in the lamp light tonight

With the craze for patchwork abundant at the moment, I thought I'd share a project I made for a friend recently.

In a previous life, this standard lamp belonged to AM's mother, and was a fixture in her home for as long as AM can remember. Typical of it's era & age, the base was dark brown, and the shade was a tired textured cream colour with a few stains thrown in for good measure. AM was sentimental about the lamp, and didn't want to part with it, but couldn't have it anywhere but the garage in the state it was in. Wisely, or not, she entrusted me with the makeover. I was a little nervous to say the least. If I got it wrong, AM would be too nice to tell me, but I figured I'd know all the same.

And as you see, here is the result. Tucked in amongst the beautiful Designers Guild fabrics are some photos of AM's mum as a young girl and a young mother. I copied these on to fabric and then incorporated them carefully. You have to look closely to see them, but I thought it would be fun to preserve the history and the memories somehow in the reworked piece.

I think the lamp is rather gorgeous, but then I am biased! When I visited tonight, it didn't look as if AM had just whipped it out of the garage & dusted it off because she knew I was popping around...

Amanda xx

P.S To give credit where credit's due, AM's husband, Davey is the only one who could possibly have done such a spendiferous job on the pristine, beautifully sanded & painted glossy white, lamp base. Pin It