Young House Love

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We Bought A Moose Lamp

Knock Knock.

Who’s there?

Moose.

Moose Who?

Moose Lamp!!!

Moose 10

Wait, but some of that pic is photoshopped. I can explain.

It all started when I saw a moose lamp at an moving sale back in West Virginia when we were there to makeover Granny’s bathroom…

Moose 1

I couldn’t resist grabbing him for ten bucks.

Moose 2

His shade was an odd too-small shape and his paint was flaking off in a few places…

Moose 3

… but I knew I could take him from log-cabin to log-cabin-chic with a little spray paint and a new shade. So guess what? Dude, I got on that (see how these odd, usually-animal-related “Dude Get On That Already” challenges started here). I got on that moose like a cowboy. That’s totally a thing right? Moose-riding cowboys?

Moose 6

As for a color, I knew I could go a bunch of ways with him (blue moose? yeah, buddy!) but after some serious moose-related thought I went with white. Why? Duh, because he looks like a ceramic animal first of all. And second of all, because that frees me up to do something crazy fun with his shade. We’re talking patterned fabric. Oh yeah. I’m a wild woman. I even have the exact shade in mind, but it’s a secret book project so I can’t share it until the 6th when the book is officially out – but I’m totally planning to pair that DIYed fabric shade with Malcolm (what? that’s my moose lamp’s name) and hook up Clara’s big girl room with a super fun dose of color and ceramic moose power.

Moose 7

The best part? When I had the lamp out on the table before I got around to spray priming and painting it (I just used Rustoleum Universal since it has a built in primer in it) I said “What’s that?” to Clara and pointed at the lamp and she said “I don’t know what it is” and I said “It’s a lamp with a moose on it!” and she said “I want a moose with a moose on it!” and I said “well I don’t have a moose with a moose on it, but it’s a lamp with a moose on it!” and Clara looked me in the eye and totally deadpanned: “moose… with… a… moose… on it.” Like she was spelling it out nice and slow so I’d understand. That chick is hilarious.

Thankfully after I sprayed him white and paired him up with the secret fabric shade that’s waiting in our crazy cluttered playroom (can’t believe it fits perfectly! it’s actually the original shade from the glass based lamps that a certain mischievous painting broke – we’d replaced the shades with whiter versions and had old ones around for secret book projects last December) Clara was 100% down with Malcolm…

Moose 8

… as in, she can’t wait for him to live with her in her big girl room. And she says goodnight and good morning to him every day (and even offers him snacks sometimes). The moral of the story? When in doubt, introduce a moose lamp to encourage manners and sharing.

And as for the photoshopping that I said I’d explain, I just faked a patterned shade (by grabbing this one from here and photoshopping it on). And while I was at it, I showed how a white moose on a white table might be blah, but could be amazing on something painted – like a soft celery green table (or even a rustic wood dresser).

Moose 10

Moose, there it is.

What have you guy been getting on lately? Anyone else doing any other ceremonial spraying of animals? Or ceremonial spaying of animals?

Comments

  1. Shannon says

    Love it. And I live how entertaining your posts are. I recently did my first lamp makeover, times 2! I took a traditional better homes & gardens lamp, switched out the shade and added some mustard spray paint. I love it.

    Reply

  2. Allyn says

    Um… that is awesome. Now I want to go look for incredibly tacky animal lamps (that I’ve seen so often) and spray paint them white. Makes me wish I had held onto one of my grandmother’s hideous rooster lamps to convert. I do have a metal rooster of hers in my kitchen that might get a paint treatment to make it look a little less… Cracker Barrel?
    That woman really loved bright roosters.

    Reply

  3. Kristy says

    Love the lamp. I also really loved your article in the new Redbook magazine. Nice to see good things happen to good people. What an exciting time for you!

    Reply

  4. Paloma R says

    No spray painting but I bought a big, bulbous, brass lamp on the ol’ C-list a few months back and then realized when I got home that this weird plastic pole coming off the top of it to the light bulb holder put the lamp shade to high up making the whole lamp look disproportionate and ugly. So last night with much patience, I took the lamp apart, removed the weird stick and voila! The lamp of my dreams is now sitting in my living room!

