Electric Shock? Lamp makeover

My Aunt Lena died almost 10 years ago at the age of 92, but she is alive and well in my house and heart. I have so many of her things, not because they are my style, but because I just can't bear to let go of items she cherished and took care of - it's clear she lived through the Depression, as she took meticulous care of everything.

While I take as much care as possible with the items I've inherited, you can't fight salt air and ancient wiring (and kids and dogs and time). In addition, this lamp, with its Early American style key and brass, was made worse by the beaded shade that was in style for about a minute back in the early 2000's.  Ugh.

To make matters worse, the brass was corroding - we are at least five miles from the ocean, but it's still a problem...:

I sanded the lamp thoroughly to remove all the rust and then used Rustoleum primer for metals - hopefully it will hold up well and prevent additional corrosion. Time will tell. I have black accents in the great room, so I decided to try a black lacquer paint that was suitable for metals. I was shocked how easily it covered and only two coats were necessary. 

Once it was painted, I had to tackle the part that frightened me the most - rewiring the lamp. I bought a rewiring kit at Lowe's, but then when I went to look for barrel shades, I was shocked at the prices. Then, I stumbled across this great damaged lamp on clearance at Home Goods for $12.00 - the shade was the perfect shade of green to match the accents in my kitchen, AND it had a silver harp, which I thought would pop against the green and black. I used an eHow tutorial video and it's amazing how easy it is to fix a lamp! 

Here are some "after" pictures (I DO need to find my digital camera - the iPhone pictures aren't cutting it. 

The best compliment? My daughter said "mom, you're really rocking the house...."