Craft Box Lamp

Why do I always stop and look at these wooden craft boxes from the dollar store?  I dunno.  Maybe because one day I knew I’d do something with them?  This time I brought 3 home with me,

as well as a couple of bricks of clay (we’ll get to those in a bit).

I bought some Martha Stewart craft paint from Michaels.

and a lamp kit from Lowes

I removed the glass top from one of the boxes.  Remove all the front hardware as well.

These boxes are usually slightly rough around the edges (literally), so you’ll need to sand them nice and smooth with a sanding block before you paint them. 

With a little stencil sheet I stencilled each box on three sides. When everything was dry I gave them a coat of Minwax Polyurethane just to smooth it out at bit more.

Drill holes in top and bottom of each box.

Don’t forget to drill a hole through the back of the bottom box to allow the cord to come through.

I weighted down the bottom two boxes with the clay bricks.  These wooden boxes are ultra lightweight and I didn’t want the lamp to become top heavy when the shade was attached. To avoid drilling through the clay I cut the bricks in half, left the cellophane on and glued them down with hot glue.

You’ll need a long threaded rod, long enough to go from the bottom of your lamp to the bottom of the socket.  This doesn’t come with the lamp kit.  The brass rings (seen below) that did come with the kit were too brassy so I painted them copper.

Thread the rod through all the boxes and secure with lock nuts provided in the kit.  Push cord through rod and follow instructions on your lamp kit on how to connect the wires.

Add lamp shade and plug ‘er in.

(I need to get a smaller harp for the shade to bring it down a bit)

Not bad for starting with 3 dollar store boxes.

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Little Orphan Stool & Giveaway Winner

When I was walking through my local thrift store I spotted this stool/plant stand towards the end of the isle.  Without missing a step, I scooped it up as I walked by.  No further inspection needed. 

It was slightly wobbly, nothing that couldn’t be fixed and quite scuffed up on top, but I didn’t care.

I put this can of paint beside it to show you just how small it is.  Love the legs!

So what’s a few nails sticking out of the top, scratches, gouges and hammer dents? Nope, didn’t bother me. No-siree.

I’ve been looking for the perfect wooden step stool for ages… never came across one I really liked until now.  I needed it black, so black it became.  As usual I turned it upside down first and gave it all a complete 2 coats of black paint.

But for the top I wanted something  a little different.  The top was so scuffed up that there wasn’t much finish left on it to sand off, besides I didn’t want it sanded, smooth or cleaned up, so I left it as is.

I cut a Fleur de lis on my Cricut machine and used only the inside piece for my stencil.  I used my handy-dandy dollar store mactac paper for the stencil.

I also taped off the nice curvy edge to keep that from getting painted as well.

Then spray ‘er down with more black paint.

 

I will tell you that I don’t wait for my paint to COMPETELY dry before taking off any tape.  I find that depending how the tape job was or how thick you’ve laid on the paint, if it’s completely dry there are times the painted edges will lift off with the tape. If there are any seeps or problems it’s much easier to fix them now.

After very light distressing with a sanding sponge it’s now a rustic little stool that I can virtually put anywhere.

I think leaving the curved edge unpainted added a bit of dimension breaking up the black a bit.

The fleur de lis turned out great, just enough design, not overly bold.

I wanted a small stool for the top of my console table just for holiday decorating.

OR… beside my console..

OR… beside my kitchen island

This little guy is going to be so versatile.

Now on to the Giveaway winner of the the Milk Paint Products and Paint brushes.

Thanks to all who entered.

According to Random Number Generator, the winner is

#47

Lucky Number #47 is

Cindy from Cottage Instincts

Congrats Cindy, I’ll be contacting you shortly!

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