Desk Lamp Makeover

Happy Hump Day! It’s Wednesday once again, friends. What are you up to? It’s always a busy day at Sooter Cottage!

An exciting part of news: I decided to put in my two weeks notice at the library, so after next Wednesday, I will be able to devote a ton more time to Dwell Beautiful! I’m SO excited to be making this change. It was hard to make the decision to leave the library, but this blog is my baby, my dream, and I’m going to do what it takes to share tons of great projects, crafts, makeovers, and more with you! I’m so glad to have you on this journey with me 🙂

Considering I’m going to be spending a lot more time at my desk, I thought I would update my tired Target lamp from college and make it a little more chic to fit my new style. Let’s get started!

Lamp Makeover Materials

– Old lamp

– Fabric of your choosing (I used painted burlap from Joann’s!)

– Pen

– Glue gun

– Scissors

– Embroidery Floss in your color of choice (I just chose an off-white floss from Michaels!)

Step 1

If necessary, remove the light bulb in your lamp so you can remove the shade. Lay the lampshade on top of your chosen fabric. To ensure you get the right amount of fabric you need, follow these guidelines:

1. make sure there is a couple of inches of fabric at the top of your lampshade and at the bottom.

2. Pick a starting point on your lampshade (I just used the natural pre-existing seam) and then carefully roll your shade across the fabric until you reach the same point again. Add an extra inch for safety and mark with a pen like so:

Step 2

Take those scissors and cut a nice line over the mark you made. If you don’t feel confident in cutting a straight line, feel free to extend your original mark up by using a rule and a pen! I just free-handed. It doesn’t have to be perfect perfect! 😉

*Side Note*

Once I cut my fabric, I layed on top of my lampshade to see how it would look. And ack! The previous pattern was visible because the burlap is so sheer.

Boo! Enter spray paint to the rescue! I just brought the shade to the garage and gave it a few quick coats of white primer/paint spray. Boom! Problem solved.

Step 3

Set your lampshade on top of your fabric like you did at the beginning. Take your trusty glue and start gluing the fabric down to the inside of your shade! Luckily my fabric had a nice crease from being folded so I just used that as a guide, keeping the crease on the edge of the lampshade and then folded up the rest of the fabric and attached it to the shade with thin strips of hot glue. Feel free to take breaks to check your progress and ensure that your fabric is going on taut and straight! If you run into any hardware on the original lamp, simply take your scissors and put a snip in the fabric, and glue around any obstacles, like so:

When you finish it should look something like this!

Step 4

Next, take the tutorial from my Tassel Garland and make as many tassels as you think you’ll need to go around the edge of your lampshade! I now realize that these tassels look like tiny fluffy tampons… sorry guys. Awkward. I hope we can still be friends.

Step 5

This next step is easiest if you reattach the lampshade to the base. Take your hot glue gun again and put a little dab on the top of each tassel and gently press it to the edge of the shade. Eyeball or measure the distance between each tassel and go all the way round until you get to the beginning again!

And here is the end result of my lamp makeover!

I adore how it turned out! I did like the previous pattern, but I thought I would give it a little makeover to make it fit my current style. I love how the gold chevron adds sophistication while the white tassels keep it playful! I think it fits quite nicely on my desk, don’t you?

Little Wall-E and Eve usually sit on the lamp so I decided to re-install them to their usual home 🙂

What do you think of my little lamp? Do you love the tassels or do you still think they look like mini tampons? 😉