that you can do, you ask. Well, I am so glad that you want to know

Cushions: probably the easiest thing you can do is get cushions, or even make them, that either blend in to your style or contrast with it, depending on what you like. A simple throw cushion can take a boring beige chair from frumpy to fabulous in mere moments. And because cushions generally don’t cost too much, you can replace them whenever you want to mix it up a bit. I know some people that bring out new combinations of cushions with each season. While that is a bit much for me, it is a great way to refresh your living space. And if you sew, making cushions is super duper simple.

These chairs would look quite boring without some awesome bright cushions. Look at how they really pop against the neutral decor.

Paint: while I generally cringe at the idea of painting wood furniture, sometimes it needs to be done. A fresh coat of paint on a tired old plant stand can make your plant pop out of the woodwork so to speak. Have an old broken kitchen chair languishing in the basement? Pull it out, paint it, you have a new plant stand for indoors or out. You can paint a chair, couch legs, picture frames, really anything. You can even paint fabric (click here to see some instructions. It sounds like a lot of trouble but hey who am I to tell you what not to do). Paint is usually fairly inexpensive and if you go to your local home improvement store often you can troll for cheap mis-tint paint like I do.

sick of looking at your faded scratched wood table and chairs? look how cute this is!

Fabric: it isn’t that hard to make slipcovers, if you know your way around a sewing machine. You can pick any fabric you’d like, and if you can’t sew it, you can have someone else do it. This way you are reusing your existing furniture but giving it new life. Dining chairs are easy to redo, and you can really let your creativity shine here. I am currently fixing an old chair up and using a cable knit sweater for the cushion! You could sew together old doilies and layer that over a contrasting fabric for a really cool effect. The possibilities are really endless when it comes to chair bottoms. I change mine all the time. I think my husband believes I have some commitment issues!

look at this great refinishing project! see how to do it here

Using things that aren’t intended for that purpose: an old barrel with a cushion on top becomes a fabulous chair. An old door mounted on the wall becomes a headboard for your bed. An old office credenza becomes hallway storage. Old fabric remnants can be framed and hung for a cool and vintage look. An old dining table can be an office desk. There are so many things you can use in different ways, just thinking about it makes me excited. If you want some inspiration click here and have a Re-Imagining Weekend; fun for the whole family!

an old ladder hangs down for a great small space reuse pot rack

What sorts of creative things have you done in your home? Let us know!

 

Transform Your Rooms on the Cheap

I’m one of those people who love to rearrange furniture constantly and do room makeovers. I even collect paint decks. My friends sometimes call me Martha Stewart but trust me, I am way too lazy to be Martha Stewart. I also don’t have Martha’s deep pockets, and updating your rooms can be expensive – especially if you’re addicted to it. But I’ve found out that (as usual), if you approach it from the environmental route, you can renovate without spending huge amounts of money in the process.

Fresh from the Ottawa Home Renovations Show, I thought I’d share the latest renovation in my house: turning the sunroom into an office. The goal was to spend as little money as possible but still achieve a complete transformation of this room. Using freecycled items, things we already owned, and even curbside finds, this room got a major update for cheap and it was super environmentally friendly because we reused old things instead of buying new. Even the flooring was free!

The sunroom before. The early 80s linoleum felt permanently sticky and this room was unused except to kill the occasional plant in.

 

The sunroom after. This room is so bright and warm, perfect for an office. The house got a significant upgrade and this room now gets regular use.

How cheap was this renovation? Well, except for shelling out for paint, new blinds, and a laminate flooring installation kit, everything else was either something we already owned or something we scored for free. This room has gone from complete disuse to being my favourite room in the house!

Check out the source list:

laminate flooring (free on UsedOttawa.com)
mini chandeliers (already owned)
couch (free on UsedOttawa.com)
retro TV (free on UsedOttawa.com)
chair (found on a curb)
retro radio (already owned)
plant stand (already owned)
desk (already owned)
houseplants (free from Ottawa Plantcycle)
blinds (purchased from Ikea)

Why Repurposing and Refinishing is Awesome

I’m a self-confessed thrifting addict. I spend a lot of time cruising online ads looking for “vintage” “retro” and “antique” stuff. I go to every thrift store I see. The ones I like, I go to often. So often the furniture people know my voice before they see me. Well, I’ve always wanted recognition….