    Reply

  5. Devon @ Green House, Good Life says

    Great lamp!

    But I’m confused. The shade was used for a secret book project, so you can’t show it to us? But the lamp went the way of the ceramic dog this summer, right? And it hadn’t been transformed yet at that point? But the book projects were done around…February?

    Sorry to cross-examine.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I recovered the original shade! The lamps came with a more tan/amber-toned shade (from Target back when we got married we registered for them in ’07) and when I bought them into our bedroom two years ago on our night tables we got new whiter shades from Target since the old ones were looking too dirty/amber with all the white accents in there! Sorry for the not-thorough post explanation! You can see how the original shades are more amber-toned here and the new ones are lighter here.

      xo
      s

  6. Julia says

    I’m such a horrible person that now that I read these posts, and know how long it takes you to edit them… I’m now playing where’s waldo with bloopers.

    Found it one!

    …don’t hate me ;)

    Reply

  8. Maureen says

    I scored a totally sweet globe at a church thrift shop for FIVE BUCKS!!! The base is gold colored plastic and I will be spray painting that very soon. Just need to decide what color. The globe itself just happened to match my living colors which is awesome!!! So very excited about it!

    Reply

  12. Laurel says

    I am so jealous! I have been looking for a moose lamp for a while. I have them all over my house, they are my obsession. Great, now I sound like a crazy moose lady!! haha

    Reply

  13. Heather W says

    Love the lamp by the way!! So cute for a kids room! Could you give a little detail about the chipped paint on his back. It seems like when ever I sand something like that it just gets bigger and I can’t get a smooth finish. Just wondering what your step/ tips are for this. I would worry that when the paint it the edge of the sanded area it would loosen up more. Thx!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I just used low grit paper to scuff around it to smooth it out before priming/painting with the spray! Seemed to hold! I think the key is a strong foundation, so as long as it’s chipped off but the rest that remains is holding strong it’s good for new paint.

      xo
      s

  14. lindsay says

    “Moose there it is” is genius. i think the moral of the story is when you’re out – if there’s animal anything for a good price, we should buy it and diy or just mail it to you. :)

    Reply

  16. Lauren S. says

    Loving Clara’s new moose lamp! Have you ever read the story “If You Give a Moose a Muffin” by Laura Numeroff? It’s a sweet little story and I’m sure Clara (and Malcolm) would enjoy it before bedtime! :)

    P.S. I wouldn’t hate it if you posted a little “Clara and Malcolm playdate” video over on YH Life ;)

    Reply

  18. Jessica says

    Hi Sherry & John,

    You guys are coming to my city (Cincinnati!) to speak at the Books by the Banks festival on the 20th and my friends and I are so excited! I just wanted to share a mention that you two got in the online magazine, Soapbox Cincinnati. Sounds like you guys are set to be one of the big hits of the festival! (Read down to question #4 to see your shout out)

    Jessica

    http://www.soapboxmedia.com/features/101612booksbybanks.aspx?utm_source=VerticalResponse&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=By+the+'Books'&utm_content=%7bEmail_Address%7d&utm_campaign=Make+Your+Own+Kind+of+Music

    Reply

  21. Sue says

    I haven’t sprayed anything recently, but I do have a rabbit lamp that looks like it could be your moose’s cousin (in the furniture sense, not the biological classification sense). I think it could definitely benefit by some white paint!
    As for spaying, yes, we recently trapped what we thought was a feral cat and had her spayed. She turned out to be super friendly (maybe a neighbor’s pet? Whoops. Oh well, she needed to be spayed) and has adopted us as her own. :-)

    Reply

  22. Angie @ Bug Meets World says

    Cute! I can’t wait to see the real shade that is paired with it.

    We have a thing for moose in our household. My hubs is from upstate New Hampshire where there are more moose than people. I’ve been pining for this from Z Gallerie

    http://www.zgallerie.com/p-8145-moose-head-white-lacquer-large-31.aspx

    and we bought the moose rocking horse from Ikea for our baby girl for Christmas. She is only 2 months old so it will be a while before she can use it but we couldn’t resist.

