Details, Details... Embellished Lampshades

It's all about the details. 

At least that's what it's about in Home Decor.

So, a few months ago, I scored some lamps on the cheap at the GW, but I needed to find some nice lampshades that matched my room. Not an easy feat! Tan would have blended in to the background, and cream or white would have been too bright. 

I decided to look for some nice black shades. 

Um... NOT an easy find, in the size that I needed! I did manage to finally unearth a pair at World Market, but they were very plain, and the inside was silver, which was cool, but not right for my room, so I knew I would have to change that. I bought them knowing that I would alter them to work for me.

Last night I finally got around to the last step. I embellished them with a little fancy trim I bought at the fabric store. Prior to that, I mixed a metallic paint, and painted the insides of both shades. 

Here's how they came out...

 I chose to put the trim a few inches up from the bottom of the shade. It just looked more interesting to me.

 This is the lamp on my side of the bed.

 And this is the one on Mr W's side. He actually said he liked the way they turned out. Not too girly, or like my friend Kariann at Thistlewood, not too "freshy".  ;-)

Step one of the lampshade transformation was to paint the insides of both. They were a pretty silver paper, but it just stood out too much in my room.

This was taken just before I devised a ridiculously easy solution for making my lampshades sit higher on the lamp. See how they are too low, and the lightbulb shows from the top? Lean how I fixed that here.

So I gave the shades a quick coat of metallic paint with a sponge brush. I made my own mixture, and it was pretty close to what I used to paint the lamp bases. I had originally intended for them to be a lighter shade of gold, but I added too much black. C'est la vie! They're fine! 

 Isn't that textured paper pretty? A little girly, but the black balances is out enough so it's not off putting for my husband.

Here's the trim I picked up. I think it was from the Christopher Lowell line, and I wound up paying under $8 for 3 yds. Not bad for the impact it gives!

I just measured how far up I wanted my trim to go, using a ruler, and made little hash marks with chalk all the way around the shade. This gave me a guide line while I was hot gluing the trim on.

Easy peasy! I think it took under 5 minutes per shade! Not even kidding! 

I love a quick project. 

So here is what the lamps and shades looked like before I altered them at all. (Even prior to painted the lamp bases.)

And here they are now...

I think it gave them a little lift. It's all in the details, right?

Have you done any fun projects to enhance something plain lately? 

What little details have you added to your space? I'd love to hear about them!

Hope you have a GREAT day! 

xo

-Lisa

I am linking up to the following...

BNOTP Metamorphosis Monday