For those of y'all that don't know, Lulu over at Lulu's Laundry recently created Mystery Theater Thursday. If you have a mystery, you can post about it and hopefully one of your readers can help you solve it. Go check out her MTT page -- it's hilarious.So, okay, y'all. I have a mystery. Well, it might not be a mystery to you, but it's a mystery to me -- or a misdemeanor to me, as we say in my family. What can I say, my mother was a probation officer.
I have these lamps, see.
And I love these lamps. I've had them for a couple of years and I used to have them on my mantle at my old house. But here's my problem. The base of these lamps are silver and they tarnish like a son-of-a-biscuit eater and I HATE that. You can't really tell from this photo, but the one on the left is nice and shiny. The one on the right? Black as the ace of spades.
Is there something, ANYTHING, I can do to keep them from tarnishing? Besides polishing them weekly, I mean, 'cause that's just not gonna' happen.
Or am I being silly? Is a little tarnish okay? Does that give them a "shabby chic" look or does it just look shabby?
Help me, lovely internets. Surely there's a Heloise among you.
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14 comments:
it is a supreme misfortune for you that *I* am the first commenter...I, and my lovely looming Christmas tree. If there is ANYONE LESS qualified to give household cleaning advice...I most surely cannot think of them. I do have a great new book, though, called A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder, How crammed closets, cluttered offices, and on-the-fly planning make the world a better place.
Could you paint the bases black? Black is chic and goes with everything!
Oooh! Now that is a mystery! And unfortunately, it's one that I can't solve. GR inherited some silver goblets from a great aunt, and even though I've got them displayed in my china cabinet, I've completely given up on keeping them tarnish-free.
It seems as though there should be some kind of miracle coating that they could be dipped in.
I'll keep checking your comments to see if anyone has an answer. I'll also send some of my readers over to you as soon as I get my MTT written, which will be much later this evening. I'm in the middle of AI at the moment...
BTW - the lamps are beautiful!
It's called the patina. It's natural. I NEVER EVER EVER polish. So, I'm inclined to think it's shabby chic.
I am in love with those lamps. And I don't dust, so polishing is out the door. I like the shabby look myself and sanded off perfectly good paint on my end tables to achieve the worn look. After a year with the kids it was bound to look that way anyway.
Don't polish. Enjoy the natural aging beauty.
Ha! We must be on the same brainwave. My MTT is related to cleaning too.
Anyway, Im worthless when it comes to doing crafty creative cleaning things...but i DO love those lamps, and I think they look great as is.
Good grief, woman, don't polish them! Too.much.work. The air is what makes them tarnish, so you'll just end up doing it again.
I can't help you. But they're damn cute!!
Holy crap. At this moment I have huge pieces of silver (trays, candlesticks, tea service, don't get me started) staring at me that are as black as the hammered down hinges of hell. At work. ( No, don’t ask, it’s too ridiculous.) Like I'm going to clean here too? PLEASE let me know if a solution turns up.
Sell them on ebay, then buy fake silver lamp bases-that won't tarnish. Use the extra cash to buy more Starbucks pins. Those never go out of style!
polish them good, then wrap them in shrink wrap...you know, with that vaccuum-sealer you can get from Costco. violia~lamps that don't tarnish!
oh, you wanted to USE them, still??? :)
Love the lamps but I'm way too lazy to own anything that is actually silver. hehe
I just returned from sitting in the breakroom browsing through the Brylane Home magazine, and guess what I found? This...
http://www.brylanehome.com/decor/Anti-Tarnish-Plate.aspx?PfId=122627&DeptId=15212&producttypeid=1&pref=ps&PurchaseType=G
Kind of pricey, but maybe worth a try? Seems easier than scrubbing anyway. I might have to try this.
Thanks for writing this.
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