I’ve been feeling wistful lately. I’ve written a lot on how to refinish things, here and on my home blog, and I don’t ever really go into the “why’s” of thrifting. Why it’s fun and why it’s economical. And why it’s “green”.

I’m pretty passionate about these things!

Thrifting in itself is a lot of fun. I’ve always loved going through piles of stuff. My grandparents were antiquers, they always had crazy weird relics from the past and as a kid I would spend days taking each piece of china out of the cupboards to inspect them. It was fascinating. Where did this stuff come from? What was its story? Who loved this vase before I did? Well sometimes you get to know and that is very special, but mostly you don’t and the fantasies you can create are also part of the fun.

Loving eyes for a vintage vase. This is not me, by the way

 

I’ve turned my heart to furniture lately, and one thing that really sticks out in my mind is that modern furniture is not made like it used to be. High end stuff is obviously better, but the mass market furniture you buy now is not. That is why I don’t bother trying to refinish newer stuff. It isn’t constructed with long term durability in mind. Older stuff though, has. Maybe its just that all the cheap stuff has already hit the landfill, that the pieces that didn’t stand the test of time are already forgotten and the stuff that’s left is better. I don’t know, and really one could wax philosophical about this for hours, but I think that if you take a look at a modern furniture flyer from a big store, and go though it, you will see what I mean!

This couch is at least 50 years old. And built to last! And also really really really cute 

 

One of the most important things about reusing old stuff or refinishing it, is that you are not consuming any new resources (save for maybe some paint or fabric). Not buying something new saves you on materials, shipping, packaging waste, deforestation, landfill waste; throwing out things has its environmental bad points but so does buying new things. Where was your chair made? What is that country’s wood industry like? How does it treat its workers? As a global economy it is important to ask these questions. Most of the furniture that I refinish is from the 60′s and before and it is all made in Canada or the USA. And I didn’t have to cut down another tree to get it! Score for everybody.

 

Boxes and packaging cause so much waste that doesn’t need to be made in the first place!

 

Lastly is the cool factor. Isn’t it great to have something totally unique that no one else has? In a style that isn’t trendy but is timeless. And cool! I don’t know how many times people, who have fabulous modern and trendy homes of their own, come to my thrifted estate sale furnished house and love it. Like, really really love it. My style is definitely not for everyone in their own home, but you can have one or two old pieces that fit in to your current decor. I’ll bet it cost you less than something new too (unless you’re talking about teak ’cause that is a whole other ball game, my friends)

 

Are you Rock n Roll? Are you Indie? Vintage couches suit many aesthetics!

 

Okay well, I think it’s pretty clear that I like hunting down old furniture like a wild Amazon woman, spear (aka wallet) in hand ready to pounce on my next victim. May that image stick in your mind next time you’re at the Sally Ann or browsing UsedOttawa. You can be an Amazon woman or dude too, creating your little cave of wondrous reused and refinished furniture among a forest full of jaguars and philodendrons and work life balance and family obligations. It’s fun!! And totally unique. I recommend it!

 

The author’s natural habitat.

Chair Makeover or When Your Plans Find a Mind of their Own

OK. I think that a lot of you guys have probably had this happen to you. You have a plan in your head. You gather materials and information. You’re finally good to go. Something happens, your plans are shot, do you forge ahead regardless, or do you let your project take the direction it wants?

I’m going to tell you a story of how this happened to me. Or rather, is happening to me.

As you may be able to tell from my last couple of posts (did you read them yet? Feel free to check them out, the wit and intelligence will blow you away) I refinish furniture for fun and sometimes profit. I found this cool old chair that needed love. I brought it home and stared at it for a few hours. Then, I was inspired! I would give it a new leather seat. I would paint it up. It would be sleek and modern but still have that vintage charm.

