Makeover - DIY Persian Lamp

I haven't had these lamps for very long. I bought them on a holiday trip I took to Dubai just before I got married. I fell in love with all of the Persian lamps that seemed to be everywhere whilst we were there. They were super cheap as well compared to if I was going to buy them in London.

I decided to buy two. I tried to find matching but it didn't quite work out so I ended up with two that looked similar instead. I didn't mind too much as choosing between them would have been hard enough as they were both beautiful. Also, I thought going for the clear glass would be better as I didn't know if a colourful light would suit where I would be living.

Almost three years have gone by now and as much as I still adore the lamps, I sometimes look at them and feel like they don't suit my decor anymore. I have come a long way in what I prefer and how I like my interior to look. After thinking about it for a while I have finally decided what to do with the lamps. Yep, you've guessed correctly, I will be spray painting them! Meaning another lovely DIY tutorial for you all! You might be thinking, yeah it's just a bit of spray paint on some lamps, but I find when it comes to DIY's, they never seem to go to plan and there's always a technique that works best with them. So read along to find out about what techniques work best with spray painting lamps.

Probably one of my favourite DIY's to do is spray painting. The results are always so quick and they mostly always look great (if done neatly of course). I have created a step by step tutorial for you guys in case you would like to get the same look. It's very simple.

What You'll Need:

• A Lamp
• Newspaper
• Masking tape/Cello-tape
• Spray Paint
• Plastic Gloves (so you don't get spray paint all over your hands!)

Step 1:
Open up your lamp. Pull it all apart until you're left with just the sections you would like to spray paint. Make sure to also take out the light bulb, wouldn't be a pretty sight getting spray paint all over it!

Step 2:
Tape the wires and sections you wouldn't like to get anything on. It's very hard trying to avoid those areas once you get into the spraying.

Step 3:
This is the fun part! And start spraying! Leave a good distance while spray painting as it leaves a nice even coat. Also, I find you get less drips when you spray from a distance rather than up close.

Step 4:
Let it dry. I left it for about an hour and it was fully dried. The colour of the paint did change as it dried so don't worry if it looks a bit different to the colour you expected when you first spray it on.

All finished. I love the results of the colour. It definitely isn't how I expected it to look but it still works nonetheless. As I had originally bought a metallic gold spray paint, I kind of expected it to be a bit shinier and a brighter gold. But it came out completely matt and a very dull gold! I do still really like how it looks though because the colour seems to really work the decor in my flat. So all smiles round and really happy with the results. Just need to work out where to place them now which hopefully will be a post for another day :).