Lamp Redux

       

After                                                                                  Before

I had this lamp in my bedroom, but when I decided to be an adult and get two bedside tables, I got matching lamps for them and moved this out to the living room. It originally had a silver base but that didn't go so I spray painted it with the same black matte spray paint that I used for my mason jars.

I wasn't sure what to do with the lampshade - the blue really didn't fit with my decor, but I had no ideas for how to update it.  That is until I saw this fluer-de-lis printed burlap fabric at Joanne Fabrics. I wasn't looking for fabric for the lamp at the time, but when I saw this burlap I immediately knew I needed to find a way to incorporate it into my home.

Here's how I did it:

Step 1: Tape off where the light bulb goes and the cord so you don't spray them.  I used a plastic bag to wrap the cord instead of wrapping the whole thing in tape.

Step 2: Spray paint the base.  I actually didn't sand or prime the base because I knew I wasn't going to be touching it much, and the matte spray feels like it sticks pretty well.

 

Step 3: Make a template. I used parchment paper and rolled the lampshade across the table to trace the shade to make a template for the fabric. I traced the bottom and the top - note: a rectangular piece of fabric wont work because of the curve in the shade.

Step 4: Pin the template to the fabric.  I initially pinned it to the wrong side of the fabric, but then realized that I couldn't easily align the pattern that way.  So I pinned it to the right side (with the printing).  This is where having a transparent template really pays off because you can easily align the template on the pattern.

Step 4.5: (not pictured) Realize that because your fabric has a large pattern that can only go one way, cutting the whole template in on piece will end up with a really weird looking lamp.  Decide to do three panels.

       

Pin the template to the fabric

Align the template so the pattern looks good

Step 5: Cut the fabric around the template.  Note: you will want to leave room for errors.  I cut the template out about an inch bigger on each side and then cut the fabric out bigger than that.  I'd say I probably had about 2 extra inches, but in some places that was barely enough because of the way the pattern fell.

Step 6: Place the fabric on the shade to ensure it lines up well.  I pinned the fabric to the shade so that I could play with it until I got it to look the way I wanted.

I tried to make the pattern match up between
the panels as much as possible

         

Step 7: Glue fabric to shade. I used hot glue (be careful: it's hot!!) and used folded up parchment paper (because it wouldn't stick to the glue) to press the fabric to the shade. I glued at the top and bottom, just folding the fabric over and gluing along the inside of the shade.

Finished!

Step 8: Finishing touches.  Even after playing with the fabric for (not even kidding) hours, I still didn't love the way the pattern matched up between the panels.  So, I decided to glue jute twine along the edges to sort of buffer against any misalignment.  (Bonus: if you do something like this, you don't have to be as careful when gluing the edges together.)  Since I was going to have the twine accent running up and down the shade, I also decided to put it along the top and bottom.  I doubled the thread over to make it cover more area and be more noticeable.

**I made an extra lamp (it's actually the one pictured) and it is for sale on Etsy, check it out!**