The leather on the seat was total dry and cracking

 

the back of the infamous chair, pre-refinishing

 

However, the plans involved leather that was either turquoise or yellow. Why? Because those are my favourite colours right now. I think they are favourite colours for a lot of people. So, where the heck was I going to find turquoise or yellow leather? Another inspiration: I’d repurpose an old leather jacket!!! Way cheaper than buying a new chunk of leather and where does one get one of those anyway?? I asked the kind folks on FullCircles Ottawa. No one had an old leather jacket to give me. I scoured the halls of all the local Value Villages. I looked on my favourite buy and sell sites. Finally I found it: a teal leather coat, large, in good shape.

I made a new seat for the chair. I had to take out all the nails from the old leather. I found the newspaper that was used as filler and tried to date the chair. This was a nice distraction and I’m pretty sure it was made in 1922. There was a lawsuit at the Wheat Board, the trains were having issues and a baby was abandoned at the train station in a suitcase. So I get this leather seat finished and it’s time to paint the frame.

Teal leather for the seat

 

old upholstery nails Baby in a suitcase! Scandal!

 

I get stumped. Should the frame be black or white or brown? I decide “white”. I buy paint. I second guess myself. I poll my Facebook friends. I poll my Instagram friends. I go to Pinterest. This chair becomes a social media darling, a celebrity among the moms I know and my long lost high school buddies. Finally, I decide. White paint for you, chair.

And this, my friends, is where my plans said, “That’s what YOU think, sister”.

As I am sanding down the layers of paint, my chair begins to unfold like a flower. A very shabby chic, flea market kind of flower. The kind of look that you can watch online tutorials about replicating but it never really looks authentic. It was like the proverbial angels singing from the parting clouds, sunlight streaming down into my laundry room/workshop. After all that groaning online to an Australian doctor/mother, the other refinisher from Kentucky, random people on Pintrest who liked my ideas, was I willing to scrap all my plans and let this chair be what it clearly wanted to be??

the revelation pretty colours waiting to be found the one side sanded to get the full effect

 

The answer is “yes”. Yes, I will scrap my plans. I will sand down some layers. The colours are really perfect. Walnut, cream, Tiffany blue, more walnut. History has given me a little slice and I just can’t bring myself to put a coat of paint on top of that. While shabby chic/flea market/”antiqued” is not my usual style, I am so very glad to let this one little chair, who has lived through so much, be who it wants to be. I’ve found a new seat fabric ($1 in the remnants bin score!)  and the leather will come off and be part of a project down the road. In fact, I think I have the perfect chair up in my attic…..

 

Has anyone else had a project take the lead on it’s own? Please share in the comments!!

Found something cool to reupholster? Five tips for choosing the right piece

Hello UsedEverywhere fans!  My name is Staci Edwards, and I am the owner of Switch Studio, which is an upholstery and sewing shop located in Oakville, Ontario.

As a designer and upholsteress I always get asked what to look for when buying a used piece to reupholster, so I’ve put together five easy tips to ensure you’re buying a great piece…

1. Take a look:  Stand back and have a look at the lines and overall shape of the piece – Is it appealing to you?  Are the details and finishes of the piece unique?  If so, then be sure to nab that rare treasure!

2. Feel around: Feel around and give the edges a shake to ensure that it feels solid.  Also, feel underneath the dust cover the {black cover located under the seat} if you feel that it is solid under there, then it’s probably constructed with coil springs.  Coil springs take a lot of time to tie by hand, and chances are whoever took the time to use coil springs, took the time to construct a quality piece of furniture.

3. Lift it:  If the piece is heavy, that is usually a good indication that it is well made using good quality hardwood, that will last virtually forever.

4. Have a seat:  Be sure to wiggle around and really test it out.  If it feels sturdy, then great, and if it doesn’t be sure to consult with a professional to see if repairs can be done.  Of course make sure that it is comfortable, keep in mind that the padding and springs can be repaired in the reupholstery process, but the proportions are what they are.

5. Imagine it new:  Go ahead and picture it with some new paint, gorgeous fabric, and some coordinating throw pillows – Do you love the idea of what it could look like redone and in your home?  Then follow your heart, make the purchase, and call an upholsterer {or an upholsteress} to get that makeover.

To get some inspiration goodness going, let’s take a look at some before and after pics of furniture we’ve made over at Switch…

 

See the awesome things you can do with used, vintage, or antique furniture?  Way better than shopping at a big box store and buying new beige stuff, huh?

