When I posted my workspace reveal, one item was missing from the original mood board. (Some of you noticed. Good eye!) It was the mini linen lamp. It was on backorder and didn’t arrive in time for the big reveal but it’s here now.
It’s just about the cutest lil’ lamp I’ve ever seen. It’s about 13″ tall and 9″ wide and it fits perfectly under the glass-front cabinets. The nubby linen gives it a cozy texture which feels really homey even though the silhouette is pretty modern. You know how I feel about cozy modern.
There was one downfall. The black electrical cord irked me. I don’t understand why companies go through all the trouble of producing beautiful lamps only to stick an ugly black cord on them. Why?! It’s like a handsome guy with no sense of humor. Deal breaker.
But I really LOVED the lamp and it was the ideal scale for my desk so I decided to do what I do best: tweak it. (Not to be confused with ‘twerk it.’)
I found some red sueded cording at JoAnn’s. I paid less than $2 (with a 40% off coupon) for three yards. I thought the red suede would make a fun cord cover. Here’s how I went about disguising the black cord eyesore…
1 – I used a small piece of double-sided adhesive tape and stuck it on the backside of the cord.
2 – I ran the sueded cording up the tape then wrapped it over on top of itself to secure the end.
3 – I continued wrapping the electrical cord with my sueded cording making sure to pull it taut for a snug fit.
4 – I wrapped the cord to the rotary line switch then used a drop of hot glue on the backside of the new red cord to secure the end. (It’s important not to apply the hot glue directly to the electrical cord.)
5 – I snipped off the excess sueded cording with fingernail clippers.
And that’s it! It took me all of 5 minutes. I only wrapped the cord to the rotary switch because I knew the rest of the cord would be hidden behind the wood cubby on my desk but you could easily wrap the full length. For reference, I wrapped ~13″ of electrical cord and I had ~9″ of the sueded cording leftover. Of course, that number will vary depending on the circumference of your electrical cord but three yards of cording for every foot of electrical cord seems like a good rough estimate.
This cute lamp just got a little cuter. Steve even noticed and he loves it! Funny. I can rearrange our living room and he doesn’t notice for days. But I slap some new cording on a teeny lamp and he catches it right away. I don’t get it.
The lamp isn’t totally necessary. We do have over- and under-cabinet lighting. But, I have to say, the soft glow of the little lamp is nice on overcast days or late at night when I don’t want to light up the entire kitchen.
I’ve always liked the idea of a lamp in the kitchen, too. It feels cozy, warm and casual.
I wish companies would pay more attention to lighting cord aesthetics. It kinda sucks that I had to spend $2 to make my $40 lamp look like a $40 lamp but I’m really happy with how it turned out.
images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking
budget decor, DIY, interior design