When I started unpacking our clothes into the dresser I came across two things. The first was a drawer full of hair. That was not so much of a nice discovery. The second was this pair of "crystal" lamps.

I wish that I had taken a picture of the lampshades at the time so that I could show off how epically ugly they were. They were a taupe satin with chiffon ruffles- very similar to this:

Needless to say, they went straight to the dumpster. Okay I may have tried to take off the ruffles in an attempt to salvage them and wound up shredding them... but right after that they went to the dumpster.

These lamps aren't anything that I would pick out for myself, but they were A. functioning, and B. free. So I decided to make them work.

I hummed and hawed and couldn't quite figure out how to make them fit in a room that will (eventually) be rather dramatic with dark blue furniture and a large rattan chair. I've made this room much more Dr. Science's taste and domain, so thought I would make the lamps follow suit. 

Dr. Science is a fan of Edison-style light bulbs, so I started there. I found these very affordable LED Edison bulbs on Amazon and bought a 4 pack. They give a nice, warm glow, but will still last a long time because they're LED's.

But then I needed to figure out how to show them off... So I found these black wire lamp "shades" and I think they're very cool.

The final touch was to get rid of the overly shiny chrome and the places where the chrome coating had completely worn off.

I used Rub n Buff in Antique gold. I found the best way to apply it was to squeeze out a blob about the size of a pea onto some cardboard, dip my finger in it, dab it onto the chrome, let it dry for a minute, then go back and rub it around. I found it adhered better that way and gave better coverage. I tried to do the "buffing" part, but found it didn't really affect the shine much at all, and I actually liked the more matte look anyway- it looks more steampunk to me.

There were a few spots where in order to fill some narrow angles I had to get Rub n Buff on the crystal parts. To clean it up I used a rag dipped in some nail polish remover and a little elbow grease. It cleaned up well, but this stuff is tough as nails (which bodes well for its durability.)

I think they look great. I was trying to think of what "style" they are, but they aren't exactly conventional, so I figured "Industrial Glam" best described them... What would you call them?