Vintage Owl Lamp Upcycle

A couple of years ago, I found this awesome ceramic owl lamp at a yard sale. I was so stoked about it, that I put it in my living room and took pics before I even fixed the lampshade. The owls were in decent shape, except there were a few minor chips on it. There was also one pretty bad chip on the owl's brow, but I loved it anyway. I thought about painting it to cover up these chips, but since I'm mostly a vintage purist, I thought it would be a bad idea.

Normally, I don't condone painting anything that is genuine vintage. Vintage wood furniture should almost never be painted. Anything collectible shouldn't be painted, if painting an item will diminish the value, don't paint it, etc, etc,.. You get the point. So, I never wanted to paint this baby, until now.

I've got to say that I DO NOT recommend buying one of these lamps and immediately painting it. If you find one and it's in great shape, you probably shouldn't paint it. I only painted this one after long and careful consideration and because there were some significant chips on it. Please don't go around painting up all of these beauties. If you love the look and really want to have one like it, I'm working on a cheap and easy DIY, knock off version. So, check back before you go paint one of these beauties.

See the AFTER version after the jump

Mini Trees for the Mini Me's - DIY

With the leftover branches I had after making our half Christmas tree, I was able to make two mini trees for my mini me and my husband's mini him. They each got to decorate their own trees however they wanted and proudly displayed them in their rooms.

All I did was take two branches and zip tied them together. I used three zip ties on each one; one each for the top, middle and bottom. I happened to have two baskets for the stands. I stood the tree in each one and wrapped old sheets and fabric around the base to secure them in place. Then I fluffed out the little branches.

Here is how they turned out.

Hers

Domo Arigoto Mr Roboto

While it may be a little too late in the game to order any costumes online, I still wanted to share my robot-costume treasury list. I would like to add that most of the clothes in the treasury list are vintage items and there is still enough time for one to find costumes from the thrift shop. And if I could offer a little bit of advice: don't just stick to the Halloween section of the thrift shops. Keep an open and imaginative mind and scour those shops from the sweater sections to furniture to toy aisles. You might find something extraordinary in a place that you might not initially think to look.

Like I said, I was late in the game making this costume treasury. I wish I would have thought of it sooner, because I am pretty sure I would have ordered some of these things for my costume this year. However, there is always next year and I will still have this treasury to look back on and be inspired by. Hopefully, I'll remember in time. And I hate to admit it, but I kind of hope some of this stuff is still available. I mean, don't get me wrong, I hope these wonderful shop owners get some sales, but if I'm not able to get one of those amazing robot helmets next year, I will be pretty sad.

And without further adieu, I present you with:

ROBOT INVASION

click on the pic to see the full list

Now, the possibility of purchasing these items in time for Halloween may be slim. However, don't be afraid to send a message to the shop owners about faster shipping. Some of them might be able to accommodate, but don't be mad if they can't. 

Would you like to a robot for Halloween, but feel like you don't have time to get the costume together? Never fear! You can whip one up in no time and still impress your friends. Seriously. Just google home made robot costume and search through the images. You will soon see how easy it can be.

I Promise

I vow, with my whole heart, that I will never ever do an "upcycle" project that will ruin the integrity of a beautiful vintage item. I will never paint wood that should not be painted. I will never destroy a book to make a trendy house decoration. Books should be read. I will never paint a globe, so as to not see the land divisions of that particular time. That is a part of history and history should not be forgotten. Also, I find that shit really interesting. I might chalkboard paint something, because chalkboards have always and will always be cool. However, I will not chalkboard paint a mid century dresser with dove tailed drawers. I won't melt records into bowls... Actually, I have done that, but to be fair, I did listen to the whole thing and it really wasn't anything to brag about on facebook or anything and I was pretty sure that no one else would be yearning to hear that particular record, so.... yea. I might fuck up some records every now and then. Just know that I will make sure to give the record a fair trial before I cut it up and make a purse out of it. I'll never bastardize a designer dress or make a shitty skirt out of a perfectly excellent vintage t-shirt.
I'm giving this vow, because with the power of the internet, idiots are out there blogging about how they re-created a vintage piece, copying another shitty blog who destroyed a perfectly built hutch and painted it into a trendy nightmare, thus ruining the finish and patina that the item was intended to have. It kills me sometimes that people will paint an item to be look "shabby chic" when in reality, if you think an item "needs" to be painted, then it probably already is "shabby chic". Sometimes, re-paints are necessary. And sometimes they stray far from it's original finish and look really cool, but what happens when every skillfully carved victorian dresser is painted silver long after the silver trend is over? Do you strip and re-paint it? Re-store it? Long to have a blonde wooded dresser the way they were made back in the day?
Here is the long and short of it folks. I think the 80s are a good marker for when the manufacturing business changed. True craftsmen of quality goods were pushed aside to make way for a more "economical" business model. Meaning that, manufacturers wanted to save money by using the cheapest materials possible and pay the least amount of money to hire people to make said products. And now we have pressed wood entertainment centers that fall apart after a couple years. Dresser drawers break the minute you put away your sweaters and and hastily sewn seams unravel after minimal wear. This has become the norm. This is what its come to.
When your grandpa says, "Back in my day, people used to care about what they built. They would take pride in it and make it beautiful. A piece of art." He's speaking the truth. Everybody's grandpa has said that, in so many words, at some point in time. Or our dads or uncles... They've all said it and they're all right. "Back in the day", shit was built to last. And last it did. Except for maybe cars. Cars have come a long way in their available safety features. They may not always look as cool as they used to, but I got to give it up for science and research on that one. And big up to engineers who designed my car so that I would have better chances at getting from point a to point b safely. But, in the general sense of the term, these general goods that we use on a daily basis, are being manufactured to fail. The older items, however, were built to last. Grandpa, Uncle, Daddy, Brother was right.
So, when I see some of these bloggers out there posting upcycle projects that destroy genuinely good vintage pieces, I can't help but cringe. Don't get me wrong. I love a good upcycle project, but not when it destroys the integrity of a well-built piece of history. Please, crafters, do your research on things before you chop them up and paint them! Make sure you're not ruining the value of something by changing it. Think about re-storing things to their original grandeur first, before painting it a trendy color that will be out of style next season. By all means, don't stop fixing things up, don't stop upcycling. Don't stop saving things from going into a landfill. Just please make sure you do your research first and consider preserving vintage rather than changing it. They don't make these things like they used to and if too many people jump on the upcycle band wagon without the proper knowledge of the things they are potentially destroying, pretty soon we won't have anything left.

BEFORE & AFTER DESK

I recently came into the possession of two very large, wooden desks. My husband's boss was updating their office and decided to give these to us for free. It was perfect timing too, because my old desk was broken and was too small for my needs. The desks are great. They are built with quality construction and made of solid wood. The only problem was, they were kind of ugly. So, I decided all they needed was a little paint.

Originally, I wanted to paint every inch of these bad boys, but my husband said he liked the look of the wood. I think it's a man thing...most guys I know prefer the look of real wood over painted wood. So, I thought of a compromise, so I could still paint these and make them look a lot better, but keeping a little bit of it natural to please my man.

I'm not going to bore you with the how-to of this project. All I did was tape and paint.

These are the before and during shots above.

 And after.

This one is my husband's desk. Mine was already too messy to show.

And there you have it. 

A before and after project that cost ZERO dollars and proves that a little bit of paint can go a long way.