But I have two rooms – the spare bedroom and my office that leave me utterly confused. It’s mostly a matter of money and not that I don’t know what to do. Both rooms will eventually be gutted and renovated so I don’t want to put too much hard work into them. So, they’ve both become the repository of all things that don’t fit anywhere else; the old floral sofa, the clothes rack-I mean the elliptical, the mismatched furniture. My office doesn’t even have a proper ceiling fixture, just the bare bulb that we put in right after we moved in (the previous owner never put in overhead lights in most rooms).  I tried to dress it up with a silk shade from Pottery Barn, but with 9 1/2 foot ceilings, it just looks strange.

A friend of mine gave me two lamp shades from Pottery Barn because they didn’t coordinate with her decor; it turns out they didn’t coordinate with mine either but I figured I’d use them for something someday.  Here’s the before picture of one of the shades.

I love red so you’d think I’d find somewhere to use them but with the modern detailing in the rope design, they just didn’t work. I spent about a year moving the shades from room to room and finally permanently housed them in the basement (which is a bad idea because our house is on top of an underground river system).

One day, I was trolling decorating sites and I saw a lamp shade that stopped my heart! A gorgeous painted shade in watery but bright orange, yellow and pink poppies. I can’t tell you how much I love poppies but at $235, I decided I didn’t love them that much. Plus as brave as I am with color, I did not have a place for such a statement piece. So I filed the picture away in my mind of projects that I know I could do myself – someday.

About a month ago, I decided to try to turn this red shade into my poppy shade, but in colors that matched my decor. I used a sponge roller and three coats of primer but could not get the red pattern covered. So, back to the basement it went. Yesterday, I was feeling totally sick of winter (I know it’s technically spring but here in NY, it’s still in the 20′s & 30′s at night!) and sick of my mismatched office with bare bulb and decided I would make that shade work whether it wanted to or not!

After sketching a poppy design out on the shade while listening to my 5 year-old and his friend freak out because I was drawing on my lamp shade (you think he’d be used to it by now!), I went to the basement to pick through my huge collection of half used gallons and quarts of paint. I was set that this project would not cost me a dime. I picked out 4 or 5 colors and then a metallic gold for the inside to completely hide the pattern. After the boys went to bed, I quickly did the first coat over the whole piece as well as the inside and went to bed. This morning before I started work, I did a quick repaint on the poppies with bright yellow gloss paint because I was unhappy with the duller yellow satin wall paint I’d used. And them mixed up some bright green for the centers to brighten them up. I know you’re wondering why I used such a dark color for the background. Well, that pattern did not want to go away so I had no choice. I originally thought I’d do a yellow background with blue and green poppies to match my office walls and roman shades but you could see the pattern through the first coat.

After a few touch ups and wrestling with two spray glues and finally tacky glue, I have finished my masterpiece. Look closely at the picture and you will see the bright metallic gold lining. The paint ran a little bit while it dried but I actually like the way it looks. I left the dark teal background, my favorite Cupboard Blue by Old Village Paints, a little rough because I didn’t want it to look “perfect.” I wanted it to have some handmade charm, and I think it does.  I used a really nice, green fabric ribbon from a wedding present I received from Pottery Barn 7 years ago to finish the edges. Now, I have to figure out how to hang it up so I’m off to Lowe’s tomorrow. So, I guess I will be spending at least a dime after all.

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