Updating a table lamp

How they look now

This past Friday, I went shopping with my best friend. We had a wonderful time as usual, and I found two of these wonderful lamps.  I fell in love with them immediately. They were a steal at $19.99 each, especially since they came with the lamp shades.  There was only one problem…

One of two lamps
How it looked when I bought it.

I didn’t like the shades. Let me be clear, the lamp shades were actually very nice lamp shades. I’d probably like them on another lamp.  They just didn’t look right on these lamps.  So I bought some different shades today.

Here’s how it looks now.

New lampshade
How it looks now with a new shade. The brass base still needed to be polished.

This shade is a much better shape and proportion for these lamps. They’re simple, but the gold color gives them a bit of glamour. This is one of the easiest ways to update a lamp that you’ve inherited or found in a thrift store. You’d be surprised what a difference a new shade makes. That ugly lamp might become your favorite…or not (depending on how ugly it is)!

I’ve updated our living room lamps several times by changing the lamp shades… That’s not completely true. I haven’t really changed the lamp shades in the living room. I actually used the same shades, but replace the fabric on them. That’s not as easy as buying new shades, but it’s a lot less expensive, plus you get custom shades!

I still need to clean up the brass bases on my new lamps and replace the felt on the bottoms, but I’m so in love with these lamps.  I just have to find the perfect place to put them.

By the way, you got a sneak peek at my one of my other projects. I painted the fireplace doors. They look so much better, but I share that with you in another post.  I’m also busy decorating for our first Christmas in our new house! I can’t wait to show you that too when I’m done!

UPDATE:  Here are the finished lamps with the brass bases all polished and the new lampshades!

How they look now
Finished! I love how they look!

What do you think?

Don’t forget to leave a comment!

 

Share this post

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments