HOW TO: DIY COPPER FLOOR LAMP

Hey y'all! Woohoo. My first DIY post. All I can say is it's about bloody time! I absolutely love doing DIY projects and I just think its so awesome that I can no share it with people too.

Okay, so basically I'm gonna tell/show y'all how I turned a boring chrome floor lamp into a nice statement, copper piece. It's super easy and ridiculously cheap, so if I can do it, anyone can!

First you want to start off with a basic floor lamp, however you're not restricted to this. You can pretty much take all this information and apply it to whatever piece of furniture you want! I got my floor lamp from Masters Home Improvement for a hefty $18! Look out guys, big spender over here!

As you can see, it's pretty bland and boring and I've been wanting to re-vamp it for a while now. 

Now that you have your lamp base you want to prime it.

I cannot stress enough how important priming is! The amount of people who come into my work having a go at me for their project not looking right and I ask them, "Well did you prime the surface correctly?" and their response is along the lines of, "no? I thought I could just paint it?"! Whilst some surfaces may not need to be primed, this is not always the case! 

I'd suggest going outside for this part if you're using spray paints like I did. It get get extremely smelly! Also just be careful as to where you're doing it too; if it's windy or something, you don't want to spray it and then have it fly back in your face or onto your mum's window, for example!

I used the Plastikote Primer in White. This stuff is a pretty versatile product and can be suitable for metal, wood, plastic etc. This is pretty much your stock-standard primer and is great for people doing DIY projects. I got this from Masters Home Improvement for roughly $14, so it's super affordable too.

1. Give the can a good shake first so you don't get any watery bi-product to begin with
2. Evenly spray the surface. I'd recommend holding the can back at least 30cm, just so it's not too thick and you don't get annoying little pools of the paint on the surface that'll take forever to dry!

I worked from bottom to top, but this stuff really just comes down to personal preference.

Just apply one even coat all over and then you're done! The Plastikote is supposedly touch dry in 20-40 minutes, so I decided to go make some lunch and catch up on some youtube while it dried.

Fully primed! Sorry about the glare, it was ridiculously sunny today.

Once it's all primed, you can move onto your first top coat!

For the top coat, to get the coppery/rose gold look, I'm using the Plastikote Brilliant Metallic Spray in Copper. I snagged this from Masters Home Improvement, also, for roughly $17. Now, depending on the brand the price can vary. I was so happy when this product came back in because I had been waiting and waiting just so I could specifically use it for this! I looked everywhere all over Canberra, but nowhere else had the right kind of product I was after.

The method used for applying the primer also applies to this. It is very simple. As long you apply it evenly and are not holding the can too close, there's not much that can go wrong! However I would suggest wearing gloves as this stuff goes everywhere! 

So this was what it looked like after one top coat.

Depending on the look you're wanting to achieve, you can do another top coat (once the first has dried) or you can leave it at that. There was a few lighter spots that I missed and I wanted to intensify the ffect a bit more, so I did a second coat.

I also did a little bit of the electrical cord which I probably wouldn't recommend, however I didn't really care so I just tried it out.

And after the second coat dried I brought it back inside, put the bulb in and admired my work.

So this is a close up of the actual finish (if you can see coz it's blurry as fuck)

So there you have it folks. A nice easy and affordable way to turn a lamp from drab into fab!

Now I'm also considering doing a coat over the top of a clear gloss just to make it really shiny, but I'm not too sure. I'll leave it for  couple of days and see if it grows on me.

Products Used & Cost:

1. Floor Lamp Base, $18 - Masters Home Improvement
2. Plastikote Primer in White, $14 - Masters Home Improvement
3. Plastikote Brilliant Metal Spray in Copper, $17 - Masters Home Improvement
4. Large Filament Bulb, $20 - Masters Home Improvement

Total cost = $69 (roughly)

SUPER CHEAP AND FAB RESULTS! Anyone can do it :)