Modernizing a Vintage Lamp

Do you remember this lamp I found last year at a yardsale for $5?? Well, it's been sitting around, waiting for me to get inspired to do something with it. And finally this week, the inspiration hit and I went with it. I have no idea what the age of this lamp is, I would say probably the 50's or 60's? Anyone want to guess? As much as I like drum shades, this one was a little TOO large, so I knew I needed to find something a little more proportional to the lamp, something just a little smaller.

So off to the Junk Store I told you about last summer. Remember that place? It's a treasure trove of old and dated things, but I remembered seeing lots of vintage style lampshades in there, so maybe I'd get lucky and find one. I did, this one was $2. I knew I'd recover it anyway, so I was only looking at size and something sturdy. This one had seen better days. The metal frame was half showing around the top where the old paper had given way. I ended up having to take the frame out anyway and bend it to where I needed it to be. It sat way too low down in the shade to work with my lamp.
So, I took it out, bent the arms until I had the circle sitting just where it needed to be to hit the lamp in the right spot. I wasn't sure how this little trick would work, but I figured for $2, I wouldn't be out much and it was worth a shot. Luckily, it worked! I ripped all the old binding seam off from the top and bottom, so I'd have a smooth shade to work with. The frame fit back in there tightly and I knew it would be fine as I added my new fabric on there. The only caution on bending a frame like this, it can start to lose it's round shape, so I had to work with this one a little to make sure it was still round & would fit back inside the shade. Then I went out to Hancock Fabrics to see what inspiration would hit me. I have long been attracted to these newly inspired damask fabrics that have been out the last few years and really wanted to use one somewhere, maybe a pillow or another spot. So, this was the perfect time to go for it, a lampshade was a great place to highlight this fabric. They even had a 40% off sale when I went, so got the fabric and trim on sale. You know how I like those sales! Fabric and trim cost $12 total. This fabric is so neat, it's a pretty oatmeal colored linen with black flocked damask pattern on it. Really perfect for covering an old lampshade, because it's thick enough to lay smooth and hide any imperfections. Easy to work with.

Got out my 3M spray adhesive. This stuff works great. I took the shade outside and sprayed it heavily with the adhesive, so the whole shade was sticky and ready for the fabric. I only got 1/2 yard of fabric for this project and it was plenty enough to tuck under and over on the top and bottom of the shade. Remember my shade tutorial awhile back? I laid the shade down about an inch and 1/2 down from the top of the fabric. You have to allow for the shade to roll across the fabric. It will go somewhat at an angle and that's what you want for the fabric to lay smoothly on the shade. Even though this is a drum shaped shade, there is still a curve to it when I laid it down on the fabric. So, you allow for this curve as you are rolling the shade down the fabric to have it join on the backside. This is where your fabric seam will go. You can see there is about 1 1/2 to 2" on each end of the fabric to tuck under. I did iron the seams on both sides so that it will lay flat when glued down.
Now, I did get out my glue gun too and used it to hold down the fabric as I tucked in under on the top and bottom of the shade. It dries fast and really holds it in place. Used a little from the glue gun too on the back seams to keep them flat. Finally, I was ready for the trim to go on the top and bottom of the shade. This gives it a great finished look. I used my Fabri-Tac fabric glue on this. It's also a great glue to use for a project like this.
Ta-da!! Here's the finished lamp! I am SO proud of it. I think it looks like a million bucks now. Total cost = $19! You just can't beat that for a trash to treasure look.
I absolutely love this fabric. It's a perfect punch as you come in our frontdoor to draw the eye in.

Here's the base of the lamp, crystal on a black marble base. It's heavy and quite a substantial lamp.
Lampshade closer.

(1st pic, without flash, 2nd with flash)

Hope y'all will be inspired to try something like this too. You never know when that next vintage find will come along. Don't be too quick to pass it over. Think about the possibilities and what you can do to make it personalized for YOUR home!

