I have a well-documented love of Jonathan Adler. It is typically out of my price range, but I fortunately won a Trousdale Lamp in the set auction from "Ugly Betty" a few years back. It went for a ridiculously low price, and had the added bonus of being THE lamp seen in Wilhelmina Slater's office. It worked beautifully in my old bedroom (see below), but unfortunately just doesn't work too well as is in my new place. I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it, so did what is almost the unthinkable...I altered it. I decided I wanted to change the design in a manner that would allow for reversal, just to assuage my fears of altering it. I'd been thinking about the Rope Floor Lamp from Pottery Barn, so decided to emulate it by wrapping my Trousdale Lamp with a polished hemp rope I found at Walmart. I liked that it was thick and smooth, but still offered that raw, rustic feeling I was looking for. Using some spray adhesive and an abundance of patience, I wrapped the lamp, bottom to top. After many hours and about 3 rolls of hemp (almost 200 yards--what?!), I had a lamp I'm relatively happy with. The blue shade unfortunately had to go, and my wonderful boyfriend found a shade at a garage sale for $5. Can't complain.

Via jonathanadler.com and potterybarn.com

So I had the left lamp, wanted something akin to the lamp on the right, and after some of this....

...then I got...

Ta da!! My new and (I hesitate to say) improved Trousdale Lamp. Definitely a new look for it, and I can always remove the rope (ugh) if I need it to morph back to its beautiful sleek beginnings. I hope I didn't offend Mr. Adler or the design gods, but I think I did the best I could with what I had available to me and for the space the lamp has to live in for awhile. Leave any thoughts or questions in the comments below!

Grounds for Sacrilege?