Ghost Lamp Shades.... I Have Been Told.

Grace
by Grace
When I picked up these 2 ghost lamp shades(that's what someone told me what they are called. I thought it was something like "skeleton"lamp shade, haha), they didn't look like this. Well, I forgot to take a picture of "real" before. Coincidentally, I found an internet image that looked like the way it was when I saw them. What are the chances??!
I had them for the longest time and finally I worked like a crazy woman for the last 2 weeks or so. I worked on 4 or 5 projects one after another, boom, boom, boom! I actually shouldn't even be doing this as my concert season is here...but i just wanted to get this out of the way, lol.
So this isn't the actual pic of mine, but they looked exactly like that when I found them off the curb, 2 of them, and I ripped the dusty and dry old fabric off. I saw this one episode from Fixer Upper by the Gaines and saw Joanna using a ghost lamp shade as a lamp shade, and wanted to use something like that(but not as an actual lamp shade. I just liked the look), and then saw this giant old lamp shades, abandoned...Had to take them home. This was also my first ever pallet project from the pile my husband's work place had. The pallet I found was the cleanest pallet I have ever seen.
I quickly learned that you need ear plugs to pound those babies out.
I traced whichever rim I wanted the top to be and drew slightly bigger, used jig saw to cut them.
You get the idea, huh? :)
I used Minwax's Weathered Oak stain. You can see the difference, but I stained it one more time after this shot and the color got deeper.
Used this stencil and decided the slats to go vertically.
Oh before I did that, of course, I screwed them together like this. This is actually after attaching the top to the top rim. I used cable clamps to do that.
Aren't they beautiful? The wood looks aged, but still clean. Of course, I cleaned them and sanded them before I did all the stain work and stuff.
I still need to put some protective coat...but I just wanted to post this here to get the itches out, lol. I am letting you in on my next project, the dresser behind my project. I pulled/picked up that dresser from dumpster!! Shocking...! And the previous owner painted it brown, one drawers broken, but had all the pulls, shocking again!!
They will be used as our bed side table. Hubby loves it, and was sad that I did this without his help(he says he is now uselss, lol. You are never "that" to me, honey), but was SOOO proud of me that I made this all by myself. I feel like a little toddler saying those words, lol.


He thought painting the "frame" might be a bit too high maintenance, so I left it as it is. Besides, I need to finish up couple other projects before the concert season hits me.


I hope this project inspires you and encourages you to see things beyond what they are.
I've added this pic in case you wonder what I used to attach the top to the shade. It's called cable clamps. I found it at Lowe's, and it was very inexpensive. :)
This is before. :)
It's not much, but got cleaned up. Worth it!
Frequently asked questions
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3 of 4 questions
  • Colleen Patrick Rucker Colleen Patrick Rucker on Oct 11, 2016
    How substantial is the metal that the lampshades are made of? Will the weight of the wooden tops bend them?
  • SADIE5893 SADIE5893 on Oct 12, 2016
    Love what you did . Where did you get your stencile
  • Kaz Kaz on Mar 03, 2021

    Very cool..great idea.

    Are they not a lil top heavy.?? Toppling over I mean. 😊

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4 of 106 comments
  • Donna Donna on Jul 11, 2019

    Great idea! Love them!

  • Michele Thompson Michele Thompson on Aug 13, 2020

    Omg what a fantasic repurpose. That'll be on my diy bucket list. I absolutely adore them. My husband is gonna kill me. And I'm definitely Vikings need a bigger home soon lol. Thanks again

    • Grace Grace on Jan 11, 2021

      Aww, thank you. Good luck and have fun!

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