This Anthropologie inspired lamp makeover was filled with a roller coaster of emotion and troubleshooting. For this DIY flea market flip, I wanted to try to duplicate an expensive lamp design, but I failed horribly on my first attempt. The original idea was to create a dimensional polka dot effect around the lamp base. I found a few high-end lamp designs with this look, but here’s one from Burke Decor for $695.

To duplicate this look, I considered various options keeping in mind that I wanted it to be doable, even easy for anyone to do. I also wanted to keep the price as low as possible so I did a bunch of research and landed on using party poppers to create my dimensional polka dot effect. I considered felt balls, but couldn’t get a smooth finish on them and air dry clay was another thought, but it would be difficult to make all the balls the same size. So, I ordered my party poppers and used a glue gun to attach them. This concept may have worked if I would have used a better adhesive, but the lamp base is curved and unless the glue dries quickly it would be a bit tricky attaching each one. However, once the spray paint dried, the party poppers fell off. I was so bummed, my idea basically fell off, literally!

So, I went back to the drawing board, or Pinterest, but I didn’t find anything that grabbed my attention. However, my leftover container of DAP spackling compound did grab my attention and I imagined a way to apply it to the lamp base to create a highly textured dimensional design that screamed Anthropologie. Anthropologie is known for their unique rich designs for clothing, accessories, and furnishings — just walking into a store stirs up my creative juices. Anthropologie doesn’t have a lamp like the one I flipped, but they inspired it!

This lamp and damaged shade was $10. I used spackling compound I already had as well as gold and white chalk spray paint I had on hand. However, the lampshade definitely needed to be replaced, so I picked up a simple white drum shade from Walmart. Before working on a design to cover the hand painted ceramic lamp, I spray painted the brass base a matte gold color and it really brightened and modernized it.

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I used a latex glove to apply the spackling compound, and my first attempt was too linear. I scraped it off and then applied it at angles, sometimes using a bit more compound to create thicker smears. My oldest daughter noticed that the texture looked like feathers and I just loved that vision for it. The process was quick, and it dried over night. I didn’t use a complete tub of the compound for both lamps, but I supposed the amount you would need would depend on the space you’re covering. The compound is lightweight and doesn’t chip off because of the silicone in it. Once the compound was dry, I taped off the gold base and spray painted the rest of the lamp with white chalk spray paint. And with new white shades, these lamps look fantastic. I’m so glad I figured out a technique for this flea market flip, they’re beautiful and one-of-a-kind. To see how I applied the compound, check out this short video.

Thanks so much for checking out my Anthropologie inspired lamp makeover! I really love how they turned out and can’t believe the transformation of these flea market lamps. You can also see my easy fall garland in these photos. I also made this Z gallerie inspired DIY wall art which is why I had spackling compound leftover. I’d love to know what you think about this lamp makeover, please just leave your comment below. Be sure to subscribe to receive notifications when new posts are published – no spam, just one fun email a week.