I love a good teardrop shaped lamp. They’re such a classic piece and can work with almost any style. We have one here in the office, one here in the nursery, and made plans to add one here in Zoey’s new room. The only issue we continued to run into was price, so when I spotted the BRAN lamp at Ikea for just $23, I was on board. If you remember back to the mood board for Zoey’s room, we originally wanted yellow, but this lamp was clear… and I had painted mason jars on my mind. Catching my drift?
Yup, we used the same method as previously done with the mason jars, and painted the inside a cheery yellow.
We started by removing the top from the base, which is actually glued. We used a lot of patience and an x acto knife to slowly separate the two, which didn’t work. I was completely devastated and aggravated for wasting $23 on a clear lamp. Then I turned to the google machine and voila, there it was. The solution? Using a hairdryer to heat the cap and loosen the glue. Genius. Bloggers amaze me.
Once you make it past this step the rest is easy peasy. Just fill the interior with an acrylic paint color of your choice (we used a few small bottles of Americana’s Cadmium Yellow picked up from Michaels), swirl it around to cover all areas, and leave upside down to drain and dry. For more detailed instructions see this similar post.
End result: A beautiful custom color lamp for under $30 (including paint, shade sold separately).
We’ve painted the exterior of lamps before, and although it is possibly to recreate a glossy finish, it’s incomparable to these results.
It looks absolutely adorable next to Zoey’s bed. Love, love, love!
Speaking of updates in Zoey’s room, I ordered a few yards of the gorgeous Petal Pushers fabric mentioned here, and started making pillows for the girls’ beds. And when I say “I”, what I really mean is my mom came over to help her novice of a sewer daughter. Thanks mom! Ha.
The room design is inspired by this fabric choice and I’m loving finally seeing it in the room.
Can’t wait to begin pulling in coordinating accessories and other finishing touches 
Hi! I'm Jessie, a wife, mother of two girls, and an interior design fanatic. My husband Rick and I just purchased our second home, a 1950's ranch in dire need of some TLC, in our hometown of Cincinnati, OH. To find out more, click 
I was thinking of doing this exact same thing because I couldn’t find a teardrop lamp in the color I wanted. Glad to see it turned out great!! Thanks for the hairdryer tip for the glue!
this looks great! I was in Ikea the other day and saw this lamp, and thought of all the cool stuff you could stick in it. After you painted did you then glue the cap back on to make sure it’s secure, or is it tight enough as is?
Hi Rebecca,
We did glue the top back on, however if you are filling it with something other than paint and think you may change it down the road, I’d use a glue with a little less strength. Hope this helps
Jessie
Oh, my, that looks awesome! Makes me want to zip over to IKEA and pick up some turquoise paint TONIGHT.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Thanks! I grabbed one of these from the as is section months ago and couldn’t decide what to do with it. This is a perfect solution and I love how it turned out!
Hi, i absolutely love this idea! Can you tell me which size shade you used? It looks like the Ikea Jara shade but I am curious what size you used, the proportion looks just perfect!
What a great idea. I get how you take the top off, but do you just keep the cord in there while you swirl the paint? Did this pose any problems?
Amber,
I kept the cord inside with no problems. We figured it wouldn’t matter much if it got a little paint on it since it won’t show. Hope this helps!
Jessie
may I ask how many botles of paint you used for this size of lamp (assuming it is the largest from the ikea range, no?)
Lisa,
Yes, it’s the larger version of the lamp. We used about 2-3 bottles of the small acrylic craft paints. Hope that helps!
xo,
Jessie