Summer's Here

Texas summer has officially hit in full force. Wake up and feel the heat. Literally. For example, this morning I woke up at 7:00 A.M. and it was already 85 degrees, by 11:00 it was 92, only to rise well into triple digits by noon. It's oppressive, humid, and unrelenting. It makes you sunburned, sweat way more than any average person, aaaaannd smell bad (from the obscene amount of sweat you are producing). But beauty be damned I am choosing this time to start multiple projects and re-do's. Why? I'm either just really excited about them or slightly crazy, the answer being most likely a mixture of both. Texas summer does have it's upsides though. It means lake time and popsicles, late nights and baseball (all in all I would like to think that they even out). 

 Luckily I've grown up with the Texas heat and even chose to go to camp as camper then counselor for 14 years for 2 weeks in August with NO A/C. Shocking, I know but it gives me the confidence that I will NOT melt while attempting my beautification of the old and outdated.

I'll admit I'm trying my hand at some different things, that may or may not turn out perfectly. Photography, reupholstery, refinishing, and building from scratch are all pipe dreams that I have only minorly attempted, if at all. I realize that all of these tasks require lots of time,effort, and trial and error in order to acheive that looks that I want. Again, I may be crazy but gosh darn it I'm gonna try anyway. Before I start those those projects I want to share what I've been up to the last few months. I wrote about my table and lamp re-do but I tried my hand at taking some better photos. I may have looked a bit strange ( more strange than I normally do) down by the Bayou with a lamp, table, and camera in tow but no matter, I did it anyway. I loved the lighting late in the day but I'm still working on getting my manual settings perfect. One more time, I'm just starting to learn how to take better pictures, apetures and shutter speed are still quite confusing but I'm hoping to get better eventually, so I can have better photos! Here are the best of them:

 I also got to work on some special things for my college roommates wedding! I was so excited that Sara asked me to help and I loved getting to hear all her cute ideas for her south Texas outdoor wedding. The wedding was beautiful and I loved getting to spend time with all my college roomies (5girls + 1house= countless/priceless stories)! Sara blogs over at http://www.saraandluke.blogspot.com/, check it out! Anyway, here's a collage of the little things I was able to contribute!

Now about the newbies. I've gotten 3 new pieces lined up to get going on. I found a cute little chest of drawers and coffee table at goodwill that had a really nice bones but they definitely need some work.

I also found 2 lamps that I'm really pumped about!

Hopefully I can start working this weekend (in the heat) and come up with something!

gLAMPing

I know what your thinking by reading the title of this post; Glamping, really? Did she really just say glamping, the term used for the new hobby of glamourous camping? Well i did use the word, but not for that purpose! I found this old lamp in storage that had belonged to my grandma. As you can see from the photo:

It's not that cute. I would dare use the word ugly for this thing. The gold/bronze/speckling effect to my knowledge has never been a big style trend, except on and the set of The Golden Girls. Here's a close up:

 It's one of those lamps that just sat in the corner that nobody noticed. Poor neglected little thing. Well, it's time for this little guy to come out of the shadows and embrace a new style. The lamp itself is actually all metal and really sturdy (aka heavy), which only made the find better. The detail and shape of the lamp is also really interesting but it just wasn't being noticed with the color that it was. I decided to go with black lacquer. It's clean, simple, contemporary and beautiful and I thought it would help show off the shape of the lamp alot better. I bought some black lacquer spray paint at a local hardware store and went to work. I had to do multiple coats to get the black shine that I was looking for but finally after many hours of waiting and paint fumes, TA DA!

Next I had to address the shade. Ooooh the shade. This wonder was not doing any favors for the already unattractive lamp.

I replaced it with a clean white drum shade that I found at Target, I thought that would be the best way to keep it clean and simple. Needless to say I think this lamp looks loads better and now can hitch a ride with Michael J. Fox  back to the future and into the 21st century.

P.s. I'm thinking of getting an oversized white drum shade instead of the current one, thoughts?

Check back soon for new pictures of the lamp and table with a new beautiful, natural backdrop!