Too good to waste

I've needed a beside table lamp for a long time, and just couldn't find one I really loved at the right price. I searched store after store and came up short. I was searching in all the wrong places because all the while, my lamp was in my parent's basement.

My mom found this in front of her neighbor's house one day. She had put it out for the trash man. My mom picked it up with no real intention, but thought it was too good to waste.

(Did  you know there is a section of the county dump here in my town that they call "Too Good to Waste" and you can rummage through it? I only know that because my friend Katie went there in high school because she does random things like that. She returned to tell my 33ish year old self that that was like me - "You are too good to waste!" This in reference to my status as a single woman. I digress...)

(It came with a shade, but I didn't care for that so much, so I just took the base.)

 

 

The height and shape is what I appreciated, but I knew the color wouldn't work. I wanted a robin's egg blue  and found a can of spray paint at Michael's for a little more than $6.00. It was worth a shot, I thought. My dad came for a visit a few weeks later and I asked him to do it because he is such a careful painter. I took a lampshade that I had that I was not using and it all came together.

 

 

 

 Try the same if you see a lamp at a yardsale (or your parent's basement).  It may only need some paint. Since having hip surgery last week, I am in bed a lot. (Nothing serious.) It's nice to have something pretty to look at while I get better. Thanks  to my friend, Melissa, for the "get well flowers" to round out the look!