How to: lamp shade

I hope you had a great weekend! I worked on a few smaller projects here and there, but it's still too hot here to do much painting! I also attended an I Love Thrifting Event this weekend. I'll share more of that later this week. Speaking of thrifting...

How many times have you passed ugly lamps and lamps shades in the thrift store? I used to pass them up all the time! Now I can't get enough of them! Today I'm going to show you how to make over ugly thrift store lamps and shades into something beautiful.

Remember these lampshades and lamps I got a few weeks ago and shared them for Thrifty Thursday?

They started out like this

I quickly sprayed the lamps with Oil Rubbed bronze, but that wasn't where the biggest transformation was going to happen with these lamps.

I've never recovered a lampshade, but I did learn a few tricks to share with you!

First, I started by finding the spot where the trim was attached and carefully peeled it off.

Then I peeled off the fabric. Do this carefully because you will need to use it again!

After you've taken it apart, lay it on top of your fabric, right side down. I chose a fabric with a patten. It's definitely easier to do this with a solid fabric because you don't have to worry about lining it up. (more on that in a minute)

I traced my pattern with a fabric pen and then repeated this process for the other lampshade.

To put on the fabric, I sprayed small sections at a time with Spray adhesive. I left a little at the top then cut it off to have a nice clean line with the metal edge.

In order to give it a finished look, I used some brown ribbon I had left over from another project.

I simply put a small bead of glue and ran it along the top and bottom of the shade, as well as the part in the back where my pattern didn't meet up. If you had a solid fabric you won't need to worry about putting trim there.

Then I put the finished lampshade and spray painted lamp together!

I just love how it looks in my guestroom with my no sew paisley curtains and jungle green nightstands.

I originally bought this fabric months ago to make pillows for the bedding in here, but I'm still undecided on the bedding. Maybe someday I'll find the perfect bedding for this room. Until then, I'm enjoying my new lamps!

Now, don't pass up that ugly thrift store lamp again!

 

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