The Ugly Truths

Hi All! Hope you guys had a great weekend. We spent the whole weekend at my in-laws pool and got ZERO accomplished on the house. It was bliss. Ha. Anyways, today I’m here with a new semi-constant series that I’m bringing to the blog called “The Ugly Truths”. It’s all about things that we live with that may not be “Pinterest pretty” but things that are definitely real. Sometimes, with all the beauty that we see in magazines, online, etc.; we lose touch with reality. “The Ugly Truths” will bring you that reality. I was inspired to create this series by Amy from Delineate Your Dwelling and Jen from Fresh Crush. They both do their take on this type of thing and I really love it. Today, I’m talking about lamps around our house. Ready?

What could be wrong with the lamps in your master bedroom you ask? Well, let me tell you! I found those lamps (on the nightstands) online at Target after loving them in store but not getting around to buying them while they were in store. Anyways, I pulled the trigger and they were shipped to me. Well, unfortunately one was broken when I got it. Target tried to locate another one but there was not one to be found. So, I got a refund and was told to keep the lamps. Luke tried to glue the lamp back together and he did, but it won’t hold the harp straight. So, to get the lamp straight, we have to put a paper towel in between the harp and put the shade up against the wall. #firehazard

(Please ignore the dust – why would I dust a non-usable lamp?)

So, the lamp has never been turned on because it’s not usable. Talk about annoying right?! Not only does it not work, but 99.9% of the time, it’s crooked because the base won’t support the shade.

Oh, and don’t think this is our only lamp woe. Ready for another?

So, that picture is pretty old… we gave that cabinet a makeover and the furniture is totally arranged differently, but let’s talk about that lamp. We have a pair of those lamps that we got from Target for our wedding (we registered for them). They used to have a cream satin shade, then I overhauled them with a teal shade and finally settled on this blue ikat. Well, first off, only one lamp got recovered with the blue… the other one still has the teal on it. But both of them, have electrical problems so we never turn them on. From the start, they have been difficult to turn on (they have the twist knob under the shade). Anyways, they worked ok for the first few years (but hey, we’ve been married 9 years now!). Now, they won’t turn on at all. It would probably be a pretty easy fix to rewire them, I mean we’ve made a pipe lamp, repurposed a candlestick to a lamp.. how hard can it be to rewrire a lamp?! BUT, I really don’t love the lamp or the shade (and they were probably like $25 each), so why would I put more money into something that I don’t love? So, basically, they have just been fluffer pieces for the last 5 years. #annoying

Think those are our only lamp issues? I mean, I know you’re asking yourself how many broken lamps could this couple have. =) Nope, we aren’t done yet. One more!

Another old picture, call me lazy! See that gold lamp at the end of the couch without a fabric shade? Well, my grandparents gave me a matching pair. They are the real deal, heavy duty brass lamps. I really like them, but I decided that I didn’t like the shade that came with them (it was the bell style shade). I knew shades for the lamps would be pretty pricey because the lamps are oversized, so I was amazed when I found some at a garage sale a month later for $10! But, the shades needed to be recovered. I didn’t think anything of that because I had done that before. But, this time, it didn’t go well.

See that bunching fabric? How about the fold over spot where I hot glued it? Yep, total rookie mistakes. I hate looking at the shade, but I just ignore it. I point the issues to the back and try to tell myself that you can only see it when you are actually sitting on the couch. Oh, and that isn’t the only problem. I was so annoyed by my skill level in recovering the shade that I completely ignored the other one. It’s still sitting in the basement. #lazy

So, why did I show you all these ugly pictures? I’m being real. Not everything is as it seems. You can hide imperfections in photos or if you can’t hide them then you can photoshop them out. So, am I going to start showing you our ugliness at every turn? Nope! We all live with our own ugliness and we aren’t inspired by others’ in that regard. “The Ugly Truths” will show up now and again with things that are real and hopefully some things that can be fixed in easy ways.