Sunday, January 09, 2011

An Easy Shabby Pendant Lamp Idea

It has been ages since I've decorated anything. I am slowing down a little this month and focusing on organizing and such. I wanted to share with you an easy project I did today. The supplies involved are fairly simple:

*a thrifted  lamp (mine costs about 6.00)
*cheap lamp shade (old or new) (a little too large or too small is fine)
*bunches of old lace, vintage hankies, silk flowers
or anything that you fancy
*hot glue gun
*ceiling hook
*extension cord

Ok, so to make the pendant lamp just really entails using bunches of fabric (I used lace) to cover the shade enough to make it kinda flouncy. I began by loosely hot gluing some old lace around the bottom. I used the "cool melt" kind of glue so I didn't burn the skin off of my fingers! I just gathered the lace, added a blob of glue and pressed the lace into the glue. It kind of squishes into the lace layers and holds it where you press it down.
I began with a layer draped around the bottom, then added two more layers. No need for perfection. I wanted it to be kind of haphazard and messy.
Once the shade was covered, I added it upside-down on to the inverted vintage glass lamp base and hung it from the ceiling. I covered the cord loosely with a long length of vintage lace and puddled it a little into the open lamp base. The lamp then plugs into an extension cord. The joined ends are perfectly hidden in the fluffs of lace, so it just looks like one continuous cord.. Anchor the lamp cord to the ceiling hook by just looping it back over itself a couple of times and adding a tie. I found a low wattage bulb is best. I put a 60 watt in for this photo and it got a little too hot.

A mishap with the old plaster walls while attempting to tear down some tacky plastic paneling (glued and nailed to the plaster walls!) became a welcome bit of shabby chic-ness that my husband and I both like a lot. We decided to leave the rest of the walls alone and cover them with antique sheet music and book pages. It is still a work in progress...I'll post that project next week.
If you decide to try this lamp project, I'd love to see your creations!
Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today.

5 comments:

  1. Very beautiful! I love the walls too. :-)

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  2. This is an adorable idea! I love your creativity :) The sheet music on the walls is dreamy-what a perfect place to hang out!

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  3. Good Idea! Very beautiful...

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  4. What imagination! What creativity!! What FUN!!!

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  5. OMG. I love your shabby wall. Can I move in? haha. I love your house! I adore this project... I can't wait to see more of the sheet music wall.

    xo

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