Lampshades

I have a thing for lamps. I love them. Almost all of mine are vintage. I get them at thrift stores or on eBay and have them rewired (if the cords look old) for just a few dollars at a lamp store. I just like the look of old lamps. But I love the look of shiny new lampshades.

One commenter recently asked for my lampshade source. I've purchased lampshades just about everywhere - Target, Walmart, JC Penney, Anthropologie, Bed Bath and Beyond, expensive lighting stores, IKEA, etc. While my purchases have mostly turned out fine, I'm always the happiest with the results of these simple drum shades from Lamps Plus.

The white is $24.99

and the cream is $19.99
{P.S. the height of your shade should be approx 40% of the height of your lamp base}

The simple shades above look great as is, but they look even better with some grosgrain ribbon trim along the rim(s).

(Or ball fringe (pompoms) hanging from the bottom for a kids room lamp.)

Or all lacquered up in a punchy color, like this persimmon red shade


or like Eddie's shades (P.S. He likes to use spike tape for the trim).


Try covering a basic shade with paper on the outside


or on the inside (which is especially pretty when the lamp is on and the pattern creates a silhouette).


You could also try covering the shade with fabric and ribbon.


I've been meaning to employ this technique using some vintage crewel work (from eBay)






so that I can have an Anthropologie-looking lamp shade for a fraction of the cost.You could also make appliques using fabric prints. These would be so, so cute in a kid's room.
Do you guys have any good ideas for vamping up your boring lampshades?

On a completely unrelated note, the weather today was in the negatives with the wind chill, yet we're supposed to have freakishly warm weather on Saturday and Sunday (like in the 40s!!).

So if you need to find me this weekend, I'll be outside all day - running, picnicking, spray painting, potting some plants, washing all the salt off our car, and a bunch of other outdoor activities I've been missing for the past three months!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Next week is going to be a good one here at lgn - some awesome bedroom redo projects to share!

J