Cute Lamp Makeover for $7

Rhonda
by Rhonda
4 Materials
$7
2 Hours
Easy
One fine day I was shopping at "my" Home Goods store and I happened upon these two very cute lamps. (Shocking.....I know LOL)
Very cute, right?  And I, of course, had the perfect spot to place them!  ( I always do....or I make one!)   So I check out the price and they are $39.99 a piece.  Ok, so that is not too horribly bad but when you are redecorating almost every room in your house than 80 bucks for 2 accent lamps is about 60 bucks too high!  So, they stayed there. *sigh*


But wait....the story does not end there.....
When I got home I started looking over my "junk" and came across a set of  lamps. They were actually packed to go to my local consignment store because I had not been able to sell them on Craigslist.


That is when the idea struck me!  I knew I had some adorable Waverly fabric that I had been planning to make a couple of pillows out of.....soooooo what if I try to recover the shades and see what happens???  Worst case is that I ruin an already ugly set of lamps and throw them out instead of selling them for maybe 10 bucks...right?  (just nod your head...)


So, I get out my fabric, scissors and hot glue gun (loaded, I might add) and begin to disassemble the current shade.  I wanted to leave the lining in tact so I just trimmed the outside fabric away.
Once the outside fabric was off I measured and cut my new fabric to fit and I began gluing it to the bottom of the lampshade...turning it under as I went.  Easy peasey....
Once that was complete I stood the shade up and began the tricky part!  You see, this is not a drum shade.  It has a bit of a bell shape to it and so I had to incorporate some pleats in the fabric in order for the shade to look good.  This took some time and I learned a few lessons, ie. hot glue is HOT and it will remove your fingerprints quickly....so be careful!



To get the pleats to look good I made sure that I pulled the fabric very tight and then I just sorta, kinda eyeballed the size of the pleat....no measuring here....I just tried to keep the pleats about the same size.  Be sure to use an adequate amount of glue also so that the fabric will stay in place as you are working.


Nahhhhhh, me either. Very cute....but still not "ringing my bell".....I was really thinking, "ok, this is 'one headed to the consignment store lamp' if I ever saw one!"  Hmmmmm what to do, what to do.......
That's when I remembered the SPRAY PAINT!  Yes, YES, YES.....that was exactly what I was lacking! 
Ya know, spray paint is to women what duct tape is to men!  And with that I was off to the garage.....


                                                                           
Stand back........ Ahhhhhhh......Mucho Bueno! Wait for it......
Now, I am in love......bliss........and the cost to me was:
Lamp: already had
Shade: already had
Spray paint: already had
Fabric: 7 bucks!
(enough for both lampshades!)


Resources for this project:
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Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
  3 questions
  • LK LK on May 16, 2018

    When you cut off the outer fabric could you save it and use it as a pattern for the new shade?

  • Catherine Martin Catherine Martin on May 16, 2018

    If I have to buy the fabric about how much will I need?

  • Marge Cadieux Marge Cadieux on May 17, 2018

    can you spray the lamp shade instead of covering?


Comments
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2 of 25 comments
  • Wendi Killeen Myers Wendi Killeen Myers on May 21, 2018

    Not a question, but a tip. When working with hot glue, keep a small bowl of water in your project area. Dip your fingertips in the water before touching the hot glue - keeps your skin from getting burnt!

  • Laura Cross Laura Cross on May 29, 2018

    These look better than the shop ones XXX

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