My Biggest DIY Fail Ever
This is the tragic tale of a DIY gone wrong. Oh, yes, my friends… a DIY fail happens even in the blogosphere. They happen all the time.
We usually don’t put out PSAs (public service announcements) about every fail. But you can bet that quietly behind workshop doors, there are many a muttering “$%*@!” and occasionally a “%&$#!!!”
And this is a recent DIY fail that happened to me.
You see, I had found these amazing lamps for $7.00 each at the thrift store some time ago. And like all amazing finds, I buy it then shove it in the garage for when inspiration strikes.
Yes, they were a little outdated, but metal lamps?? I loved them! Very unique!
I figured I would paint them, but I wasn’t ready to decide.
Then September rolled around and I thought they looked really pretty for my cozy family room makeover.
In this grainy “teaster” pic I had shown you while the makeover was in progress, you can see them sitting on my thrifted sofa table. I really loved the look of the gold!
Then I Got Lucky
It’s not often this happens, but I happened to find their perfect match on a separate shopping trip to the thrift store, also $7.00!
It was all covered in bird doo-doo, but a match is a match. This baby was coming home with me! Nothing a little soap, water, and paint couldn’t restore!
BEFORE
With a set of 3 in hand, I got the “brilliant” idea to paint them hammered black so that they’d all match for my family room.
I pitched my painting shelter and got started.
Aaaannnnnndddd……I Hated It
What used to be shiny gold was now a dull black that had absolutely no life whatsoever.
In fact, if I had seen these black lamps at the thrift store, I probably would have walked right by them.
But instead of putting down the spray paint, I kept painting.
Stupid me didn’t even take an “AFTER” picture of the small ones, if you can believe it. That’s how much I hated them.
The odd thing is that I really liked how the taller lamp turned out!
I think because it was uglier than the smaller two, and not quite so shiny.
So that one went into my family room, where we get to enjoy it every day.
AFTER!
I did the most unthinkable time-consuming thing: I stripped them.
I slathered Citristrip on them (which stays wet for a good 24 hours) and let them sit overnight.
While the paint easily came off, there were parts where I had to break out the wired brushes to get it off. As a result, the finish of the lamps afterwards was dull and a bit scratched from where I had to use the wired brush.
Not only was it messy, but I must have wasted at least 1.5 – 2 hours trying to restore them back to the gold that I had ruined.
Did I Save Them?
Well, by this next picture, it looks like I did, but what you can’t see is the bits of paint that are still on them and the scratches in the metal from where I ruined them.
With a closer look (and a look at my piggy pajamas…HA!), you see that the metal is all scratched up and is dull.
SOOO……I’ll end up having to paint these again, just to cover the ruined metal.
Which means I wasted time and money.
SIGH…..
Tips For YOUR Next DIY Fail
If you find yourself with a DIY fail on your hands like I did, here are some tips to help:
TIP #1 – Don’t feel like a loser. Trust me, we all have DIY fails. Look at the bright side: us creative people are the only ones willing to try new things!
TIP #2 – Laugh at yourself. Even better, send a picture of it to your best friend and say, “You won’t believe what I did….” They’ll enjoy the laugh, too!
TIP #3 – Prepare yourself for fame. Post a picture of your fail on Facebook and –hey!–you might even get famous and have your DIY fail end up on one of those BuzzFeed “Nailed it!” features! Instant stardom, baby!
TIP #4 – Chuck it back to the thrift store or roadside where you found it. I’ve been known to re-donate things becuase I either changed my mind or just never used it. Same goes for DIY rejects. Some lucky person will be happy to rescue it for you.
All jokes aside, don’t beat yourself up! I hate when projects go awry, too. But it’s all part of the learning process. It’s what makes DIY fun! You never know how something is going to turn out. And look at it this way, sometimes the most unexpected things end up being the most creative features of a project!
So have you ever had a total DIY fail?? Better yet, email me a picture of your DIY fail and let’s have a laugh together! 😉
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Third time (lamp) is the charm! Merci for an amusing and encouraging post.
Bonjour!! How do I say, “You’re welcome” in French? 🙂 All I know is “thank you” “gracias” and the Chinese word! HAHA
“De rien” is an informal way to say you’re welcome in French. Have a great week!
