How to Renew a Lamp Shade

Remember those shades that I redid for Nadia’s bedroom? Much better than the before.

She also needed a lamp for her desk, and I mentioned in this post how that I had refurbished an old lamp I had for her bedroom.

This is how to renew the lampshade and painted the lamp base. I used the same method for the lamp above (plus the hanging beads). Click on the pictures to see the instructions.

Clean the entire lamp base with a damp cloth. Stuff the socket with plastic film to prevent the spray paint from getting inside.

Sand with fine sandpaper to give the paint something to grip to, clean with a damp cloth and let it dry. Spray paint and let it dry per instructions on the can.

For the shade I reused an old conical shade, which I disassembled. I am only using the top clip-on wire frame. I covered the top wire frame with two layers of white cardstock and glued everything with liquid silicone. I then retouched the wire frame with some white paint applied with a small brush.

Measure the fabric and cut. You’ll need an extra half an inch on one end to fold for a clean finish., plus an extra inch and the top and bottom to fold inside.

Cover the shade with regular Mod Podge. Cover with the fabric, stretching as you go along to align the print. Fold the end for a clean finish and glue.

Once the glue dries, make cuts along the bottom and top edges and fold and glue.

This is how it looks after folding the edges and giving a thorough coat of Mod Podge inside and out.

And here’s installed. Use an LED light, the shade is not fireproof and regular bulbs may start a fire.

And to use the last piece of fabric left I did the same with a can of peanuts, this time cutting the fabric at the edge and finishing it with a ribbon matching the fabric. Nadia uses it as a pencil holder. The method is similar and the pictures self-explanatory, click on them to see a larger version.

Since I already had all the materials used for this project the lamp and pencil holder were basically free. Free, as you probably noticed already, is a price I love.

Aunt Clara