Done Wright Home Improvement: Baroque Table Lamp Makeover + Olivia’s Bedroom Progress

I love lamp. That’s the gist of this post. (Anchorman reference, anyone?) Well, that plus everything else in Olivia’s room right now because this room makeover is trekking right along and it’s cuuuuuuuute!

Before I show you all of the progress in there though, it’s officially Trash to Treasure Tuesday! This pair of lamps was my victim. (If you’re new to this blog, I share a thrift store transformation once per month with a group of blogger friends. You can see my past thrift makeovers here.)

A thrifted table lamp gets a French Baroque designer inspired makeover using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Paris Grey, Pure White, clear wax, and dark wax. #thriftdecor #thrifted #thrifting #thriftmakeover #lamp #bedroom #girlbedroom #littlegirlbedroom #frenchdecor #femininedecor #designerknockoff #designerdecor

Olivia really needed some table lamps in here since we read bedtime stories with her every night, and I found this pair for $5 each at the thrift store the other week that had the sweetest feminine details on them.

But they were kind of grimy and had seen better days.

They reminded me so much of the Baroque lamps I’d seen at RH Baby and Child though, that I wasn’t willing to give up on them. (Except ya know… the RH Baby and Child ones cost about $200 more per pair. Sheesh.)

Supplies Used: (Some affiliate links are provided below.)

Sample size of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Paris Grey
Sample size of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Pure White
Annie Sloan Clear Wax
Annie Sloan Dark Wax
2 paint brushes (I love using these brushes for pieces with intricate details.)
Wax brush
Paper towels
Clean, dry cotton rags
Replacement lamp shades from Walmart

1. I painted both lamps with a base coat of the ASCP Paris Grey first and let dry. (Bad cell phone shots below. Sorry. Ack!)

2. Once the base coat was dry, I dry brushed the details with ASCP Pure White. If you don’t know what dry brushing is, it’s just where I dipped the very tip of my paint brush into the white paint, brushed off the excess paint on a paper towel until it felt dry, and brushed the lamp to barely leave some white paint on the raised design.

The lamp on the right is dry brushed; the lamp on the left is not. See the difference? The details stand out so much better when they’re dry brushed.

3. After I was happy with the amount of white showing on the details, I rubbed a little of the ASCP clear wax all over the lamps and buffed off the excess with a dry rag.

4. I repeated the waxing process again with the ASCP Dark Wax. (Use clear wax before using dark wax if you want just a slight aging effect. Use only dark wax without the clear wax, if you want your piece much darker.)

5. I attached the harps back on with a couple of inexpensive white shades from Walmart, and they were done!

Still waaaaay cheaper than the RH Baby and Child Baroque lamps I’d had my eye on.

I stuck this little butterfly terrarium beside it too that I made using a thrifted dome clock for last month’s Trash to Treasure Tuesday.

And Robert and I decided to give Olivia our nightstands from our room that I painted last year since the feminine details on them seemed too perfect for us to keep to ourselves. (So now we’re on the lookout for replacements.)

Robert put together this canopy bed last week too, and we celebrated with Olivia by hanging sheets and blankets all over it to make it into a fort over the weekend. Blanket forts are one of her favorite things.

Here’s how this room looked 3 weeks ago. We’ve been busy!

We put down this rug to make the hardwood floors in here more cozy too, and we hung up this beaded semi-flush light fixture that was the perfect compromise for our 8 foot ceilings.

You can see all of the sources we’ve used so far here: