Orbing

When Jason and I got married, he had lived on his own for almost ten years. The great thing about that was that he already had a ton of stuff to furnish our home with. Some things were great - dishes, sheets, living room furniture, a TV, etc. But some things were...not as appreciated. Like these lovelies here:

This is the green shade that went with it, but it's a horrible picture. 

These green lamps have been the bane of my existence for 8 years now. I couldn't stand how big they were and that they looked like hotel lamps. I had made my attempts at replacing them several ways - trying to convince Jason to let me buy new lamps, "accidentally" dropping them in hopes they would break, even pawning them off on other people. But no go. Somehow the idea of painting them did not occur to me until just recently. So I broke out my favorite ORB (oil-rubbed bronze) spray paint and got to it. 

I also happened to go by Hobby Lobby and find some pretty khaki shades on clearance and snatched them up to go atop our new orbed lamps. Here is the result:

(Please ignore my dinner plate sitting on the side of the couch. Just keepin' it real.)

HELLO! Why didn't I do this YEARS ago? I absolutely love them now. I can even appreciate their pretty curved shape now, all because of a new color. They fit in perfectly down in the man cave, with the library-esque theme we want. 

We also had another mismatched lamp down there and I decided he might as well get a makeover too. Here it is before:

And after:

(sorry for the blurriness; I really need to learn how to adjust my camera)

I have some ideas for the boring shade, but haven't gotten around to it yet. I'm thinking a stencil might be cool in a neutral color, so it would bring interest without too much distraction. Or maybe a monogram, or dipping the top and bottom in a pop of color...the possibilities are endless!

Another little tidbit I did this week was pick up some plants from Lowes. I went in to see if there were any Christmas items on sale and when pointed to the back green room, I found a whole cart full of plants that said they were $1 each. I'm not talking about little spindly plants either - I'm talking taller-than-me, lush, beautiful greenery! There were some smaller plants too, like this Christmas cactus for 27 cents:

And this pretty yellow-green plant for 38 cents:

But the next two shots are of my dollar beauties:

I was just thinking that some plant life might be nice for our little abode (even though I always kill any plant I bring home)! Adds a lot of warmth, I think. 

So there are a couple of little things I've been working on. Got a couple more to share too, including a new shade for the kitchen window and a new piece of art for the mantel. Stay tuned!