I hope you’ve found this post helpful, and if you have any questions, drop me a line at  www.switchstudio.ca.  Also, please be sure to join Switch Studio on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

It was nice to “meet” you, hope to see you around soon, and happy shopping!

Staci

Reupholstering and Painting: Reinventing a Tired, Chipped Chair

Recently I was out on a thrifting day (I have about three of those a week) when I came across a cute little Duncan Phyfe style chair at the Salvation Army that wanted to come home with me. Naturally, as the kind of person who just can’t say no to a chair, I loaded it up in the station wagon and began dreaming.

New paint and fabric, please?

 

Ripped front seat, dead batting

 

I’ve refinished many chairs in my lifetime, and for the most part, they’re pretty easy. Any chair that made of wood can be painted. Any chair with a removable seat can be reupholstered fairly simply. This particular chair needed both, with the added bonus of requiring new foam.

As you can see in the picture, the padding was the older style cotton batting type that you find pretty frequently in later mid century (yes this is a period, at least in my mind) furniture redo’s. This was not the first time someone had made this chair pretty again. The fabric was probably from the late 60′s judging by the aged colour and pattern and well it just smelled like the 60′s.

The seat is made of wood strips glued together, but one had broken. I used bar clamps (care of my father-in-law) and wood glue to stick it back together. It was easier than I thought it would be!

A broken seat is an easy fix with the right tools!

 

I went to Rockland Textiles as per usual and bought a half yard of ½ inch foam. I also bought the fabric I wanted there. It was one I’d seen on a previous visit and was hoping to be able to use one day. Yeay! Convincing the lady who was helping me that I really only needed 1/2” foam took some work, but it is really important to keep the original silhouette, in my opinion, and the seats in these chairs are always pretty flush with the sides.

Look at all those poor mutilated staples!

 

Pulling out the staples from the 60′s, quite frankly, sucked. I think that the person who came before me used a regular stapler with regular staples. They did not want to come out, but were also smashed so hard into the wood that they were deformed and there was also a million of them. So, take note future chair reupholsterers, use or borrow a staple gun, it will be so much easier for you and for whomever might inherit your project!!

Once that was done I cut out the foam using the seat as a guide. I left a bit of foam overhang so that the fabric would pull over nicely and there would be cushion for the back of your legs on the front of the seat. I used a spray adhesive to keep the foam steady while I placed the fabric on. This part was a little tricky as well, because the pattern needed to line up perfectly. Once that was done, I just stapled around the edges of the bottom of the seat, pulling on the fabric to keep the line nice and straight across the front. This was also tricky and took some practise to get used to. I pulled out a lot of staples in frustration on this chair!

Pretty chippy

 

After being sanded

 

In the meantime I used a melamine paint in “Espresso Bean” to paint the frame. I sanded down the chipped areas but it was the original finish on them and it was pretty much stuck on the wood like glue so I just painted over the whole thing. It took two coats plus a few touchups to get it nice and even.

Next all I had to do was screw the seat back on and voila! A cute, modern chair with some art nouveau influences! Doesn’t the harp look good with the chain type pattern on the seat? I really think so! And so does my friend Lianne who now has a cute office chair for her birthday.

All done! gleaming and new. Look at the nice lines on this chair!

 

An Interview with Tonic Living's Janine Morrison

On October 20th we attended/sponsored the Blissdom Canada 2012 social media conference for women in Toronto. This was a big deal for us and we wanted to make a good impression. If you don’t already know, when we go to events we like to create a pop-up living room furnished with items bought from a local Used site—UsedOttawa for this event. We decided to go with a Mid-Century Modern theme for Blissdom and I think we pulled it off rather nicely and affordably, I might add. See below. Pretty swank, non?

I fell truly, madly and deeply in love with a lot of the furniture and accessories we found which made it a little heartbreaking to let it all go—the bigger pieces went into storage while most of the decor items were given away as prizes to Blissdom attendees. But the hardest good-bye for me was bidding adieu to five, gorgeous custom-made pillows from Tonic Living.

