DIY Lamp Shade Makeover

So I've had this lamp shade frame just sitting around for quite a while. I picked it up from the free pile at an estate sale early last summer. It was free because the plain Jane cover was ripped, and probably because it was ugly to begin with. Anyway, I didn't really have a plan for it, but I liked the shale and the fact that it had a sturdy wire frame. I figured an idea would come along sooner or later. Well, that idea was STRING!

First I painted the frame with a newly acquired can of Krylon Duel in Yellow. I just love that color! It's so bright, and it's the perfect pop of color for someone who prefers cool tones, like myself.


Once the paint had time to cure I started wrapping the frame with some thin crochet thread. I started by tying it to the frame and then tightly weaving it through the the panels of the frame. Just a little fair warning, you can only do this part once before there's not enough space to squeeze your ball through the panels.

While you're wrapping the frame with the string make sure to keep it nice and tight. I just used a little pressure in the form of my finger pushed against the frame with the string in the middle while I placed the next round of string.

Since I wanted my pattern to be random I would step back now and then to make sure the string and gaps were evenly spaced out. I didn't want one area to look too heavy compared to others. Once I was happy with the amount of string covering my frame I decided to add a little starch to keep things in place. I took a little bit of Stiffy Fabric Stiffener and diluted it with a little bit of water. Sorry, but I don't have a ratio for you, because I just kept testing it until it would spray out of this empty product bottle. I wasn't looking for a fine mist (I think that would be way too watered down) but I also didn't want a solid stream. Knowing that spraying starch would be messy I thought of a perfect way to contain the mess. I went to the bathroom, turned on the shower, and sprayed my new shade so that any over spray would be rinsed away immediately.

I let the starch dry for about a day before I hung it up. I used one of those little hanging light kits that I've had laying around forever and took the socket off so I could run the wire through the little hole on my lamp shade. It's pretty easy to do yourself, but you can also find videos on YouTube if you need help. With the flip of a switch it casts the craziest shadows on the walls.

And some with the light off.

I love it! Do you have any lamp shade frames waiting for inspiration to strike? Have you come up with an unconventional method to update a lamp shade? What kind of things have you found in the free section of estate sales?

P.S. we've got some exciting projects in the works, like adding an awesome dry bar to our living room, and finally getting around to doing something with our loft/office upstairs so stay tuned for more about that.
P.P.S. If you like DIY lighting check out my DIY chandelier and DIY pendant light.