On another note, my digital camera has decided to die on me, the flash has quit working, so I have just ordered a new Canon online. Can't wait to get it & look forward to playing around with some new pics. It's got a few more bells & whistles than my old one, so I should have some fun with it.

Lampshades & Painting: 101

Several of you asked about learning how to cover a lampshade, so here's a quick little tutorial on how I did mine. It's really pretty easy, not rocket science by any means. Above you'll see the toile shade & the seam where it came together in the back. This seam can be folded under and using fabric glue, pressed into place. The seam will then be at the back of the lamp. On this shade I cut the fabric to go just around the top & bottom of the lampshade & then covered the raw edges with trim on top & bottom.
Here's a square shade I covered in our master bedroom. Same method, seam to the corner & folded under & glued down with fabric glue. I'll go through all the steps below. If you are adding trim, you don't have to be as careful, as the trim will hide a lot of little mistakes. You can see with a check like this, your seams will not match up in the back, but it will look fine from the front. On this shade, I cut the fabric a little bigger than the shade & wrapped it inside & glued down. Again, covered with trim at the bottom & none at the top. You can really do whatever you'd like, trim or no trim.

Silk one finished. You can see just a little bit of wrinkling. If you put enough spray adhesive, it should smooth most of the wrinkles out. Not a big deal. See, the checks look good here from the frontside, which is the side you are most concerned about.
Underneath the lampshade, you can see where I turned the edges under & glued them down.
OK, let's get started! First, you'll need some sort of paper to make a pattern with. Tissue paper is fine, craft paper, anything big enough to hold your lampshade completely. Make sure your paper is big enough (tape pieces together if necessary) that when you place the lampshade on it & roll it completely around the diameter (staying flat on the surface as you're rolling), that you'll have enough paper to complete the circle. Make sense?? Then, you'll place the shade down & either cut it exactly to fit your shade or make it a bit bigger to overlap...either way works, again depending on if trim is being used. Trace your pattern (top & bottom of shade) as you are rolling the lampshade all the way around, making sure to meet where you started from & make the pattern big enough that you can trim any excess. You don't want to skimp & end up cutting your fabric too short.
Your shade will roll all the way across the paper as you are tracing the pattern. Once you complete rolling the lampshade,it will look like a circle.
And your pattern should end up looking something like this, only twice this size. I didn't use a large piece & the pattern should end up looking like a circle with a hole in the middle. Next, you'll put the pattern on your fabric & cut the shape out. If you have a patterned fabric, it won't match up at all, but something without a pattern will be fine. I just don't worry about the matching part (like the toile or check) & put that to the back of the shade where it won't be seen.

Now, you're ready to use the spray adhesive (pictured below). This works great for keeping fabric in place & you can still move things around with no problem. Just spray the shade really well with the spray adhesive (might want to go outside for this). Place the fabric in place and start smoothing it out. If it wrinkles, work the wrinkles out and keep moving all around the shade until it's in place. It takes a little bit of work, but you can pull it off & keep working it if you need to. After you get it all smoothed out, then go back with scissors & start trimming the edges. Again, make it even with the lampshade top & bottom OR overlap and glue down from the inside. Trim it out with some trim & fabric glue (pictured below) and you've got a whole new look for an old lampshade. These shades I used were flat fabric or those paper shades you see around. Those work really well for adding fabric if they are flat to begin with.

Here's my bunny lamp again. See how I added fabric from my window treatment & added some special trim to it. A designer look for a fraction of the cost!
Kitchen Window Treatment

