Creative Ideas For Customizing Lampshades from: No Rules—Just Fun Decorating

Lampshades come in hundreds of different shapes and sizes. You can buy inexpensive, plain shades at home improvement stores or discount stores and customize them for your décor. You can also refurbish shades you already own or have purchased second-hand.

Try some of the following ideas to customize your shades:

· Smooth lampshades can be painted with a sponge brush and acrylic paints or spray painted.

· Glue paper print cutouts or copies of photos onto the shade using a decoupage medium found at craft stores. (See photo at right)

· Use stencils or rubber stamps and acrylic paint to decorate a smooth shade.

· Glue on colorful buttons, crocheted doilies or ribbon roses for a feminine touch.

· Cover the entire shade by gluing on silk flowers.

· Glue ribbon, rickrack, braided trims, tassel trim or beaded trim to the top and/or bottom edges of your shade.

· Add a gathered skirt of fabric or lace over a shade, as shown in the photo at right. This shade cover was made using two Battenburg lace table runners. Use 1/4” wide satin ribbon and thread it through the holes of the lace at the top edge of the table runners. Gather the runner on the ribbon to fit the top edge of the lampshade. Tie the ribbon ends into a bow at the front of the shade. Trim the ends of the ribbon as needed. Glue artificial flowers over bow if you like.

No Rules—Just Fun Decorating by Gloria Hander Lyons 

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