How to Update an Ugly Lamp with Spray Paint

Do you have an ugly old lamp lying around? Do you have an area in your home that could use a little light? Then repurpose what you already have and give that lamp a makeover! Read on for a step by step tutorial on how to easily update an ugly lamp with spray paint! 

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I love DIY for many reasons. It’s fun. I get to be creative and channel my inner designer. And I get to reuse something that I either already own or paid very little for. This helps me get a look I love at a dirt cheap price!

I had been needing a lamp for my office desk for awhile because the lamp I had was dinky and looked plain silly on my large desk (which is actually a 4 person table that came with our house).

After hunting around, I found a lamp I loved….and it was $50 bucks. Errr….nope! I am admittedly a bit of a Scrooge and I wasn’t going to drop that much money on a lamp that wouldn’t be used every day.

Since I am both a penny-pincher and a crafty gal, DIY was my answer. I found this lamp at a thrift store for only $2.50. It had chipping, dirty cream colored paint and that dark bronze color. I’ve seen uglier lamps but this one still needed a little bit of TLC. I knew it would be a perfect fit for my desk and my wallet.

So let’s make it pretty!

How To Update An Ugly Lamp With Spray Paint

1 – Gather Your Gear

Get all your supplies purchased, pulled out of the garage, whatever. Just have everything on hand so you don’t have to stop in the middle of your project to go buy/find more stuff. That’s super aggravating.

Our Supply List:

• Spray Paint
• Painter’s Tape
• Sanding Block
• Grocery Bag
• Cardboard to set lamp on for painting

2 – Clean and Prep

To get started, make sure your lamp is clean. Paint won’t adhere well if there is gunk clinging to your lamp. I simply sprayed my homemade Multi Purpose Cleaner over the base of the lamp and gave it a good wipe down.

My lamp also had some old paint chipping off. If this happens to you, just gently scrape off as much as you can and smooth the edges with a fine grit sanding block….or in a pinch, the rough side of a kitchen sponge. (Guess who couldn’t find her sanding block. This gal! I guess I didn’t fully complete Step 1.)

3 – Cover Cord and Hardware

This will prevent paint over-spray onto parts that, you know, make the lamp turn on. You don’t want paint on there. A grocery sack and painter’s tape works like a charm.

4 – The Fun Part: Painting!

Set the prepped lamp on your piece of cardboard (or the flat piece of whatever material you are sacrificing to the Spay Paint gods) in a shady area outside.

One Color:

If you are just using one color, shake your can of spray paint well. This usually means for approximately 1 minute after you hear the can start to rattle.

Hold the can about 8 inches away from the lamp and beginning spraying in a steady back and forth motion. You’ll want to do multiple thin coats of paint to avoid drips. Let dry between coats but check the back your paint can for specific directions.

Replacing bronze with gold. See how it just brightens it up?

Two Colors:

If you are using two colors, start with the areas that will be easiest to cover up and protect during the second round of painting. So in my case, I knew I could cover up the top and bottom with extra grocery bags once I’d painted them gold. This would protect them from the white spray paint as I painted the middle section.

Spray your first areas. Once completely dry, tape off and cover the newly painted sections before painting with the second color.

Let dry again and remove the coverings to reveal your handiwork!

I topped mine with a $12 lamp shade from Wal-Mart and I love it.

Cost Breakdown

So how did we do cost-wise? Did our DIY save us some money?

• Thrift store lamp: $2.50
• Rustoleum Painter’s Touch 2X in Semi Gloss White: $3.87
• Rustoleum Specialty Metallic in Gold: already had on hand
• Painter’s tape: already had on hand
• Grocery bag: free
• Cardboard: free
• Lamp shade (similar): $12.00

Grand total: $18.37

All in all, I have a lamp that I love, designed just the way I want, and I saved $31.63!

I’d say that’s a win!

Remember that no DIY is perfect and even experienced DIY-ers have messed up projects. If you make a mistake, you can always redo it!

If you need more info on preparing for a DIY project, check out 5 Tips To Help You Rock That DIY!