Fabri-Tac fabric glue (great stuff, JoAnn's has it!), Spray adhesive, & Sophisticated Finishes Blackened Bronze which I'm about to tell you about. This is great stuff too!
Someone asked about painting shiny brass. YES! It can be painted very easily. Here's one of the light fixtures that was in our house when we moved in...they were all shiny brass. I'm in the process of changing them out to bronze. Some of them I've found already bronze at yardsales & have picked those up for cheap & others, I've painted with craft paint or the above product, Sophisticated Finishes. Either way works well. This particular fixture was shiny brass & I used satin black spray paint, then added bronze over the top with bronze craft paint, mixed with another rusty color called Burnt Sienna. You just spray the whole thing black, let dry, then daub on the craft paint with a damp sponge until you get the bronze look you want. Very easy project! I have changed so many things over the years from shiny brass to black or bronze. Edited to add: If the brass is something that you will be touching, then use a spray primer on it before you spray it black & do the bronze finish on it. Things hold up really well if you don't touch them, but items that are handled are subject to chip (like door knobs). So the primer will help it stick better.

Like this bunny! Remember, I found this at a yardsale & it's shiny brass.

No more! I used the Sophisticated Finishes Blackened Bronze on this one. I wouldn't totally recommend using this on shiny brass for a big thing, like a light fixture. The spray paint method above works best for larger items. SF works great on smaller things. You can find Sophisticated Finishes at Michaels & I'm not sure where else. I had to buy a craft kit (with 2 other colors) to find the color I wanted, but they do carry larger bottles of other colors. I love this Blackened Bronze!

This is the old ceiling fan from my old house in GA. It too was shiny brass & white. I used the spray paint method above for this too. Took the whole fan down, painted it all & hung it back up. You know the old fan I'm talking about...shiny brass & white, which is all over the place still! It really made a huge difference in this old thing. Changed out the glass globes to the pretty alabaster-type ones too & that always looks better.

Here's another lamp before & after. This one's in my foyer & as you can see above it was a bright gold. I used Sophisticated Finishes in Blackened Bronze on this too. It wasn't brass, but some sort of resin material, so the SF sticks to it very well. Looks much better, don't you think?

So, that's my quick little tutorial on lampshades & painting things! It's a great way to update some old things you have laying around the house. Start looking around & you will probably have something you can paint. I do it all the time! Picture frames, lamps, anything brass or gold can be painted to whatever you want it to be. It's such a frugal money saver & a great way to get a new look!

Paint it or cover it!

*****************************************************

Andrea at SouthernHeart tagged me for some Southern Thangs, so I'm gonna add my list here. Some of these may have been covered. I got a little help with these, but they are oh, so true!

In the South:

1. A true Southerner makes friends standing in line. We don't do "queues", we do "lines". And when we're in line, we talk to everybody.
   
2. A true Southerner never goes snipe hunting twice. (I really did have this done to me growing up, anyone else?!)
   
3. A true Atlanta Southerner knows that all directions start with "Go down Peachtree" & includes the phrase "when you see the Waffle House" & when you're in Cobb County, all directions begin with "go to the Big Chicken". (this one is totally true...see pic below!)
   
4. The North has double last names, the South has double first names.
   
5. You may hear a Southerner say "ought" to a dog or a child. This is short for "y'all ought not do that" and is the equivalent of saying "No!"
   
6. If there is the prediction of even the slightest chance of snow, we must go to the grocery store. It doesn't matter if we need anything or not, we just have to go and pick up bread & milk.
   
7. It is not a shopping cart, it is a buggy.
   
8. "Jeet" is actually a phrase meaning, "Did you eat?" (a personal favorite of my hubby, LOL!)

I should have just included this pic of the Big Chicken in my post originally (See #3)! You really have to get a visual of it to really appreciate the magnitude of this thing. I grew up a few miles from the Big Chicken, so it's always been a part of my life. This landmark started back in the 60's as a chicken restaurant, which eventually went out of business & was sold to KFC in 1974. They kept it as is & it was finally renovated in 1996, with the help of Pepsi. Back in the early 90's, there was talk of tearing down the Big Chicken & those of us who grew up with it launched a campaign to save it & we won! There was actually voting, help from polticians, the whole nine yards, but we who have a soft spot for the Big Chicken prevailed & here she stands to this day!

Hope you had a good laugh! We are pretty predictable down here in the South!