The Science of DIY

If you’re a long-time reader of Plaster & Disaster, you know how much fun we have with dual makeovers.  Our very first post was about how we each transformed an identical thrift store lamp in a very different way.  We love seeing how different projects turn out when we each put our own spin on things, and what stays the same (like freakishly each picking out the exact same lampshade out of all the options available on all the internet).

We’ve done projects like these a few times, but it has been a while!  (The last one we did was makeovers of some old school cabinets, one of which Sage has re-used in her kitchen project.) So we decided to pull some supplies out of our basement hoarding zones and give you another double makeover!

The subject today is old chemistry supplies.  Do you remember back when we pillaged a local school before it was torn down, and made away with two cars full of junk to keep in our basements treasures to transform? Well, among those treasures were these two beautiful specimens of High School Science:

They’re pretty cool, but also rusty and caked with suspicious residues of teenagers doing chemistry.  We really had no idea what we’d do with them, but we grabbed them because when else are you going to be offered stuff like this (for free)? Also, back then (May 2015) industrial decor was still a thing, and hadn’t yet been totally eclipsed by shabby chic, farmhouse, chevron rose-gold.  But we’re hopelessly stuck in the past, so we figured it was about time we incorporated these into our homes.  See what we each did!

Sage’s Makeover: World’s Strangest Vase

Naomi scooped up the taller of the two…um…”things” (I do not know what these are called…someone on ebay seems to be calling mine a “Lab Support Iron Retort Ring Stand Flask Clamp Stand,” which is the least concise name ever…), which left me with the short one:

It had definitely seen better days, but overall the shape was pretty cool with the little graspy hands.

I pretty quickly decided to pair it with a bunch of test tubes that we’d collected in the same science lab and create what I hoped wouldn’t be the world’s ugliest vase.

First I cleaned it and hit the whole thing with a few coats of high gloss black spraypaint, since I thought that would make the strange shape the star of the show rather than the rust and dust. Then once it was dry, all I had to do was add test tubes, some flowers I cut from our yard, and a small succulent I grabbed from Lowes for $4:

At first I was worried the flowers would be a little underwhelming, because after Naomi’s post about buying local and organic flowers I was afraid to buy them from the grocery store, which only left our flower beds as a last-minute alternative — and we aren’t exactly the world’s greatest gardeners, so it was some slim pickings. But I actually love how it looks with just a few stems of cat mint and some other purple flower plus some other greens (can you tell I’m not in charge of the garden?).

Of course the moment I put it on the ground, Murphy came over to inspect the scene.

It’s certainly strange, but I actually think it turned out to be pretty cool! Presumably if I try to sell it online as a “bespoke industrial vessel perfect for succulents and wildflowers” I can make like $400, right?

Naomi’s Makeover: Industrial Lamp

The first thing to know about mine is that it is tall!  The overall height is over my waist!  Still, from the moment I saw this thing, I had a vision that it would one day be a lamp.

Obviously?

However, while mine wasn’t quite as rusty or dirty as Sage’s, it still wasn’t in great shape.  The finish was wearing off and starting to rust, and it just overall looked dingy.

So I was thrilled to free-ride off Sage’s spray painting to freshen it up with a bit of high-gloss black.  I decided to keep the contrast between the black finish and the silver, however, and so took it apart for painting.

A light coat of paint made a big difference!

While those were drying, I also shined up the silver metal pieces, scrubbing off layers of scotch tape and grubby high school fingers.

At this point in the process, my DSLR camera broke, so I apologize that what follows are just camera phone pictures.  (This makes a big difference — check out our post which gives some comparisons!)

Once it dried and off-gassed for a while on our porch, it was ready to complete it’s transformation into a lamp!  I had ordered a nice nylon cord set from West Elm, and also picked up a pack of small black zip ties from the local hardware store.

I played around a little bit with how I would drape the cord over the metal structure until I found a layout that I liked.  After that, it was only a matter of securing it in place with the zip ties.

And then snipping off the extra plastic so it was just a simple black band holding it in place.

Now, this is a BIG lamp, but I think it looks pretty cool!

I like the contrast between the black nylon cord and the metal.

It definitely adds a bit of edge!

Even though we were both a little skeptical about whether anything remotely acceptable would emerge from our efforts, we’re both pretty pleased with how these quick and easy projects turned out. So what do you think — who wore it best?