Sharing Shadymont, My Mountain Cottage

I found these lamps several years ago at a yard sale, for $5.00 each.  They are very heavy, and the lady who had them said she had purchased them from a nearby upscale store.  I was delighted to get them, and have used them ever since. Today, I decided to give them a makeover. Before base I love the style, but lots of times when turning off the lamps, the pineapple fronds at the top would poke our hand or arm, and in fact, several fronds had broken off.  So off they all came. It was easy to remove them simply by just lifting them up and down a few times. After that, I brushed on Pure Gold Metallic Craft Paint. I wasn't worried if some of the darker color showed through. I painted the upper part of the lamp, and left part of the base as it was.  Here you can see how it turned out.  It still needed a little something. I decided to embellish the lamp shades with some greek key ribbon I found in the Craft section at Wal Mart. ...

In my previous post , Using What You Have, I shared that we moved a sofa and love seat we had in the basement to the family room. What a change, going from dark brown to jewel tones floral!  I am loving the change.  It allows me to use my blue, green, pink, aqua accessories.  I'm going for the cottage look, and each day I'm remembering items that I have that will work in the room now.   Of course, I made a quick visit to Good Will, and found 3 new home decor books, an English teapot, a bunch of roses for the teapot, and a couple other items.  I arranged the roses into the teapot, and placed it in the adjoining dining room to help everything work together.  I believe the teapot was $2.52, and the flowers were a dollar.  The teapot is marked, Arthur Wood & Son, Staffordshire England, est., 1884, and numbered 6485 M. Similar pots sell on Ebay from $8 - $70. Mine was missing the lid, so it works great like I have it. This table is working wel...

I had another post ready, but I was so excited about my yard sales finds today, I just had to go ahead and tell you about it!! Y'all remember when I told you about the little chair I got for $15.00, last week?  Well yesterday and today, that same subdivision was having yard sales, house, after house!  Oh Lord, y'all, it was fabulous!  I hit several jackpots, and am so excited to tell you about them! First home I went to, I bought 2 lamps, and a great picture for $13.00!  These beauties were only $5.00 each, they are HEAVY!!  I love the pineapple motif!   This picture was $3.00, and it is huge!  I'm pretty sure it is going to the lake house.  We use lots of blue there, and have other pictures in the living room there that have the white washed frames, so this will work great there!! Here are the lamps in the family room!  I'm using the shades that were in this room until I can find what I want. I think I want drum shades. ...

The theme for Favorites on the First at the Polohouse for this month is "Favorite Lamps".  What fun!  I'm a lamp lover from way back and have quite the collection!!   This vintage lamp belonged to my MIL.   The lamp below has a burgundy shade.  I made this cover so it would better match the vignette. The lamp below was only six dollars! I really like this French lampshade. The lamp was bought at consignment. The lamp below was also a consignment find that I updated with pewter Rub 'n Buff, and gave a new shade. I believe the lamp below was popular in the seventies and eighties.  It is one that my husband had when we married. Love my white rooster lamp.   I made the lampshade cover above from burlap and eyelet.  It covers a toile lampshade.  I can change it to fit my mood.  This is probably my favorite!! This old pharmacy lamp also belonged to my husband. I love the soft warmt...

I've had small lamps with burgundy shades on my family room bookcases for a long time, and they were just not doing it for me anymore.  I picked up new shades at WM for around ten dollars each, and I am so happy with the change. Here is one of the lamps before: After: In addition to changing out the shade, I also used some Pewter Rub N Buff to tone down the brass colored lamp base. (pretend you don't see the cords).   This lamp is a recent consignment find, and the shade would move around every time the lamp was touched, plus you could see part of the lamp harp underneath the shade. I used pewter rub n buff on this lamp to cover up some gold that had been rubbed on in places.  The new shade fits the proportion of the lamp so much better.  I like the drum shape and the tone on tone design of this lampshade, and it covers the harp completely. The "before" of the lamp below: I know I purchased the above lamp at Kirkland's several yea...