Vintage Milk Glass Lamps

Happy New Year's Eve everybody!

Last week, while we were down at my parents' river house, my mom and I decided to pop into a local consignment shop in one of the tiny towns nearby. Being the frugal shopper that I am, I was torn between looking for a good deal and telling myself I did not need to spend any money. (You know, since Christmas shopping just took a nice hit on the ole wallet.) Then, in a corner full of other junk, I came across these awesome vintage milk glass lamps. They beckoned me to come take a closer look at them. Have you ever had that happen? (Or am I just a crazy person?)

I was intrigued enough to check and make sure they worked, which they do, which was good. :) They're in near perfect condition - no chips, scratches, etc. I knew we didn't have room for them in our apartment - boo. If there's one thing we have an excess of, it's lamps. If I bought them, we couldn't keep them, so I left the store empty-handed.

But I kept thinking about them, so a couple of days later, I went back to see if they were still there...and what do you know? They were! Small town consignment shops don't move merchandise all that quickly I suppose. I snatched them up, dreaming about ways I could spiff them up. They were a little dingy and dirty, so once I got them home, I scrubbed that milk glass, and they're already lookin' mighty purty. Since I can't keep them, I'm planning to put them up for sale in my Etsy shop (they are vintage, after all!).

Here they are after I cleaned them up:

Pretty nice, huh? I love the hobnail detail on the milk glass. 

Here are some closeups so you can see a little better:

One thing I'm not crazy about, but somewhat reluctant to change, is the wood piece in the middle. I did a little Googling to see if this was a common "look" for these kinds of lamps, and many do seem to have that wood section...so my dilemma lies in whether I should paint that part. I did some more Googling to see if others had painted the wood pieces on similar lamps. I found two that I thought looked great, which is helping me decide whether to go down the painting road or not, but I want some more opinions before making a final decision. So this is where you, my dear reader, come in. I need your help! Take a look at the next couple of photos, and let me know in the comments whether you like the "au naturel" look, white, or gold.

White:

{source: Dwellings by DeVore}

Gold:

{source: Like a Saturday}

What do you think?

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*** Update: I listed the lamps in my Etsy shop and they sold very quickly! Thanks to all for the feedback on updating them. I ended up leaving them as is with the wood section au naturale for selling purposes. Seemed to have worked out!