MacGyver Ain't Got Nothin' On Me!

Source

For some reason, there's no overhead light in the bedroom. We have a wall lamp just to the left of the door and I bought a pair of lamps on Craigslist that sit on my dresser. The wall lamp... well, there's not much I can say about it other than it was HIDEOUS.  I don't actually have an original photo of the lamp shade, but this one comes close.

One of the first things I did after moving in was switch out the lamp shade and spray paint the base with silver spray paint, so it looked like this.

I know this doesn't really look good either, but it was such an improvement that it was good enough for me. At least for the better part of a year. Today, I took it upon myself to update it once more. I detached it from the wall (if you look at the pic here, you can kinda see the brassy colour it used to be), spray painted the base matte black (using Rustoleum), and added black ribbon to the top and bottom of the shade. 

I absolutely L-O-V-E the way the matte black looks!!! It makes a huge difference. I think I could've done a better job of gluing the ribbon on though... it looks kinda bumpy :( womp womp. Maybe I'll take it off and try again, but I'd have to get new ribbon, argh!

 

If you thought the lamp re-do was why I'm saying I'm MacGyver, you're mistaken. Good guess though :P 

Short version: I MacGyver-ed open the front door with a boot lace and a bobby pin, which totally made my day and made me feel like a freakin' superstar!

Long version: I'm my excitement to get into the front enclosure to spray paint the lamp base, I locked myself out of our apartment. We have an exterior door with a deadbolt, but our interior door just has a doorknob lock and I mindlessly locked it. Sumumabeech!!! This was just before 4:30pm. Kevin and my landlord don't get home until at least after 6pm. I didn't have my cell phone. I thought, "well, it's gonna be a while until I can get back in.. might as well start spray painting" About 5 minutes later (seriously) I was done spray painting. I ended up taking a nap on our shoe stand, that ate up about 15 minutes. At about 5 I thought, "If I just pull hard enough, I'm sure the door will open. This lock is flimsy.." 1 minute of embarrassingly pathetic pulling later, I gave up and sprayed a second coat on the lamp shade. I checked my pockets for anything of use and I found a bobby pin! My dad's a locksmith so I know that's not how you open locks, no matter how many times you see on TV, but I still had over an hour to burn until anyone came home, so I gave it a try. No dice. But the whole time I was trying I kept thinking, "If this actually works, it'll be the coolest thing ever!" I pick up a boot next. Using that and the bobby pin, I looped the boot lace between the door and the frame, then pulled the ends of the lace, which depressed the door knob latch a little bit. I used the bobby pin to get under the edge of the latch and was able to move it into the door enough to open the door. I was excited it actually worked so I immediately called my dad once I got inside. Remember, he's a locksmith. His first words after I told him I'm a superstar and locks can't hold me back were, "Em, you don't have very good locks on that door if you can open it with some string and a hair pin."  Way to burst my bubble, Dad!