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 :)

MOVIES I WATCHED THIS WEEK!

Hey y'all so this is a little in-between post just keep y'all entertained before I post my DIY tutorial tonight which I'm currently in the process of making!

So on my day off this week (thursday), I decided to have a super lazy day and not get out of bed and just lay and watch movies. Oh man, it was so worth it!

#1- The Longest Ride

Oh boy. Where to begin? I completely forgot I had even been waiting for this movie to come out and when I saw it I freaked out! I am a huge fan of the Nicholas Sparks based films and I juts knew I was in for a treat with this one. Now, before any of y'all are like "I bet she didn't even read the book…", No I didn't read the book. Simply because the only Nicholas Sparks book I ever read was The Lucky One and I fell so madly in love with it that when the movie came out, while still happy, I was so disappointed! People think any Nicholas Sparks book that has been made into a movie is fantastic…well the books are 10000 times better! So I thought I'd spare myself the disappointment and fully let myself get into the film.
Whilst watching this film, I realised one of two things; 1) I definitely feel like someone, somehow, got into my head and put my life's dream into a movie! Like, who doesn't want to fall in love with a dreamy cowboy who lives on a ranch with his mumma? And 2) All anyone EVER needs in life is Scott Eastwood. I mean, his smile. Lets just appreciate him for a sec.
SPOILER ALERT: I did cry uncontrollably for at least the last 20-30 minutes of the film, so just be careful ladies! Have those tissues at the ready!


#2- Insurgent

This was definitely one of my most anticipated movies, so of course I had high expectations. Yes, I have also read all the books, so I obviously know what happens, but who doesn't want to look at Theo James? Anyway, seeing as how the first book and movie were so dissimilar, I kind of expected Insurgent to be the same. And I was right. There was so much plot that had been cut out for the movie and some of the things that happened and the sequences were completely off! I do understand that turning a book into a movie is definitely hard because you obviously can't keep everything in otherwise it would be 5hrs long! But, come on guys! I was so disappointed with this movie. I found it very hard to stay engaged in it, but I did. Now, that is nothing against the actors and directors and what not, it was purely for the fact that I am a complete nerd and having read all the books I found it hard to pull away from what I read in the book and be fully only into the movie.
However, it was still a good movie and I would highly recommend Divergent & Insurgent to absolutely anyone who is looking for something to watch!


#3- The Best Of Me

 















Ah yes, another based off a Nicholas Sparks novel. About 3ish years ago, I had actually read about half of this book, but I honest could not remember a single thing that had happened. I was hesitant at first to watch the film because it involved older characters and I'm a bit more into, you know, the typical teen romance thing, but I was pleasantly surprised. For most of the film, it flicks back and forth between the past and the present and I does it pretty seamlessly I might add. I found myself loving the older versions of the characters just as much as I loved the teenage versions. As per the Nicholas Sparks tradition, it was a very country film and it tugged on your heart strings. I don't really have much else to say about this one unfortunately. Whilst it is a great film with a touching story, I'm just completely drawing a blank right now!
SPOILER ALERT: Ladies, stock up on those tissues, alright?

And last, but not least, and also probably my favourite out of the four,


#4- The Age of Adaline

When I first saw the trailer for this I was completely obsessed. I wanted to see it at the cinema so badly, but then I just forgot. So, again, when I saw that it had come out I flipped! After watching it, it has left me speechless. It is absolutely a phenomenal film and I will 110% recommend it to anyone and everyone. The story itself and they way the film has been made is just astounding. It has probably joined the list as one of my favourite films. Blake Lively is absolutely flawless in it and she just played the character Adaline tremendously well. I also love, how towards the end, the story unfolds and comes apart and the truth is told and UGH, IT'S JUST AMAZING!
If you haven't seen this film already, please do so!

So there you have it! All the movies I watched in one day. It was a pretty fabulous day if I do say so myself.

If you have seen or are going to watch any of these, let me know in the comments what you think of them!

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