Ohhh Lamp, how do I love the?

Okay,

So, I have been a bit obsessed with decorating lately.  I blame spending the past 10 months working on my masters, and spending every spare minute working on schoolwork (one hour a week my tush... when they presented the program that is what they said)- more about that later).  Only 10 more months to go

Anyway, I was surfing a local craigslist-copy cat site and saw someone offering a set of lamps with the shades for $10.  I thought she meant each, and asked her if she would take less.  She emailed me back that she would take $7 for the pair.  Score!  When I got them, I was a bit taken aback, because the gold was a lot more shiny in person, and the shades had seen better days.  I put them beside the bed, and waited (figured I would strip the shade & recover).  A few days later, I saw a girl had the CUTEST shades that matched my bed set for $10.  That was a bit more than I usually spend, so I asked her if we could work out a deal.  By the time all was said and done, I got both of them, and a plant rack for $8!

Took the shades, swapped them out, and gave the lamps a shot of copper spray paint.  

What the lamps originally looked like:

Original gold lamp with new shade:

Lamps painted:

Lamp turned on at night beside bed:

  Here is what they look like beside my bed.  The basket holds all my school books & was .99 at Goodwill, as was the iron basket.  I found the smaller one (that I am using as a candle holder) at a Goodwill clearance center in "the big city" (where like I posted below, they charge by the pound. This added a bit of weight).  Everything is sitting on one of the end tables I scored for $20 off of the same site. I filled in the 80's wood carvings and painted it a chocolate brown.  The paint is still a bit tacky though.  Everything I paint turns out that way (with real paint- spray paint is fine).  Anyone know why?

So, I figure I spent about $15 for both lamps.  More than I wanted to spend originally, but I love them!