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
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
thank you so much (i’m the person who requested help sourcing cheap drum shades) what great sourcing and ideas you posted here.
great post. I found a thrift store lamp yesterday that I thought you would totally LOVE. Is it wrong to ask for lamps as a romantic valentine gift? haha.
Laura, one of the best present my spouse gave me when we were dating as an anniversary present was a lamp I had been lusting after. I knew he was a definite keeper!
Jennica, I could use some help. I bought a set of vintage Polish glass lamps ten years ago – sans shades – and I have had a devil of a time finding shades. They’re such an odd size that it has been hard for me to find anything that doesn’t overpower them. They are only 11 inches high. A friend rewired them for me for a wedding present and chose shades for them that I’m not necessarily in love with after all these years. If I sent you a pic, could you give me some advice?
Thanks for the tip on cheap but good looking lampshades! I, too, have a billion thrift store lamps, all currently wearing some hideous shades. This should take care of the problem.
When you say that the shade should be about 40% the height of the base, I assume you mean the entire base, not just the part that is visible when the shade is on?
I saved a fantastic lamp from the trash. The bulk of the base is a ceramic globe in the most awesome shade of yellow. Just need to spray paint part of the base and give it a nice new white drum shade, and it will be gorgeous!
Yeah, Zoe, thanks for the question, the lamp shade should be roughly 40% of the height of the ENTIRE lamp base, not just the visible part of the base.
I would love to see a picture of your rescued lamp when you’re finished. It sounds beautiful!
Jenny
i know this post is from forever ago but i just bought a lamp that needed to be rewired and took it to a lamp store and they're charging $25! what store do you take it to for a few bucks and here's to hoping it's a national store :)