Reuse by Redoing

When we purchased Moonlight Cocktail Cottage at the Lake of the Ozarks in June 2005, I had plans of decorating sparsely because our main objective when visiting was the lake.  As with most things, my finely-laid plans fell by the wayside and the cottage became an extension of my love for vintage and because it was built in the early 1930's, it was meant to be, you know?

But originally, when we first started to decorate, we ran to Wal-Mart *gasp* and purchased lamps and even a futon sofa **double gasp**.  Since then, however, we have slowly replaced the Wal-Mart mass-produced crap-ola items and brought in sweet vintage replacements.  However, the lamp on the mantle continued to elude me.  The lamp was OK with a metal swirly base and a basic lampshade.  It provided the light we needed at that end of the cottage and it was the perfect size.  

A few weeks ago, I found myself standing in front of a booth in an antique mall in Lincoln, MO staring at an adorable vintage glass lamp from the 40's about the same size of the current mantle lamp.  It would work perfectly and was a good price at only $8, but it had a cloth cord.  Normally this isn't a problem as my husband is handy-dandy, but something just ate at my core because the lamp I had was perfectly fine.  Maybe I could find a way to disguise it, which is just what I did.

Here's the lamp at Christmas:

And here is the changed lamp:

I took an antique stoneware bowl and filled it with plastic gourds and a vintage rag ball.  I then clipped an old hankie to the shade with vintage clothespins.  I can change the hankie and the contents of the bowl according to the seasons.  Christmas time could include antique glass Christmas tree ornaments, Spring time might include sprays of pastel-colored flowers and Summer might be nice with a vintage flag draped inside.  

So while buying vintage is a great alternative to new items, reconfiguring what you currently own is even better!  

Of course if you don't have an antique stoneware bowl, eBay is a great place to start the hunt!