I’ve been a huge fan of this Canadian fabric company for a while so I was thrilled when owner/co-founder Janine Morrison agreed to donate the fabric for an awesome chair makeover that the lovely Jennifer Flores of Rambling Renovators created for our booth. But when Janine also agreed to whip up some custom pillows to give away to a lucky winner, I was over the moon.

After spinning my moral compass north, south, east and west I concluded it would be wrong to fix the draw in my favour (considering, I’m not even allowed to enter)…  And although it hurt to hand them over, I’m pleased to report the pillows went to the awesome Brooke Berry and they’re reportedly quite happy with her in their new home in Calgary.

 

I’m still dressed for mourning (mostly because it’s slimming) but let the healing begin with this nifty little interview with Janine about the family business, upcycling and the stupidity of short shower curtains.

Interview with Janine Morrison of Tonic Living

 
How long have you been in business?

We started out on eBay a few years before our site was built and launched… so, all together, around 10 years.

On your website you say you’re a family owned and operated business…what family members are you putting to work? 

No children …yet! ; ) My husband Jon and I started our business while he was still working in the film industry, but he’s been full time with Tonic Living for the last five years at least. Our youngest son shows quite a bit of interest in the “numbers” part of our business (Liam’s only 8, for goodness sake) and our oldest shows a lot of interest and promise in the marketing/graphic design end of things (Darin’s 12 and rather talented I must say!) Also, I have my first cousin Linda who comes in from Portugal once a year to work for us when she’s here for her annual Canada visit.

Why the textiles business? Are you a seamstress yourself? 

Seamstress is a very strong word! I can sew, but in a basic way. But did I mention I mastered putting a zipper in a pillow? And did I also mention that Jon was the one that taught me how? We once had a big order for a 75 pillows roll from BCBG in LA  (with a tight deadline, of course) and wouldn’t you know it our chief pillow sewer had just moved to another city. And so because we didn’t have a replacement lined up yet we learned together… And fast! The origin of our company was selling vintage collectibles and textiles on ebay and we had a tip from our friends about a “stash” in an old store in Toronto which led us to a gold mine of 30 and 40 year-old fabrics still on the bolt! From there we were sold on choosing fabric as the next, clear direction. Besides, the world was being drained dry of actual vintage fabrics so we began sourcing reproduction prints.

Do you remember the first item you sold? What was it?

On our website it was a single yard of fabric in a multi colored dot. On ebay, a few years prior, it was a pair of gorgeous old wall sconces from the 20′s that I picked up from Habitat for Humanity’s Restore. What a rush!

You sell custom fabric and you also make custom pillows, cushions, draperies and futon covers… Any other plans/creations in the hopper?

SO many ideas it could take an evening to discuss it… BUT, off the top of my head as far as products go, we want to launch a line of ready-made shower curtains with fabrics that we carry but in a longer length that means it would just almost kiss the floor. A pet peeve of mine is to see how short they are traditionally?! I mean, we don’t make our drapes short by 8″ do we? Of course we do custom shower curtains already but having them ready to go on the site would be smart.

Where do most of your buyers come from? Are they Canadian, American, International?

Slowly Canada is beginning to tip the scale where it used to be mostly American (we never advertised, so all of it was organic traffic) and there’s always been a good steady stream from the UK, Australia and New Zealand etc.

What’s been your favourite or most memorable project to date?

Doing Jennifer Flores’ (from Rambling Renovators blog) master bedroom drapes. At the time we were buried so deep in work and business that we were still wondering what the word ‘blog’ even meant.  We had no idea her drapes were going to be blogged about, on the Nate Berkus Show and in Style at Home Magazine. The response was overwhelming and to this day a few years later we still get many inquiries on those particular drapes. She has done such a great job with so many of our fabrics and custom items and we’re downright lucky to have her support.

What’s your favourite fabric pattern in your collection?

Currently i’m loving the Spring Mix in Aloe by Robert Allen. There’s something about it that reads a little vintage but not overly and works so well with some contrasting geometrics and glazed metallic linens. YUM!

If you could give one decorating tip to people working with a snug budget, what would it be? 

