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Lovely Lamp

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Do you remember when I went to the Arizona Tour de Thrift a couple of months ago?  Well I picked up this lovely lamp at Goodwill that day.  It was in great shape, and wasn’t really in need of a makeover, but when I put it in the girls room, it became obvious that the hot pink was too bright and I needed a softer, more textural (is that a word?) finish on the lamp.  So I started to mess around with the lamp, unsure of what the end result would be.
 
I’m guessing you may not be too excited about the first “after” picture I have here.  This is in the middle of painting the pink lampshade.  Yes, I painted it!  At this moment I was pretty sure I had either lost my mind (ruining a perfectly good lampshade), or I was on the verge of brilliance!

I happened to have some Gesso on hand (don’t ask me why or how–it is very old), and since this is what they use to prime canvas for painting, I figured it couldn’t ruin the shade (probably could have spray painted it too, if I wasn’t worried about the beads).  I just painted light strokes on the shade.  At first I kind of did a white wash (willing for a little pink to show through), and then decided to go for a little more coverage.
And then I started experimenting with crepe paper roses.  I tried some fabric rosettes, too, but ultimately decided to hot glue the crepe paper roses around the edges of the lamp.

I hadn’t made the roses before.  I read through a few different tutorials on line, and then kind of did my own thing.  Each rose is a bit different, but that is good, I suppose.
I started by folding the crepe paper in half lengthwise.  Then folding down a point 3 inches or so from one end.
I used the remaining 3 inches to form the center of the rose.

Then I twisted, wrapped, whatever, the rest of the length of crepe paper around itself until I was happy with the shape. Then a bit of glue to itself and some more on the edge of the lamp and voila.

Now, I’m not sure where I got the idea or if it was even necessary at all, but I sprayed each rose with a little aerosol hairspray.  I’m thinking this helped lighten and coat the roses a bit.  Someone tell me if you’ve heard to do that before, or if I totally made that up!  I made smaller roses to go around the top of the shade.

And here is the after!  The fabric rosettes I made were too big for the shade, so I just glued one right on the lamp base.    I’m trying to decide if I like the streaky effect it gives when lit up.  I think it looks kind of artsy.  My daughter said I should do another coat of paint.

The whole thing reminds me of some fancy french corset or something.  And looks really pretty in my girls’ pretty purple room I haven’t shown you yet (because it isn’t finished)
I thought about covering the entire shade with roses like this pretty one from Pottery Barn Kids, but it didn’t seem like it would work well with the shape of shade I was using.  You could try it!  Just plan lots of time for making roses!
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19 Comments

  6. That is just about the cutest lampshade makeover I've ever seen! Love your tip on turning it white — I may have to use that. 🙂 Great transformation!!

  13. Super cute! I've had that same pic from PB to inspire me! I'd love for you to link them up at sundae scoop! iheartnaptime.blogspot.com

  14. Super cute! I've had that same pic from PB to inspire me! I'd love for you to link them up at sundae scoop! iheartnaptime.blogspot.com

  15. Super cute! I've had that same pic from PB to inspire me! I'd love for you to link them up at sundae scoop! iheartnaptime.blogspot.com

  19. Oh, my goodness… This is one of the prettiest lamp shades I have ever seen!
    I have signed up to follow!
    Thank you for sharing!
    Leticia

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