Rediscovered Love

This weekend I rekindled an old flame. I had been tempted to do it before now, but the whole married with children thing was kind of a deterrent. I was afraid the guilt might get to me. But, heck, there are lots of women doing it... and many of them are even flaunting it on the internet.

I realized I could probably get away with it.  After all, my husband travels on a regular basis, and my kids go to bed at a decent hour. There was a room in the basement that I could use, and no one would even need to know what was going on in there.

So, this weekend, I scheduled a rendevous to see if I would enjoy it as much as I did when I was young. I brought the necessary piece of furniture down to the basement, and got down to business.  It was fantastic!  Just as it had been years before. I was so eager to get started that I almost forgot to take pictures.  So, in this picture the top was already coming off...

I chose to start out with a pretty simple piece that's been with me since my very first apartment. It was a garage sale find that I had painted a few times before covering it in a simple coat of white paint.  Recently, it's been used as our guestroom nightstand. I figured it would be a good piece to experiment with. 

I'm hoping to sneak away to the basement again today to finish working on it. I can't wait to show you how it turns out.  I'm so glad I rediscovered the "Joy of Furniture Painting."

What about you?  Have you rekindled an old flame? (At least one you're willing to go public with?)

Bedside Manner

For the past year, I have had a major obsession with finding mercury glass lamps for my bedside tables. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've developed a reputation at our local Home Goods store. The hunt began when Pottery Barn introduced this beauty...

I loved the vintage vibe of the lamp, but I just couldn't bring myself to pay more than $500 for two of them. I was determined to find a more budget-friendly option.  I searched the web, and found these ...

Murray Feiss

Jolie Table Lamp by Crate & Barrel

I liked them, but they were a bit too formal for my space. Then one day I was flipping through my new PB catalog, and saw these...

Serena Lamps

I think I may have screamed aloud when I saw them.  I immediately jumped online and ordered the round lamp.  When the lamp finally arrived, I was surprised at how large the box was that it came in.  I was even more shocked when I put the lamp on my table.  It was really BIG... much larger in scale than it seemed in the photo, and it totally took over the room.  Back to the store it went... boo :( 

I gave up the search for many months, until my friend recently purchased the bedside version of the original Pottery Barn lamp I was too cheap practical to get.  It seemed rather small to me, but I went and picked one up.  Here is what it looks like in my room...

Maybe it's just me, but it still seems a bit small. I like to read in bed, and I'm not sure this lamp is up to the task. 

After a full year of lamp-stalking at Home Goods, I finally tracked down my beloved mercury glass.  Here is what that one looks like in my room...

I'm not crazy about the shade, but the Home Goods lamp is $150 less than the Pottery Barn one. What do you think?

Alas, indecision has set in. I've been so fixated on getting a mercury glass lamp, and now I'm not sure I want one anymore.  Hmmm... maybe I'll look at some milk glass lamps...