Let Your Light Shine!

"Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

Psalms 119:105

Have you ever counted how many lamps you have around your home? I really had not either, but started taking count of how many I do have...and it's a lot....28!! I suspect you have a lot of lamps at your house too. Can you imagine what our homes and rooms would look like without lamplight glowing? They really do add such a nice ambience and if you're like me, I tend to use lamplight much more than overhead lights for most of my rooms. Just thought I'd show you the many and varied lamps that are strewn about my home (and this just a portion of them). They are all different, on purpose, since I grew tired of the more formal look of silk shades and bases and now I have quite a collection of interesting, but totally different lamps. I tend to keep my lamps for many years & redo them as needed. I don't need more lamps right now at all, but when one calls my name at a yardsale, sometimes I can't resist. Come with me for a tour of my lamps....

The one pictured above is a yardsale lamp that I bought for $5 & now it sits on a black desk in the den. Oops, I see I need to move that shade around so it sits properly.

Floor lamp that I've had for many years. It used to be a taupe color & I repainted it with a bronze finish last year. Added a new brick red drum shade (from Walmart no less) & now it has a whole new look.
Another lamp I've had for probably 12 years (& paid too much for then, around $100), it was originally a brighter gold finish & is metal. Again, a new bronze finish & lamp shade from JoAnn's & it's a whole new look. I'm really attracted to these drum shades the last couple of years. Another trick is to change out finials for a new look. They can be painted to match your lamp finish & really give a lot of interest to lamps.
This tiny little cutie also came from a yardsale for $2.00 & I had to buy the shade. It dresses up a wall shelf in the den.
This one was the wrong color green when I bought it. Found some Green Apple paint at Lowes & gave it a new look too. Added the trim around the bottom of the shade with fabric glue. This one is on my desk in my office nook. This one came from a yardsale too, for maybe $4. I had the shade already to add to it. It's in my upstairs guestbath. You can see my love of leopard print is a sure thing. Keep scrolling if you don't believe that!
Another little lamp that's in one guestroom that was found yardsaling too. I also found the leopard fabric at another yardsale & used it around my house (got probably a yard of it for $1.00 & used it on lampshades & pillows). Embellished with trim & beaded fringe.
This floorlamp is really vintage, found at a yardsale for $10.00 several years ago. I treaure this one, the base is really pretty too. Covered a plain square shade with my checked fabric in this guestroom & added fringe.
Another yardsale lamp for $5. It was gold, repainted bronze. Covered the shade with my black/tan toile fabric in the guestroom.
Yet another yardsale vintage lamp, I think this one was $1.00. It had a chip on one edge & I repaired it with Plaster of Paris. Repainted it & added the leopard fabric & beads. Also in a guestroom. One of my favorite lamps of all, another yardsale find at $7. It also had one leg missing, but the leg got repaired & painted black to match. It had no shade, so I bought a square one, covered it in one of my kitchen fabrics, added the fringe. Just love this little cutie! I was told one of these was once in a Southern Living house & was very expensive.
One of 2 Bronze buffet lamps in the Diningroom. These were bought new. I love tassels used around the house & love how they add some pizazz to lamps. You'll see tassels on lots of my lamps.
Picked this little funky lamp up at a design shop in Marietta for around $13, if I remember right. I love the shape & beading on the top & bottom. This one's on my vanity in the master bedroom.
Getting away from the more traditional lamps I had always had in the bedroom, I found these ceramic lamps with square shades at Olde Time Pottery & thought they'd be a nice change & added some of the blue that I have in there.
Also, found the little mate to the larger ones in the bedroom. This little one is on a shelf in the master bathroom. Another yardsale find from last year, this one was $3. I already had the shade in the closet & it's a nice fit. This is the type of shade I was always using for years, until I branched out to more unique & less formal ones. I love the classic shape of this lamp & it's pretty old. Love the fleur de lis, which are also favorites of mine.
Buffet lamp on my foyer table was found at Tuesday AM. It had a simple cream shade & I changed it out to this black fabric one that I found at a closeout type store in GA for $2. I painted it with a bronze finish, original was brighter gold.
Can you believe another yardsale lamp for $5? This is a classic column lamp & I just love the shape of it. Added the linen shade from JoAnn's. I liked this lampshade so much I used it on 2 lamps...one upstairs & one downstairs.
This is one of the most expensive lamps I have. Think I paid about $100 for this one from a decorator in GA. I used to shop at her home store & bought this one more than 10 years ago when I was first trying to outfit my house with lamps. It has a hand-painted motif of fruit. I probably would never pay that much for a lamp again, but I know that's not a lot for a lamp these days. It was for me though! It originally had a cream silk shade & I deformalized it with this linen one from JoAnn's & sits in my LR. This one came from a really neat store in Atlanta called Hill Street Warehouse. They have a closeout room with lots of great deals on things & they had a huge clearance on lamps one day when I was in there about 3 years ago. I paid $50 for this one. It's a nice ceramic with a pretty fruit design on the front. Reminds me of Raymond Waites, whose designs I love. This one is in the livingroom also. I had to add the bronze fixture above to show you. Found this while yardsaling last weekend for $3.00. It is an outside light & will look smashing on our front porch to replace the ugly builder's one that is there now. I can't wait to get it up!

Hope you enjoyed the tour! Now go and count how many lamps you have (I'd love to know!). I bet you may be surprised just how they add up.

Let's let our lights shine...in more ways than one!