Arabian Lampshade & Bedroom Console {Before & After}

January 30, 2013

I hate to brag, but I have some amazing vintage lamps. These Arabian Night bad boys were gifted to me by my husband during our first Christmas together.


Believe it or not, he bought the lamps sans shades and discovered the fringed, red velvet ones on a separate shopping trip. Yep, I married a shopper. Pros: Just drop him off at the combo TJ Maxx/Home Goods and he’s entertained for hours. Cons: Actually....no cons whatsoever.

For years, lamp and shade worked perfectly together--- but lately everything in my apartment seems so red/orange/brown. 



Yuck! Looks awful.
Honestly, this console hasn't changed since we moved in.
It's a catchall for random objects and iced tea glasses.

So I went shopping...
And had the darndest time finding new shades to do this pair justice.
A modern, Target drum shade wasn’t doing the trick.
So when I ran across a pair of cream, plain vintage shades for only $.99 at the thrift store, I figured it’s now or never.


Ta da!!




The lampshades were originally a horrible cream color. And since I wanted to drastically brighten up the room, I decided to paint black and white circus stripes.

Here's how I did it.




The shade's interior gave off quite a yellow hue-- which felt dark and dirty. 
Priority #1 was getting a bright glow. 
So I lightly watered down some Behr primer before brushing about 6 coats on the interior and exterior.

After all was dry, I measured and taped off the stripes.
Ok, let's be honest, I didn't spend that much time measuring.

I suppose if you wanted to get the job done right, you would measure the circumference and divide it by pi or something. But I'm an impatient crafter, so it seems.



Then I added some fringe. Originally I was going to do black ball fringe, but it really made my guys look straight out of crazy town. So I used a simple black braided trim (and some chip clips!) which worked fine.

I’m really happy how these turned out!
The colors tie our random furniture together and keep the room from looking so heavy.




Will I keep these shades forever? Nah.
But they’ll tie me over until I get lucky at HomeGoods.

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment! I´ll repay the visit in kind! xoxojess