There's ugly... then there's.... OOOOGLY.

And this year, we have a truely oooogly entry in the Ugly Lamp Contest at the Calhoun County Fair!! Yes, a lamp so bad it's hard to imagine why anyone designed it, then why anyone would make it, then why anyone would BUY it... :)

But first, here's a shot of all 9 entries (nearly TRIPLE last year's number!! woohoo!!)

The lamp below was the "born ugly" winner -- this lamp started life as a kerosene lamp base. And frankly, I think the right shade on it would make it kind of attractive. But, I didn't over-rule the fair judges on it!

Then, there's this little lamp, which clearly started life as a fairly normal lamp with a bit of a wild side to it - (note the animal print trim on the shade). But then, someone decided a little bit of a good thing is never enough & went full scale safari on this baby.... so this is the winner of the "made ugly" division.

And now we have the GRAND CHAMPION of Lamp Ugliness.... and I have to say, before you see the photo, this one deserved a special award for, um.... perhaps vulgarity is the word I'm looking for?? This is just too, too much. I think you will agree that pretty much everything that could be wrong about this lamp IS wrong.... from the glitter to the gold plate to the birds to the fringe to the... um... well, say we call it a medallion?? Just so, so wrong. And so, so OOOOOGLY. Somehow, I get the feeling this was a gift from a mother-in-law.....