A Mini Makeover - My Garage Sale Giveaway

If you know me, you know how much I ADORE garage sales.

I'm pretty sure I have a problem because I go to bed on Friday nights like the next morning is Christmas. I wake up BEFORE the crack of dawn, so that I can get myself dressed and ready before R gets up. When she starts crying from her room, I throw on her clothes and she and I head out for our Saturday morning "adventures." 

My mother-in-law and sister-in-law come get me at 8am every Saturday morning we can make it out, but R and I head out the door by 7am. Our mini-adventures take us to Starbucks, the doughnut store, the gas station, McDonald's. Who knows where we'll end up each week, but that hour is our getaway time, just the two of us.

I'm NOT a morning person, so don't let this fool you. I just remember that some of my fondest memories as a kid were getting up on Saturday mornings and going to the doughnut shop and then the baseball card store and when I was a little older it was garage saling with my daddy and then Strawn's for breakfast. So while I would still sleep till 10am if I could (Ha! As if.), I don't (always) want to. I see the value in the time I choose to spend with my babies, making memories. Even if she won't remember our 7am Starbucks trips when she was two, I will. And we'll keep making new memories.

As for the sales themselves R doesn't go with us...yet. She doesn't quite have the patience for that. But I wake up every Saturday morning with the anticipation and excitement of what that day might bring and I have to say that the past few weeks I've gone out have been great!

We can go weeks without finding much of anything, but then there are those times when people are just giving things away.....which is where this story begins!

For years I have been searching for a big arching floor lamp for my living room. The kind you see on Pinterest in those very eclectic and vintage rooms, but even the used ones were too pricey for my shoestring budget. But a few weeks ago at a sale, I came across a diamond in the rough. I found  IT...THE LAMP. I asked the lady how much she wanted for it. She gave me a quick glance, laughed under her breath and said, "If you can haul this thing out of here, it's yours!"

Challenge Accepted!

But it was not easy. We were only parked a few houses down, but that short distance seemed like a mile. I came to understand why later....

Don't let this picture fool you. It may look gold but it was a very tarnished silver color and the base was peeling. I knew from the second I got it that it needed a makeover! There's nothing a good can (or 6) of gold spray paint can't fix. (If you're wondering, I used Krylon Short Cuts- gold leaf.)

And THIS is the reason the lamp was so heavy. The base is made of solid marble. I just thought carrying both of my children at one time was a lot. Nope! This was a beast, but I got it home and let Jeff do most of the carrying from there. The nice thing about the marble is that it's sturdy enough to withhold my 35 pound two year-old who likes to try and hang from it when she thinks no one is watching.

I don't have very much time these days for being crafty, but I got so excited about this project that it was completed within a couple of days.

Sorry these probably aren't the best pictures of it, but it's awesome and I love it! I knew exactly where I wanted to put it and it fits perfectly. It's might seem like a small thing to some people, but to me that lamp is a constant reminder that God cares about the seemingly small things in my life. Thanks God!