Beautiful Lampshades

It's entirely possible I have a slight addiction to lamps....which ties right into my love of lampshades!  A quick and easy way to dress up nearly any lampshade is ribbon!  My personal favorites are grosgrain ribbon and twill tape, both of which are very inexpensive and fairly easy to find.  Grosgrain is fantastic because it comes in tons of colors!  While twill tape doesn't have quite the range of colors available, it does has a little more stretch which is better suited for rounder shades.

Grosgrain in action!

Sometimes a shade in a color other than plain white is just the ticket.  The shade on the right below is the shade that was sold with this lamp.  Not to mention the original shades proportion problems, I love the way the tan pleated shade transforms this lamp!

After                                                                                                  Before

Probably my favorite custom lampshades are those using patterned fabric.  In our bedroom I had purchased swing arm lamps that came with a standard white pleated shade.  The white felt pretty stark to me and I was looking for another surface in the room to repeat this blue stripe pattern from Carleton V.  The lampshades seemed to be a great place to accomplish that!

I started inspecting the construction of the shade a bit and decided to go for it!

I'm obsessed with the way they turned out!! There is something about patterned lampshades that adds just a little extra punch!  I've done this a few times now...and good news....it's such an easy and inexpensive diy project!!  Even for a pleated shade, if you can measure, fold, and glue you're in business!

The shades on the lamps flanking the sofa in the living room are really begging for some love, so there may even be a tutorial in the future.  :)

Are you inspired to go embellish all your lampshades?!?!  ;-)

Happy Tuesday!

xo,