We’re huge supporters of re-using or up-cycling furniture and frankly that’s how 95% of our home is decorated (OK, minus the window treatments and pillows) so part of going that route is taking your time and staying committed to your vision whether it’s clear cut or more eclectic/organic. If you prefer to buy only new things then at least try to wait until you can get a quality item rather than buying “landfill” quality items. And you see that’s why I mostly buy used furniture that was meant to last the ages because it’s affordable and you don’t have to wait to save up!! (and… the soul it gives, such soul!)

Big plans for the future?

Yes, expansion for sure. In fact we’re currently hunting high and low for another commercial space but it’s been really difficult to find just the right building. There we’ll be able to offer even more selection of fabrics and spread out on larger work surfaces when designers and decorators come to visit. We’ll also be able to host design and industry related events which would be SO fun I think!

Updating Lamps: From Eyesore to Feature Piece

You know when you’re moving into a new place…your first place (or a bigger place), and you’re hitting up all your friends and family for their old, unwanted furniture so you can furnish your place while you get over the financial hit of moving?

And then years pass and you just can’t quite get rid of it, even though you can’t stand it?

That’s how I feel about my living room lamps.

They came to me along with a truckload of other furniture. My grandma’s friend said I could have the whole lot for $300—saved her from selling off the pieces one by one and saved me the trouble of collecting this and that from all over the area.

It was an amazing deal, really.

But the lamps…

They are so interesting! And…such an eyesore.

Three years passed since I took possession of the lamps and finally I had enough. I had talked about it for ages but finally I was ready to tackle the lamp problem.

The grooves, shiny bits, and inconsistent textures made me nervous to simply spray paint the lamps (although I desperately wanted to).

After asking around for a while I set out to grab some decorative stone from the home improvement store—I even took the time to shop around for new and/or used lamps and still came out thinking it was cheaper to re-cover the lamps, even if it took three layers of $50 faux stone to accomplish it.

But then! I stumbled upon spray paint, which gave a textured finish. And it was made for ceramics etc. For only $11 I had to give it a shot—what’s the worst that could happen? I’d have ugly lamps?

So, I taped up the parts I didn’t want to spray and started in.

The paint was thick and it didn’t run at all. I had a good feeling.

One lamp took three coats of paint, which is an entire can of spray paint. So in total my lamp experiment cost me $22 (plus tax) and I can’t say I’m disappointed.

I let the paint dry almost completely between coats (I’ve had some bad experiences with spray paint) so it took a few days to really finish the lamps, but it was well worth the extra effort!

Not only did I avoid the faux stone, which would have been much messier, but they look actually quite good. And the best part is I don’t hate my living room lamps anymore.

On a side note I did purchase some new lamp shades, which I thought would help even more but they looked awful. I’m not quite sure what sort of shade will look better than the ones I have…perhaps I’m not done with these lamps quite yet.

Although, they are growing on me.

"All For Nothing?" & UsedOttawa: Be on TV!

UsedOttawa.com has partnered with the new home renovation reality series All For Nothing? airing across Canada on the W Network early 2013.  That’s right, we’re hitting the small screen and we need your help!

First, a little about the show:

All For Nothing? features two households who face the challenge of fixing up their design-deficient houses on a next to zero budget. The sellers with the highest increase in value at the end of their two week renovation, win commission-free listing services from top realtor, Paul Rushforth. The homeowners also receive ideas and tips from Rushforth and from award-winning designer, Penny Southam throughout the renovation process.

Participants must find creative ways to collect items and get help from their community for renovations to update their homes with a pre-listing makeover. This is where you come in! If you have furniture, renovation supplies or a service that you think will help a contestant, simply post a free ad on UsedOttawa.com and include the hashtag #UsedAFNTV in your ad description.  This way the show producers, contestants and UsedOttawa can find you easily.

Want to be on TV? All For Nothing? is looking for contestants! Come ON, you know you’d be perfect for this show! Just think of how great your house will look and how AMAZING you’ll feel after connecting with people in your community, recycling, keeping stuff out of the landfill, being famous… If you’re interested or you know someone who is, contact the good fine people at All For Nothing? and let them know: Click me! I’m awesome & I should be on TV!

You can also get in on  the conversation on Twitter by following @usedottawa and @allfornothingtv by searching for and using the #UsedAFNTV hashtag.

And we’ll see you on the telly soon!