This is a super easy, low cost project to elevate old lamps. All you need is a lamp Plaster of Paris, sand paper, and spray paint. I bought these lamps at my local goodwill for $7.99 each.
Difficulty level: Easy
Supplies: Lamps, Plaster of Paris, Sand paper, Spray Paint.
I desperately wanted these lovely Terra Cotta lamps from pottery Barn in my new house. They are a great size and I was just dying over the distressed finish and color. They are $225 without the shade!! There are a lot of tutorials out there utilizing faux finish techniques. I went the easiest and cheapest route with these guys. Check it out.

I mixed up some plaster of Paris according to the package directions. Because these have dimension and texter already I knew I wanted to “erase’ the triangle design and maintain some of the banding detail. I focused the first layer of plaster on evening out the triangles.

Once dry, I quickly sanded the high areas with my orbital sander. A piece of sand paper or a sanding block would work great here too.

Then I added a second layer of plaster and again focused on covering those triangles up!

Once dry I lightly sanded again and spray painted matte black.

From here you can leave solid black, or to achieve a rustic terra cotta style finish I took some dry Plaster of Paris and rubbed it all over the lamps.


Now just find a great shade! I found these solid white drum shades at Target for $20.

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