Ruler Drum Shade

by Elizabeth Joan Designs

$10-15

Easy

We could not stand the boring light fixture in the dining area of our rental home, so we decided to cover it up with this fun and inexpensive ruler drum shade.

ruler drum shade, how to, lighting, repurposing upcycling

I bought a bunch of rulers for $0.25 each to use for this project. I also used a 14” embroidery hoop, gray acrylic paint, foam craft brushes, wood glue, binder clips, string and some little white ceiling hooks. Only about half of these items actually appear in my supplies photo. Oops.

To start out, I mixed a 1 ½ to 2 ratio of water and paint in a cup and used a foam craft brush to coat the fronts and backs of each ruler. I wanted to give the rulers a gray washed look and still be able to see the numbers and marks. I also separated and painted both pieces of the embroidery hoop with my water and paint mixture.

Once everything was dry, I grabbed some wood glue and attached my rulers around the outside of the embroidery hoops; one hoop on the bottom and the other on the top. The spacing was completely guesstimated and the last ruler I added had to go on the inside of the bottom hoop to avoid the screw on the outside. My binder clips held everything in place while the glue dried.

Next, I screwed 3 hooks into the ceiling around the original light fixture, tied 3 equal pieces of string to the top of the shade, and looped the strings around the hooks, making sure the shade stayed even and level.

We love not having to look up and see the weird lights all of the time, and I’m so glad that I gray washed everything because it gave it a cool vintage look. For more details and photos, please visit our blog.