When I brought this lamp home from the flea market, the first words out of my husband’s mouth were “It looks like something out of a 1970s beauty parlor.” The second was “Where are you planning to put it?” Yes, there may have been some trepidation in his voice. To be fair, the lamp was originally topped with a tall, striated gold shade. It was also sitting on a black and silver faux-grain laminate shelving unit. (I promise…pics of these awesome finds in posts to come.) It was a lot of to take in, especially for a guy who is stretched by my love for vintage on a regular basis.
I played around with the idea of painting the base and keeping the gold shade to make the husband happy. His vote was for burnt orange (it usually is). I, however, was concerned about losing the black shading and spatter that showed off the lamp’s groovy shape to its best organic advantage. Could I replicate this? Would I need to? And was there such a thing as too much gold? Or black spatter? These questions were my progress stumbling blocks. So when my mother, who has a lamp hoard collection, offered up this atomic shade, it just felt right. It’s difficult to see from the picture above, but the paper shade has a wavy pattern that echos the amoeba shape of the base.
Sometimes a little 1970s beauty parlor needs a little atomic lounge. Sometimes my chocolate needs a little peanut butter. Or my peanut butter needs some chocolate.
annumography 