I absolutely love customising lampshades, I always keep an eye out for old ones in charity shops then rip off the material and just keep the frame. Once you’ve got the frame you can really do anything with it, so many options!
I personally love to crochet them, the first one I made was with brightly coloured yarn, I made it years ago and it’s still hanging up on our landing.
My most recent crocheted lampshade was a bit more subtle as I’m not quite as into bright colours these days!
I’m currently working on this weaved lampshade for Cherry’s room which is fun. It’s using fluffy yarn and although it takes a long time it’s much quicker than crocheting!
We are also going to thread some beads onto strings of yarn and tie them round the outside so they dangle down.
There are also lots of other ideas though on how to customise your own lampshade. Here are some of my favourite ideas..
This is a tutorial for a paper lampshade covered in feathers. Fun!
This bird cage inspired wire lampshade is super cute.
This tutorial shows you how to make your own origami lampshade.
With this rope tutorial you don’t even need to take the fabric off, you can just use any existing lampshade.
This one uses old strips of material which looks really simple and you could use any fabric you liked to give it a really personal touch, you can have it match the décor in the room easily too.
This would be a fun idea at Xmas, maybe not to have as a lampshade though because of the fire hazard, you could hang a flameless candle in the middle instead.
I love this one, it’s really simple but fun with the pom poms.
This bead chandelier also looks fun, you could use all different coloured beads.
This is another pom pom chandelier, it looks fab!
This fringe tassel chandelier is super fun! I love it and might have to give this a go myself.
Obviously when you’ve finished your lampshade it might be a good idea to spray it with fire retardant as it could be a hazard when you have yarn or other types of material near to the lightbulb. Energy saving lightbulbs can be a lifesaver too, you can check some of them out here. You can experiment with lightbulbs of different brightness to see which best suits your new lampshade, with our crocheted ones the light shines out of the gaps which makes patterns on the wall and looks really pretty. If you used glittery yarn then it would shine with the light shining on it making it fun for a kids room.
I have so many ideas now and want to make them all! Unfortunately I don’t have enough rooms in my house to hang them all up though, in fact I only have 2 more rooms that need lampshades so I am going to have a hard time picking my favourites!
What is your favourite?
‘Post in collaboration with Urban Cottage Industries’