"Handmade (Not Homemade)" describes the way this Denver blogger approaches her many projects in life: creating, inspiring, loving and exploring. Living life to it's fullest requires more than a rag-tag assortment of homemade theories and thrown-together decisions. But the goal is not perfection, for handmade items and actions have a slightly imperfect organic charm.

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Monday, March 28, 2011

Thrift store find lamp trash to treasure

You know when you see something in a store and you are so obsessed with it that when you do not buy it right away, you just cannot stop kicking yourself in the pants for not getting it right then and there.

That's how I felt about this lamp when I saw it. I was completely transfixed by this...


Do you think I'm crazy? Wait til you see what I did to it! But first, the story.

One of my favorite fabric stores in Denver is in a pretty urban area, so parking is hard to come by. Rather than park a block or two away or driving around for a while looking for the best alternative, I park in the Goodwill parking lot instead and walk through their store on the chance that I may find something awesome.

The other day I walked through the Goodwill, saw nothing of note, then went to the fabric store. On my way back to my car, I thought I saw something amazing poking out of the donation bin. I literally stopped in my tracks. One of the cars driving through the lot waved at me to pass in front of him. His window was down, so I said "Oh no-you go on. I just saw something that caught my eye. Um, did you just donate an owl lamp?"

"Yes, I did," he replied.

That's when I became obsessed.

I know for a fact that Goodwill will not let you take anything out of the donation bin, even if you want to buy it right away and do not care abut the price. I probably would have paid $30 for this lamp right then and there. But no,  they have to "process" it-a process that can take a few hours or a few days. I was determined to drive there immediately the next morning, hoping that someone else did not snap it up first.

When I got there the next day, it was nowhere to be found. But I asked a nice volunteer about it (odd, he knew the EXACT lamp I was talking about ha!) and he went to the back room, priced it ($5.99), and let me take it!

And after quite a few coats of white glossy spray paint. Here it is:


The chic-est cheapest lamp ever!

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