Funny girl! I’m sure with your creativity you would have found some saving grace for the lights. All creative successful people with a good eye have their challenges too, good to know you can laugh about it!
Thanks, Tammara! I’m sure inspiration will strike again soon! I was saying in another comment, I might even use them for my garage! 🙂 We shall see! I’m focusing on it for December. I’m calling this new month “Ditch It December”! Hope you’ve got some good projects going on yourself, too!
Hey Serena, have I ever had a fail?? Really, you think I would fail at anything? Well, I do always call my projects “uniquely imperfect”…. So yes, I have failed and I’ve been frustrated and I’ve lived to tell the tale! I like it much better to know that others are in the same boat as I. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Love ya’
Hey, Patricia! Thanksgiving was good! Hope yours was great, too. I laid down most of the day, consuming lots of Netflixs and Hulu! Ahhhhhh……
Serena, thanks for posting your fail. I’m new to DIYing and can become discouraged when I can’t figure out how to do something, or I do something I expect to be fabulous . . and it’s not. But, heck, if you can fail, then so can I.
Hey, Margaret!! I find that getting to a point in a project where you’re not sure what to do next is the reason why DIY projects sit and sit and sit. And yeah, not everything is going to look fabulous, unfortunately. We just have to keep going, keep creating, and try to make it as great as it can be (or ditch it and start something else! LOL).
My dear, if every single thing you did came out perfect, I would not believe you are human. So you made a mistake. Big deal. I’m pretty sure you are going to come up with some awesome idea to do to them. I’m not an expert in any way, shape or form, but can you glue something to it or will the metal be a problem with that? Could you just forget about those shades altogether and get different ones? How about going for a more industrial look and letting them look old and weathered?
Thanks for all your great posts. You really inspire me.
I love the idea of a weathered look! I’m sure I’ll put them to good use. I like to think that if a project didn’t turn out then it wasn’t meant to be, OR, it was meant to just be a lesson! 🙂 Thanks Llima!
My suggestion would be to get a tube of Mothers metal polish (automotive dept) apply it and polish with a polishing attachment on a Dremel tool. I had to do this on a pendant my son tried to make and it came out really well.
Ooooh, now that’s something I’ve never heard of! I bet it would look really good! I do have a Dremel, too. Thanks for that suggestion, Kathy! 🙂
So sorry about the fail! I’d like to make a suggestion, however. Is it possible to do some burnishing/polishing to restore the glossiness? You know, how glass and other metals are restored by polishing? I know there are polishing compounds available, but don’t know any details about using them, or actually polishing. Maybe you could Google and find something, and you already have a sander(s). Can they be used with a polishing pad? It might be worth a try before you try repainting them?
And if that doesn’t work, well you can always go ahead and paint them turquoise to fit into your color scheme! LOL
Yeah, it’s disappointing, but like you say, it’s one of the ways we learn. Keep up the good work!
Hey, Teckla! Kathy (in another comment on this post) suggested something called Mothers Metal Polish. I soooo am going to try this! I’m excited!
ohhh Serena!
First, I can’t believe you found the matching lamp! That was amazing. 🙂
as for the fail…. yep we’ve all had ’em.
gail
I know, Gail! This is the second time that I have found the match of something on a second trip months later. Wait, make that THREE times! The first time was a pair of awesome lampshades that I used for this lamp makeover: https://thriftdiving.com/lamp-make-over/
Tall lamp looks great, as for all the hard work and time you spent on the other two God Bless You!!!!!! Would have mangled them out of frustration, lol,??love alloy do keep up the thrift. Shopping love laerning
LOL, those lamps better be thankful I’ve got patience! LOL
Serena, you are too funny!! So glad you are not being too hard on yourself!! And always remember that things always do seem to happen for a reason. So you know that another pair of lamps is for sure really out there waiting for you!! That will be even better priced and cuter than these two!! It’s going to happen, I can feel it, and they will be calling your name!!
All The Best!!
Sherrie
Thanks, Sherrie! 🙂 Someone in another comment recommended a product called Mothers Metal Polish. I’m sooooo going to try it!! It’s usually for automotive, but it could work on these!!!