Skip to main content

Covering an old lampshade with lace...

We have a lovely area under our pergola that we use a lot in the summer, especially in the evenings when everyone is home. I have had various light shades in there and the weather eventually gets to them all. So this incarnation is probably another quick fix - which works for me as I can keep changing things around - just because its fun to do!

I found this lampshade at the local op shop for a couple of dollars and was originally going to strip it all off and used a strip of a lacy table cloth that a neighbour gave me to cover it. At the last minute I decided to leave it on and cover the shade with the lace...

Here's what I did...


My $3 lampshade sitting on my craft space awaiting its make over.


Its not in A1 condition but since I'm going to cover the shade and you wont see a lot of the creases, it wont matter. I put a bead of good craft glue around the top of the shade.


laid the lace over the top and pegged it on.


I folded the lace up so that it could hand loosely over the edge of the lamp and to take the excess in at the top.


I popped the pegs all around the top until the glue had dried.



A bit of glue on the inside of the lamp helped as well


And then I simply hung it up under the pergola on the light bulb that was already there!



I think it looks great!
I'm now thinking of making another one with old doilies overlapping each other...

I could have sewed the lace shut at the bottom where is overhangs the shade but basically I was so excited to put it up that I didn't bother. I think it would look good to cover one of those rice paper lampshades with paper doilies or even to strip this one of its shade and use paper or cotton doilies to recover it. In my case, I know the weather will get to it so I shall enjoy it and then look forward to a new creation in its place in due course!

Score card: 
Green-ness: Using old throw out-able things to make some thing new is very green!
Frugal-ness: Only spending $2 is very frugal!
Time cost: About 15 minutes including waiting for the glue (to mostly) dry!
Skill level: Super easy!
Fun-ness: Excellent fun!

Comments

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Popular posts from this blog

What to do when your cat attacks a bird... and doesn't kill it.

We have an eight year old cat who we got as a stray about six years ago. The vet reckoned she was about two when we got her and we did all the right things and got her spayed and vaccinated and all that stuff. She loves people and no matter where you are in the house or garden, she will not be far away. She really good with kids and will put up with the squishiest cuddles and a far bit of toddler tail fascination before bolting out the door to escape. She is well fed (despite the look she is giving me and the empty bowl below...) but not fat - but still the  urge to hunt and subsequently kill still seems to be quite strong. Last weekend, she pounced out of nowhere on a rainbow lorrikeet - thankfully my husband and a band of teenage boys were also there and managed to grab the bird before the cat had done more than pounce. Now we have a slightly mangled still alive but obviously unwell bird on our hands - what do you do? Here's what we did... We found a box - popped an old

Easy to make fabric covers for milk crates!

Like most households, milk crates appear in and about our house as they are the right size to sit on, strong enough to stand on and the right shape to store things in. They are usually free or picked up for a dollar or two at garage sales or at dump/tip shops. They come in red and blue in our area (depending on weather they are originally from Paul's or Dairy Farmers!) and that simply doesn't go with my outdoor decor - neither does the plastic look but that's another issue. Something had to be done. I decided to cover them with material that fitted in with the rest of our current outdoor setting - A quick look on the Internet for inspiration and confidence and... The finished product being modelled by the cat! Here's what I did... I started with the standard Brissy Blue and Red Milk Crates... Then I bought a sheet and a couple of pillow cases from the local Footprints Op Shop This is less a pattern and more a method to follow - Cut the sheet i

Killing cockroaches with boric acid v borax!

We live in Queensland. We have cockroaches. Lots of cockroaches! Why the NSW rugby team is called the Cockroaches is a mystery to me - surely ours are not only bigger but more plentiful??? At any rate, I don't like living with them (and I'm quite sure they  are not so fond of me at the moment!!) and I have been going through the usual gauntlet of sprays, solutions and bombs to get rid of them... But I'm not so keen on the chemical aspect of all this spraying and bombing. I hate the smell and can almost feel disease and cancer growing in me every time I spray. I'm OK with the resident cockies getting a lungful of chemicals and then keeling over but I feel its impolite (and probably illegal) if my guests and family members do the same thing!!! We went through a faze of killing them by hand (and flyswatter and rolled up newspaper and underfoot) but its hard and frustrating work and it probably was only culling the dumb and slow ones - leaving the smart fast ones to bre