Lamp Re-Vamp

As previously stated, I've been meaning to do this for a very long time. I love this old lamp shade. It's of a perfect barrel roundness, has great height and width, and diffuses a soft, glowing light. I once covered it in an adorable, shabby chic, delightfully frumpy floral fabric 3 years ago. With this being our third move, I've redecorated in a completely different way than ever before, trying to incorporate more masculine touches in with my love of feminine and antique. Sadly, I realized it was finally time for the shade to get a face-lift.

{my glorious old lamp shade}

What you'll need:
Lamp shade
Template (I got my quatrefoil one here)
Clear packing tape
Scissors
Paint: acrylic, fabric, or even craft paint
Sponge brush
Slightly firm paint brush (for touch-ups)

I'm slightly obsessed with quatrefoil patterns right now, so I searched about online and found a template. With a copy machine, I blew it up to a size relative to my shade (large-ish), then like that one time I made these, I covered both sides of the paper with clear packing tape and cut out the four-petaled design.

{getting everything ready; I thought to use contact paper, but I get angry at contact paper}

I then secured the template to the shade with tape (making sure the tape wouldn't block where I wanted any paint to go) and set my fingers to mixing up a lovely shade of red acrylic paint. I used acrylic paint because it's what I had around, but fabric or craft paint would work equally well. I sponged on the first layer, then removed all the templates and did a second layer and touch-ups with a brush. And....voila! A brand new (looking) lamp shade that bridges feminine and masculine design.


Added bonus: the soft, reddish-hued light now gives us a little bit of that cozy, romantic, "La vie en rose."