Beautiful DIY Aged Lamp Makeover | Amazing Thrift Store Finds

I’ve been eyeing those gorgeous pottery lamps for a while, and I finally decided to take a thrifted lamp and give it a DIY aged lamp makeover.

The best part about this DIY was how easy it was.

Before we left for Korea I stopped by a local thrift store to see if I could find any treasures.

Sure enough I found something!

I found this awesome lamp.

(I actually found 2 and silly me I only bought 1. When I got my act together and went back for the other one it was gone. Lesson learned!)

Now at first glance it doesn’t really look like much.

BUT, with a little bit of imagination, you could see that this lamp has great potential to become an aged pottery lamp.

It has those 2 little handles on the top that give it the look of a vintage jug, and the shape also makes it feel like it could be an old pottery vessel.

So with that in mind, I decided to take it home for $4 and attempt to turn it into a DIY aged lamp that resembles those Restoration Hardware or Pottery Barn lamps.

I’m happy to say that it turned out amazing!

So much so that my husband walked by after I put it on the side table and told me not to pass up on the second lamp next time haha!

DIY Aged Lamp

Okay, so let’s talk about this thrift store lamp makeover.

Remember when I turned those old Pier One vases into aged pottery vases?

Those weren’t very difficult, BUT this is so much easier.

The lamp was smooth so all I needed to create texture was baking soda.

Yup!

That’s right.

Good ol’ baking soda!

One of my favorite natural ways to clean up in the house was also how I turned this plain lamp into a gorgeous aged pottery lamp.

Have you heard of this technique before?

It worked beautifully!

How do you make a lamp look like pottery?

There are a few techniques to create a pottery effect.

For these vases I used joint compound to create a gorgeous aged pottery look.

But, if you don’t have to cover up a texture then the easiest way to add that pottery look is to just use baking soda.

Mix the baking soda with your paint and it will give it a beautiful texture.

This is how I did this thrift store lamp makeover, and I’m planning on using it for a vase I recently bought from the thrift store too!

It’s so easy and I absolutely love the way it looks when it’s finished!

It’s subtle, but I find that so much beauty in the details.

Can I paint my lamps?

Yes! You can paint your lamp!

Before you paint make sure you clean the lamp and then add a good primer.

I like to use Rustoleum Paint + Primer.

It’s quick and easy and gives you a great surface for the rest of your paint to adhere to.

After you have a good primer base you can use chalk paint or acrylic paint to paint your lamp base like I did for this project.

DIY Aged Lamp Makeover | Supplies

• black flat spray paint
• black chalk paint
• tan and black acrylic paint
• baking soda
• paper towel

Can you believe that you can create this gorgeous thrift store lamp makeover with supplies you probably already have?!

I’m still blown away at how easy this lamp base makeover is!

DIY Aged Lamp Makeover | Instructions

Step 1

The first thing you need to do when you want to do a thrift store lamp makeover is clean the lamp.

I like to do a wipe down with a dry rag before I wipe down with a wet rag.

This helps get the dust off easier and prevents it from clumping together when you wipe it with the wet rag.

Step 2

Now that the lamp is clean you will want to tape off the areas that you don’t want to get paint on with painter’s tape.

I also wrapped the painter’s tape down the cord a little and then tucked the rest under the cardboard the lamp was sitting on so I didn’t get paint on the cord.

Step 3

After that, I took a can of Rustoleum Paint + Primer spray paint and sprayed the base of the lamp.

I chose black because I wanted to create an aged pottery lamp that resembled those Restoration Hardware or Pottery Barn aged pottery lamps and they are darker.

But if you want your lamp to be a different color you could do brown or white, whichever color suits your style best.

Step 4

When the spray paint is dry set the lamp on a sheet of parchment paper and begin to paint it with chalk paint mixed with baking soda.

The parchment paper will make it easier for you to spin the lamp around and prevents you from getting paint on your table.

I’ve heard that you should mix at a ratio of 1 paint : 3 baking soda.

But I found this to be too thick.

I wanted it to be a grainy liquid.

So I just mixed the baking soda until the mixture was what I wanted.

Once you have the consistency you want, you’ll take a paper towel and dab it in the paint and baking soda mixture and then start dabbing on the lamp.

There is no science to it.

Just have fun.

I worked in circular and linear motions and both worked fine.

Step 5

After the first layer of baking soda and paint drys, you’ll repeat the process with a different color of paint.

I pulled out my black and tan acrylic paint and mixed them until they were a nice dark brown/gray color.

After that layer dries, you’ll make another paint baking soda mixture with a slightly different color.

The more colors and layers you mix the more texture your aged pottery lamp with end up having.

For this lamp, I did 4 different layers of paint to get this look.

Step 6

Now that the base of the lamp is ready it’s time to grab a lamp shade.

For this DIY aged lamp makeover I decided to stick with the same style of shade I’ve seen on the inspiration lamps.

A white lamp shade with a cone shape.

I lucked out because we already had a shade that fit the bill in the house.

If you don’t have lampshades from old lamps sitting around your house like we do, make sure you check out garage sales or thrift stores before you run out and spend $20 on a new one.

You can usually find them significantly cheaper.

And that’s it!

Now you have a gorgeous thrift store lamp makeover that looks like a Restoration Hardware or Pottery Barn lamp!

And it was so much more affordable!

Pin for Later!

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Have a great week! XoXo

Open Your Doors,
Aliya

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