Recovering a Lampshade

Continuing on the same theme as my last post (lamps for my living room), I had two brass lamps I painted a pale blue color.  I had found a lampshade at a thrift store for one of them, but was trying to find a shade to fit the second.  On a trip to Lowe's one day I walked by this:

For a second I hesitated and thought, "Is that a mistake?" Then I realized it might have something to do with the fabric starting to fall off (which I didn't care about because I was going to replace the fabric anyway). Luckily it was the right shape for my lamp (some other shades I had seen were too short and looked odd with my tall, skinny lamp) and was definitely within my budget!

I brought it home and pulled off the outer fabric completely. The inner fabric was fine and I decided to leave it that way. When I got the outer fabric off the frame I laid it on top of the new fabric I was going to use and cut out two of the same shape (leaving some extra around the edges for seam allowance and for attaching to the frame).

After cutting out the two pieces I sewed them together, slipped it onto the lampshade frame and folded up the raw edges along the bottom and top openings, securing with hot glue.

After gluing I trimmed the excess and glued a strip of bias tape around the inside to cover the raw edge, folding over the end to make a nice, clean finish.

Thus completed my second living room lamp!

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I'll be linking up to these fabulous link parties:

 Monday -  Craft o Maniac Monday -- Craftastic Monday -- Amaze Me Monday -- Make it Great Monday -- Polly Want 2 Party  --  Tuesday -  Get Your Craft On -- Sew Cute Tuesday -- Upcycled Awesome -- Tip Me Tuesday -- Tuesday Talent Show --  Wednesday -  Seven Thrity Three -- Wallet-Friendly Wednesday -- Create and Share -- Whatever Goes Wednesday --  Linkin’ with Lil’ Luna -- Thursday -  Strut your Stuff Thursday -- Transformation Thursday -- Thrilling Thursday -- House of Hepworths -- Friday -  Remodelaholic Friday -- Flaunt it Friday -- Frugal Friday -- Weekend Wander -- Show and Share Day -- It's Fun to Craft! -- Tickled Pink Fridays -- Weekend Wrap-up Party -- Catch as Catch Can -- Friday Flair -- Feature Yourself Friday -- Simply Link {Party} -- Pity Party -- Design Dazzle --  Saturday - Saturday Spotlight --  Sunday -  The DIY Showoff Project  Parade --  Sunday Showcase Party -- Creative Bloggers Party -- I Heart Naptime -- Think Pink Sundays

Lamp Revamp

Hello! Long time no post, I know. I've started working full time and that has left me with very little time for anything other than work, domestic duties and time with the kids. But yesterday I actually made some time for a creative project and that inspired me to write about one of the projects I did a while back but never posted.

For a while I was frequenting thrift stores, looking for a couple of good lamps for my living room. I wanted two with nice shapes and lines, but not necessarily exactly alike as I would be painting them the same color. (I don't like to be toooo matchy-matchy.) Eventually I found a couple of nice lamps, but wanted to make one of them shorter.

See that tall skinny part at the top? I wanted that gone. I knew the lamp was put together in sections and thankfully that was one of them so it could be removed.

I started tearing the thing apart by first removing the socket. (Pulled off the top, lifted out the socket, unscrewed the wire terminals, unscrewed the base and pulled the wires out of it.)

(partly I took this photo so I would remember how to put it back together)

I removed the bottom piece of the harp (the thing the lamp shade is attached to) and unscrewed the top part of the lamp base.

There was an internal pipe (as with most lamps) that had threads only at the top and bottom. However, removing a portion of the lamp required cutting the pipe shorter (which would leave it without threads on one end), so I ended up having to purchase a replacement pipe and cut that one to the length I needed.

I took apart the sections of the lamp, cleaned, primed, painted and sealed them. Then I put them all back together.

Then I re-attached the socket. There are two different wires and two different screws to use to attach them. If you're ever replacing a lightbulb socket just remember this--

Ribbed = Silver
Smooth = Brass

I put everything back on in order like so (except with the modified base, of course)-

With the addition of a $2 thrift-store lampshade I had my new lamp. Yay!

For the second lamp I did the same painting, but altered a lampshade to more closely resemble this lampshade. (I'll post that next.)

Thanks for stopping by! (And I apologize if the sentences seem a bit disjointed and awkward. It is late, and I am very, very tired right now. :) )

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I'll be linking up to these fabulous link parties:

 Monday -  Craft o Maniac Monday -- Craftastic Monday -- Amaze Me Monday -- Make it Great Monday -- Polly Want 2 Party  --  Tuesday -  Get Your Craft On -- Sew Cute Tuesday -- Upcycled Awesome -- Tip Me Tuesday -- Tuesday Talent Show --  Wednesday -  Seven Thrity Three -- Wallet-Friendly Wednesday -- Create and Share -- Whatever Goes Wednesday --  Linkin’ with Lil’ Luna -- Thursday -  Strut your Stuff Thursday -- Transformation Thursday -- Thrilling Thursday -- House of Hepworths -- Friday -  Remodelaholic Friday -- Flaunt it Friday -- Frugal Friday -- Weekend Wander -- Show and Share Day -- It's Fun to Craft! -- Tickled Pink Fridays -- Weekend Wrap-up Party -- Catch as Catch Can -- Friday Flair -- Feature Yourself Friday -- Simply Link {Party} -- Pity Party -- Design Dazzle --  Saturday - Saturday Spotlight --  Sunday -  The DIY Showoff Project  Parade --  Sunday Showcase Party -- Creative Bloggers Party -- I Heart Naptime -- Think Pink Sundays