The parts of the lamp that you will most often refer to are the Finial, Harp and Harp Bottom. The size of the Harp determines where the shade will sit on the lamp…this is very important…if the shade is too high, the socket shell and cap will show. (See diagram for terminology) However, for a unique look, you can let these “undersides” show as a decorative element…this will extend the lampshade upward allowing for a taller lamp and offering more light.
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| "Undersides" Showing |
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| "Undersides" Covered |
So, now that we have our Anatomy class done…let’s get on with the fun stuff! On my last Blog, I started talking about the possibility of turning one of your current lamp shades into something new by customizing it. I had a client recently that wanted to bring a shade of Aqua into her room… without spending too much money and wasting perfectly good accessories. One of those accessories was a lamp she really did like…it was the shade that was the problem; it was a really plain ivory fabric…not one thing interesting about it. Originally, we talked about replacing it with a lamp shade the color she was bringing into the room…that wasn’t going to work, because it was a lamp she used to read and it wouldn’t allow enough light. My next suggestion was to use the shade but update it a little. I bought some trim (or what my Dad would have called “gimp”) the shade of her new accent color. I wrapped the trim around the bottom edge of the lamp shade to determine how much I needed to cut off…and then added a couple of inches. Heat up your glue gun and very carefully (I say this…because I am notorious for burning myself with the hot glue…way, ouch!) put some hot glue on about 2 inches at a time and start wrapping the trim around the shade. About 2 inches before you get to the point of joining the two edges together, tuck in the end of the trim and glue it to itself…then finish gluing the trim around the shade; this will insure that you don’t have any raw edges showing. Because my client wanted more color…I ended up adding more of the same trim at the top. By the time I was finished it looked like a new shade!
The materials you will need are few and relatively
inexpensive:*Glue gun and glue sticks
*Trim, fabric flowers or rhinestones…whatever embellishment you want to use
*Time…an hour really should do it
I hope these pictures will inspire you to start changing the look of your home. All it takes is some imagination and you can customize your accessories to create a room… where design meets your LifeStyle. I can’t wait for you to share your creations with me.
Talk to you later...Laura