    Reply

  23. Rachel says

    That is one kick-arse lamp! I totally have a stuffed moose named Malcolm! He’s from Maine, where I spent a lot of summers working at a summer camp. I’ve always wanted to see a real moose in person, but it hasn’t happened yet. Have you guys ever seen a real one?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha! I love it! We actually saw them while we were in Alaska on our honeymoon from a sea plane that we took! It was pretty amazing, even though we were really high up so we couldn’t see much of them.

      xo
      s

  29. Katie says

    Clara’s comment about a moose with a moose on it totally made me think of the Disney cartoon with the little moose with big antlers that rides on the big moose with little antlers. It’s called Morris the Midget Moose. Here is the link to it on youtube for Clara.

    Reply

  30. Paige @ Little Nostalgia says

    Haaaaaa, “Moose, there it is!”

    I was at Michael’s yesterday buying some beads and I took a spin through the animal figurine section, looking for something to spray paint and turn into a bookend! But I left empty-handed.

    Reply

  32. laura says

    Love the moose lamp and love the clara-line! she has such a sweet and funny personality! I watched a couple of her videos yesterday and she is so intelligent for her age….you guys are awesome parents!!

    Reply

  33. Val says

    “Moose, there it is.”

    I am speechless…

    I really believed in my heart that I was the Queen of Absurdly Nerdy Puns. But it appears that I must hand over my crown. Touche, Sherry.

    P.S. The lamp is adorable.

    Reply

  36. Ammie says

    Best line of the whole post “Moose, there it is”. I can’t wait to drop that into a conversation in the near future!

    And you have such an eye – Malcolm is awesome.

    Reply

  37. Clementine says

    I live in an area of Montana known as “Land of tacky moose, bear and cabin-themed decor”. I don’t know how many times I’ve passed something up because it was cabin-y and now I can’t believe I ever did. The next time I see a lamp with a black bear climbing up to the bulb, I’m snatching it up and making him a polar bear. You are awesome!

    Reply

  38. Amy says

    For some reason I have been oddly moose obsessed lately and am really jealous of your moose find. No joke, I’ve been pinning moose items left and right. Even ginoromous faux heads for above the fireplace we don’t have.

    Odd, I know. Someday, Sherri, someday.

    (I even saw that the post was about a moose item and stopped prepping my website for class tonight to get over here and read. They won’t mind if I’m not prepped, right?)

    Reply

  39. Samantha says

    I don’t know what it is about moose lamps but I feel like your humor/quirkiness really shines through in this post. And it makes me want to be your friend even more…. :)

    Reply

  40. Teri says

    You crack me up… spraying/spaying!! My 4 month old bulldog is due to be spayed this month, so I guess you could say I am part of the “Dude get on that already!” club this month!! YAY!!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hmm, what if you covered the dog crate with some awesomely pretty fabric, sort of making it look like a table (with breathing spaces for the pooch of course, or a tab that could slide back when he’s in there). You could even top the crate with a piece of wood under the fabric so it’s like a real table and put cute things on it like a lamp and a stack of books. It’ll be a secret incognito crate!

      xo
      s

  43. Kristina Gulino says

    Seriously, so cute! I’d probably pass it and say something like “What is this, like the whole ‘duck’ rage from the 80’s?” But you have make it something amazing! Totally chic ;)

    Kristina
    Nook & Sea

    Reply

  44. Meredith says

    It’s cute and all but now I am obsessed with that fabric on the shade from Shades of Light. I.must.find.that.fabric.

    Reply

  45. Jenny Stoudt says

    Nice choice of lamp shade! We have it hanging over our dining table and it’s set the whole color palette for our house. Can’t go wrong!

    Reply

  48. Nikki says

    So funny…I actually saw that shade you used in photoshop ages ago and loved it…but it’s too pricey :( Maybe I’ll wait until your book comes out and do something similar DIY!

    Reply

  49. Katie says

    “When I had the lamp out on the table before I got around to spray priming and paining it”
    You are missing a “t”, unless you meant to cause it pain. :)

    Reply

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