I recently did my first lamp repair for a customer in the neighborhood. He had an old lamp he had picked up at a garage sale, but had a bunch of rust on it, and a totally worn out cord. It's an antique hanging lamp, intended to be hung on the wall, with an adjustable cord and counter-weight. Pretty cool design, and a great fit for his place, but it really needed an overhaul.
So, I removed most of the rust from the metal parts... polished the brass pipes and re-painted the off-white pieces and the counter weight. I replaced the cord with a great antique-style rayon-wrapped cord. It's not quite as thick as the original, but it will do the trick. Ended up having to replace the switch as well, which involved a bunch of dismantling of the light-socket assembly, and some soldering to get it back together. But it all works, and looks great!
Here are some pics of what it looked like before the repairs: