Lamp Makeover

After discovering this particular lamp's lack of purpose and cohesiveness with the rest of the apartment, I thought maybe it was time to switch out the shade. Unfortunately, it's connected by metal to the lamp base. So I had to work with the shade already attached.

I turned to Young House Love for their lampshade tutorial. It seems like a straightforward project to cover an old lampshade but finishing the top and bottom of the shade needs slits in order to make a clean shade.

We bought two scrapbook-like fabric pieces that both Steve and I liked. I would suggest using one piece of fabric for the future because two pieces that couldn't cover the whole shade resulted in two seams. The battle with the hot glue gun resulted in a small burn and nearly death when I tripped on its cord. Best not to try craft projects while watching the Golden Globes.

The end result worked out pretty well. Here's a close up of the pattern.

 Here's the finished product on my very clean nightstand.

I'm really proud of this little project. I reused a lamp and transformed it to fit in with the room. So imagine my surprise when I turned it on and the stripes showed through. This lamp intends on haunting me no matter what. Patterned lampshades will show through fabric but it looks just fine off.