Friday, October 7, 2011

Yay for Fall!!!

I can not tell you enough how glad I am that fall is here.  It’s so nice to be able to spend some time outside, and my need to express my creativity has kicked into full gear. It’s so nice to be able to say that I’ve actually finished a few projects lately, and started a few more:/

For example, this is the latest one I’ve picked up.

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I got it for next to nothing, so if I don’t decide to keep it I can sell it and probably still make money on it.  This one is going to take a while though. I’ve cleaned the outside up a little, but the inside needs some serious cleaning and repainting (just the drawers, not the oven) and there are few knobs missing that I will need to find replacements for, but I think she’s pretty cute.

Now, a couple of weeks ago, me and my mom made it to the half-off Goodwill day where I found me another project.

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A super cute Midcentury lamp with a terrible lamp shade.

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It’s not the style I like at all, and it’s covered in dust and grime. YUCK! But, I decided to not throw it away because it wasn’t bent at all and I though maybe, just maybe I could recover it for something else. You see, I didn’t want it on my cool lamp because it was just too big. It covered up a good portion of the lamp itself. So, I kindly set it in my garage as another something I would eventually get to.

Until this morning! I took the boys for walk around the block this morning and there happened to be a garage sale around the corner. WHAT a coincidence! Anyway, they had a lamp shade for sale, it wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but it might work I thought. So, I asked, “How much for the lamp shade?…..$5.00” she said back. Now, I have become increasingly cheap I suppose, because I thought that sounded to high. Maybe if it had been the perfect shade, but it wasn’t. So, as I walked back home it dawned on me that I could possibly turn my old ugly shade into something much more to my liking.

I have been eyeing the super cool retro fiberglass shades for sometime. Something like this one,

or this one.

They are just so fun, especially the ones with patterns on them.

So, now I’m going to show you how to (sorta) make your own midcentury lamp shade.

I would imagine that there are many ways to achieve these sort of looks with different types of shades, but here’s how I did it.

I started with this:

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Your grandma’s tall tapering, outdated, lampshade. Then I tore off all the stained fabric.

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Aww, it’s already looking better. Now, you will find that throughout this project my perfectionism slowing declined. It’s a good thing that this was a free project. So, then the next step is to figure out where you going o cut you shade, because once you start you have to commit.

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I cut mine pretty much in half. Then you have to trace out the shape of your shade on your fabric. You can do that by tracing on the fabric as you roll your shade on it.  I chose to use just a plain linen fabric because of where it is going, but it would be so cool to do in a printed or a couple of different coordinating fabrics. I chose some super old, brown ribbon that was in a bag of stuff from my great grandmothers sewing stuff.  Once you get your fabric cut out, you have to figure out how your going to make it stick to your shade. Might I suggest not to use hot glue until you get to the ends, because if you don’t line you fabric up right as your going around the shade, you will seriously mess up you shade trying to get it off again. I opted to use some watered down Elmer’s. It worked just fine. So, you brush on some glue and start sticking pressing out all wrinkles as you go.

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When you get to the end, just fold it over and hot glue down.

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You can tell that I’m starting to care less. Anyway, now it’s time to start gluing on you edges. I used the linen on the top edge and my ribbon on the bottom edge of this one. I just used hot glue to glue the ribbon on around the edge of the shade. Easy.

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So, now I’m going to fast forward to assembly of shade pieces, because I pretty much did the same things for the other shade.

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This pict is of my shades upside down. This looks strange, but it will make more since in a bit. I basically took my smaller shade and turned it upside down and sat it in the bigger shade, and then flipped them both upside down so that I could secure them together with some other old ribbon. I’m starting to care even less, and I’m just trying to finish because my 2 yr. old is beginning to require more of my time. So, after I get it all glued together and run through the house trying to find an extension cord so I can test on my lamp, the glue has set, so I can flip it right side up and hang it on my lovely lamp. And then it’s like something out of “A Christmas Story” when the leg lamp lights up and you just stand back and admire your work….

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Oh, isn’t it the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen? My lamp is so much prettier now, but keep your distance. The closer you get the more you begin to notice my hurried work. She needs to be admired from across the room.

Oh, I almost forgot, I actually have been trying to get some “Fall” in my house. I found a cute pillow friend kit at Joann's last week and couldn’t resist. I must admit, I’m on the owl bandwagon and I can’t help it.

Isn’t he cute?

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Happy Fall Ya’ll!