Old lamp shade plus new pretty fabric equals an economical solution! Recovering an old, ugly, stained or an “i am bored with this shade design” is really simple to do; and in today’s post, I’ll reveal the three steps that will get you there. You will also see a cameo appearance from T-Rex, our new office assistant kitten who has taken on the role of inspecting every-single-thing that walks into our office.
Go eyeball the current lamp shades in your home (I’ll wait… whistle whistle whistle), and if you feel like it’s time to recover the lamp shades, then rest assured knowing that it is so simple to do (again, just three steps). It actually took me longer to stop and take photos for this post than to actually recover the lamp shades.
DIY Lamp Shade
Supplies:
- Old or boring lamp shade
- Fabric (one that isn’t sheer so you don’t see the stains from the old shade)
- Iron (to smooth out the fabric wrinkles)
- Scissors (to cut the fabric at least 1-1/2″ larger than the shade
- Glue (I experimented using a hot glue gun and Liquid Stitch and prefer the latter because the glue gun kept burning my fingers, ouch!
- Your camera (so you can share your awesome creation with us at [email protected] and [email protected])
Directions:
- iron fabric (use steam if needed to tame those darn wrinkles!)
- cut the fabric edges (1-1/2″ on each side and fold over twice in preparation to glue
- glue the folded fabric edges onto the stained (boring, ugly, etc.) lamp shade
I found no need to glue the body of the fabric onto the shade. Gluing the edges(top, bottom and side) held the fabric in place perfectly. Plus, it’s not like we are dancing with our lamp shades that it will have much movement. Hmmm, unless you do dance with your lamps. If you do, keep it to yourself. It’s totally weird. Then again, you may love your “new” fabric shades so much that you may not be able to resist dancing. In that case, dance away! Rock those happy moves!
I folded the fabric twice so the ends didn’t fray, and then glued the edges of the shade. At first, I started gluing it with a hot glue gun, then I started hearing profanity and realized that it was coming from me. Apparently, I was burning my fingers touching the hot glue pressing the fabric edge fold down (%#@& — sorry, I had a flashback). So, I went to my go-to glue for fabrics, Liquid Stitch (also known to be the glue for those of us who despise sewing machines).
Glue the top and bottom edges of the shade…
Glue the side of the shade…
Admire your work… Take a photo and share your creation with pride knowing that your lamps shade is unique because 1) you picked the individual fabric customized to color, design and style that you love, 2) no one else has your lamp shade and 3) you created it.
For more fun economical solutions, mosey on over to my website here. Happy decorating!
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