Arte Es Vida

 I feel like I don’t deserve to post these pictures yet since the kitchen isn’t officially complete yet.  We are still replacing some trim and floorboards (although their absence isn’t noticible in these pictures).  I also have to finish sealing the cabinets with triple thick sealer which my husband doesn’t like me to use while he is home since it stinks.  You may notice some of the cabinets are shinier than others.  Other than that? Done!!!!

 The light is from Ikea (and is turned sideways, does that count as an Ikeahack? No?) The rug is from Target.

The left side.

I love that little vintage Mexican painted plate.  Found it at a local thrift store (local thrift stores are great sources for vintage Mexicana).  The person who owned it put a pad on the back so it wasn’t scratch their wall….very best thing ever is that they didn’t use one made for plates, but the kind you use for the corns on your feet.  I left it there, it’s too awesome.

The tea kettle is an Ebay steal (they actually have a few of these still around!).  It is enamel and all the black (the handle, the knob on the top and the spout) are all Bakelite.  The utensil pot and the yellow pepper grinder are from Ross.  The bowl on the microwave is vintage pyrex and the “Little Buddha’s Tea Shop” box is from Big Lots.

My molcajete ( a real one made out of lava stone) from the flea market.  The salad bowl was a thrift store find.

For some reason the walls look much paler in this shot.  Too much flash.  The wrought iron cross is also from the flea market.  The lightswitch was a wooden unfinished one I purchased at Wal-Mart and painted to match.

I found this lamp at Salvation Army this week.  The lady that works there recognized me and gave me a good deal on it.

The best part about it? Someone had drilled a hole in the base and inserted a blue christmas tree lightbulb and then spliced the wire into the regular plug line.

The lamp itself is in very good shape except the finial on top has a big chunk broken out of it.  The finial is resin, and the rest of the lamp is metal so it may not be original to the lamp. 

The lamp came with a shade that wasn’t in terrible shape, though it was dusty/dirty and the shade was peeling up around the rim.  It wasn’t quite the right size either….this is a huge lamp that needs a huge shade.

I decided to paint the metal work black and replace the shade.  I painted all of the metal a flat black, then decided it would look better glossy so I added a coat of triple thick clear glaze.  I was able to tape up the bottom part fairly easily but protecting the globe was much more difficult since the top part had scalloped edges.  I painted the glass with a layer of vasoline, sprayed away, then wiped off the vasoline when the paint was dry.  The paint on the glass wiped right up and the paint on the metal was perfect.  (I had a couple smudges that I touched up with nail polish remover).  I replaced the shade with a larger, tulip style shade.  I would like to replace the finial as well, but buying just a finial is not that easy.  So I just painted it and turned the broken part to the wall until I find what I want.

But the best part? My sex-ay rockin’ blue lighted base!