You guys know that I’m all about saving a penny or two, so the clearance section is one of my favorite places to wander through. A cup that sports an adorable pattern and a teeny tiny chip in the rim? Use it for pens and pencils! A garishly painted owl figurine? Spray paint it white! There are so many great “hacks” to be had in the clearance section, and all for next to nothing in terms of price. Take my latest HomeGoods find, for example…
Although I know that I risk offending those of you who adore the striped “Before” in this project, I just wasn’t a big fan of that semi-chevron pattern. But I was a big fan of the price tag. Clocking in at just $24.99, this clearance section lamp sported a substantial base in a classic shape that I loved, plus a gorgeous white linen drum shade with a pretty gold finish on the inside. Sold!
The only thing to figure out was how to remedy the finish on the base that didn’t quite suit my taste. For this project, I decided to experiment with sisal rope. The idea was to create something nautical inspired for a fraction of the prices found at designer stores (like this one for $600!). Happily, my rope cost less than $5 and I already had plenty of hot glue to go around—in this case, literally.
Lucky for me, the process to recreate the designer look was as simple and straightforward as could be. I squeezed out a line of hot glue, grabbed my rope, pulled it taut and pushed it down into the glue while it was still pliable.
Although I thought that I could get away with a couple of dots of glue here and there, I ultimately used a full line of glue around all four sides for each new layer of rope to ensure the tightest finish. Because of this, I went through quite a bit of hot glue—maybe four sticks—so be sure to have extra on hand if you try this at home.
One other thing that I ran into with this project was the not-quite-square silhouette of my particular lamp. Because the edges were all a bit curved and bowed, my rope layers ended up a bit curved and bowed, too. So, once I got to the top, I needed to do a bit of filler work.
To do so, I stopped just under the top edge of the lamp base and added a cut length of rope ram-rod straight across with the hot glue. Then, I cut and glued on small scraps of rope to fill in the resulting blank area. Finally, as you can see above, I was left with a clean, straight edge, which I finished with one final layer to cover up the remaining black and gold paint job.
A clearance lamp, $5 worth of supplies and an hour spent in the studio—I’m pretty excited by the results of this little equation. But I’m curious to know…Would you have left it as is? Would you have gone a different route with your own HomeGoods hack? Or are you feeling the rope-wrapped look, too? Do tell.
What a great way to repurpose a lamp that you can get for really cheap. Great guide for people who pick up lamps from garage sales or bargain centers. Thank you!
I love this! I have had rope on the brain lately and this is just the push I needed!
Turned out really awesome and looks pretty on your dresser vignette
Thanks Julia!!
The After is definitely better than the Before! That base was hideous.
I’m curious about the gold-lined shade — what does it look like when the light is on? Does it have a bright-but-warm glow?
Thanks! It DOES have a bright-but-warm glow! I would say that it’s a little more pointed than the diffused look of linen shades, but the effect is very sophisticated and elegant.
It never fails to amaze me how easily something can be made for pennies and the other 2% will spend hundreds for the same thing. On another site, there was a lamp very similar to this one, only it was made with rope using a knot called “the monkey fist”. From a popular store the very same lamp was 200.00. On the web site she made the same lamp for pennies. I could not tell the difference. Good job!!! Just one hint…if you don’t want to get that droopy look towards the top of the lamp, use thicker rope. It looks wonderful though, great job.
Thanks
s. elston
Thanks so much for the support and for the tip, too!! It blows me away how much brands will charge for something that is so simple to make at home…
I adore the after! Great find; the shade alone is worth $50; have 2 lamps in my bohemian craft room; perfect shape & height but not so great finish; will be looking for sisal to cover them with!
Thanks so much!! I’m glad you found it helpful and inspiring 🙂