DIY Coastal Lamp from Being Bianca

Brett from Being Bianca is here with us today & has a FABULOUS lamp tutorial>>>

Hey y'all.  So pleased to be back with you once again to share a quick and easy home decor project. I've probably confessed hundreds of times by now, but I'm just smitten by all things coastal decor and covered in oyster shells!  The decor in my home is proof positive of this current love affair.  From my dining room, coastal bookcase and butler's pantry to a large oyster shell topiary, it's pretty obvi.  And, as I mentioned when I made my last trek to Scott's Antique Market, I found more than plenty of inspiration to support some new crafty innovations. One of my current projects at the new homestead is to create a landing area by the garage door so that we can place keys, bags and what nots in one central place when we enter our home.  And while that space is {{ever so close I can taste it}} almost complete; I did have time to knock out one of my coastal inspired designs with some supplies I had on hand. 

This lamp lived once upon a time with a BRIGHT orange lamp shade in Lil B's playroom.  I don't think it was EVER turned on when it lived in that space.  So, with the shuffling of the move, it was homeless and residing in a giant pile of miscellaneous decor in the basement.  The lamp had clean lines and was functional, so with vision of embellishment; I knew this was the perfect blank canvas I needed.  In addition to a lamp form, you really only need two other supplies to complete this project.  One … glue. Two… shells. Here's the original lamp sans shade (from Target originally I think).

  Here's my box of shells that were left over from previous projects...

For the glue, I used a combo of my trusty glue gun (with hot glue sticks) and some gorilla glue that I had on hand.  As for the shells, you can really use any sort of shell for this project.  I know that various shells we collected while beach walking would work lovely, but for this one; I used some {{{cleaned}}} oyster shells that I had on hand.  You can find oyster shells various places like floral decor shops or you can get really creative and the next time you are out eating oysters … just ask for the shells.  If you go for the latter option, go home and IMMEDIATELY boil them in water with a little bleach else every cat in a ten mile radius will be knocking on your front door! Now, the steps are pretty easy to complete and I promise you don't even need pics to follow along ...

• Once you have your supplies {{including those scrubbed shells}}, start by laying out your shells by size.  You want to find shells that are of like size to create a base that is balanced.
• Before applying any glue, lay out the shells on the base of your lamp form so you have a good idea of where to glue.
• Arrange the first layer of shells by placing 5-6 shells around the base of the lamp.  Yours may be different based on the lamp you choose.  For mine, I created a flower shape with the small end of the shells touching the center pole of the lamp.
• Apply a strong glue {like Liquid Nails or Gorilla Glue) to the high points of the back of the shell.  Wait just a few seconds and then add some hot glue to the shell for re-enforcement.  The hot glue dries really quick and lets the shell stay "in place" while the strong glue takes hold.
• Wait … you need to give the first layer of glue time to dry.  I waited about 30 minutes between layers.
• Then, repeat the same steps above to create a second layer of shells using a similar design.

• Once you have built up your base layers, arrange the shells in a more decorative manner to fill in gaps.  I used a few shells on top that had clusters of smaller shells attached and think this adds interest.  On the decorative layers, you only really need hot glue since these aren't carrying any additional weight.
• Let dry completely and clean off any stray hot glue strands that may be visible.

And with that...voila! I added a small linen shade to the lamp. After all, that original orange one would have been a bit of an eye sore in the space. Now, she's sitting pretty on the entry table and has tons more personality than originally!

            

{we linky-party here}

and at Coastal Charm and Savvy Southern Style

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