✥ Finished Crate & Barrel Knock Off Lamps ✥

The other day I recovered that melted lampshade with burlap which gave the shade {and the lamp} a whole new life. This project was similar, but with a few tweaks due to the fabric chosen. NowI'm recovering lamp shades for the Crate & Barrel Mercury Glass knock off I did. If you remember back, I got one Restoration Hardware shade from Saver's Thrift Store for $3, and then bought another with the same shape and size from WalMart for 10 bucks. So now I'm in 13 bucks for two shades. I've been looking for grey fabric for month and a half and finally found some I liked for $1.50 a yard. Well worth the wait!

▷ I used about 1/2 a yard of fabric per lamp shade- but when you buy your fabric you should allow for 3/4-1 yard of fabric each.
▷The only difference between covering this lamp shade with a light cotton fabric and covering the last one with burlap -  you MUST iron your fabric.  You should iron all of the fabric, but especially the seam where the fabric will overlap. This is super important if you want your lampshade to look store bought. At the seam, fold a flap of fabric between 1/4"-1/2"wide inwards, making sure it's straight, and iron that seam well.

▷Lay the fabric on a smooth surface and spray the side fabric that will be against the shade with a light coat of spray adhesive.
▷Begin rolling the shade onto the fabric and adhesive, pressing the fabric firmly against the shade and smoothing any wrinkles as you go.

 

▷You can use glue or the peel and stick "Stitch Witchery" to hold the fabric in place, rather than a glue gun (like with the burlap shade I recovered.) I think this was a good choice with a thin fabric and the seam is well, seamless!

After ages of looking at mismatched shades I finally have this project finished! Hallelujah! I KNOW all of you understand how crazy this can make you- to have this "sore spot" right in the middle of your room!

Here's the final comparison of all three lights- my two thrift store knock offs and the Crate and Barrel original. Of course mine aren't an exact copy, but in total I saved 280 bucks and I think that mine have the same feel as the inspiration. I am pretty proud of how the faux mercury glass turned out.

Thanks for reading!


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✥ Salvage A Melted/Damaged Lamp Shade ✥

I have this little wicker lamp leftover from my old office {job}. I used it briefly in my home office. But I put it too close to the desk shelf and the shade melted.

I was going to put the lamp up for sale for a few bucks- actually I did list it- but then realized I'm throwing away money.

Why not try to fix the shade and sell it for more? I still probably wouldn't keep it, as it never really "went" with what's happening in the rest of the house.

So- The BIG question- will recovering a lamp shade hide/fix the fact that it was damaged?
I chose to recover the shade with burlap for two reasons.
(1) I think it works with the wicker. (2) I wanted something sturdy that will hold its shape.
Recovering a lampshade is pretty easy. Just a few tricks to help you do it.
You want to cut out a piece of fabric large enough to not only cover the shade but also provide an inch of extra fabric on all sides.
I did this by simply rolling the shade along the fabric and tracing the outline with a marker.
Then go back over that line and make a second line one inch larger. This is the line you will actually cut.

The side you drew on will be the same side you will be attaching to the shade. I used some spray adhesive to attach the fabric to the shade. {I priced it out and paid 5 bucks at Walmart. It would've been a little cheaper if I had used a 40% off coupon and gotten it from JoAnn's.}

This is important you need to start attaching the new fabric to the old fabric seam. Then you will wrap the fabric around the shade, smoothing it as you go, until you end at the old seam. If you don't create your new seam over the old one you'll be able to see two seams when the light is on.
At the seam you should fold over the fabric to make a clean edge and use hot glue to secure it.
{If you're using a soft fabric, like silk, it's a good idea to fold over your fabric where the seam will be and iron it so it will look crisp.}

Next you'll wrap the excess fabric around the edges of the shade and use hot glue to attach it to the inside.
 Because my shade was warped I attached the fabric more securely to the tops and bottom and only firmly secured the fabric to the undamaged portions on the shade.


Once I finished, I staged the lamp and took some photos  for the sale listing. 
But when I saw the pics the lamp looked like something was missing. It was a little to plain. What do you think?

I decided some typography was in order. I turned to Microsoft Word and typed up something to give the lamp more interest and character. 

A "No. 301" to be exact.

I printed it up and planned to tape it to the inside of the shade, as I did with the French Bee Lamp I made last week. Because the fabric was so thick I could hardly see my stencil. I tried darkening the stencil with a black sharpie but it was still too difficult to see.

So I finally cut it out and taped it to the outside. I wanted the writing to be an even one inch from the bottom of the shade but a strait piece of paper wouldn't do that. So I made several cuts on the top and bottom of the stencil so that I could curve the paper slightly.



I used a thin brush and black craft paint to fill in the stencil. The stencil was a little flimsy- but I'm pretty good at improvising. If you aren't, just print out your stencil on card stock and you shouldn't have a problem.


So here it is.
The once ruined portion of the lampshade it right in the front and I think it now looks great!
There is no visible damage, at all!  The burlap is straight  and there is no waffling where the shade was once melted.

Maybe I should rethink selling this after all?

Thanks for checking out my project!

I party HERE-

Ottoman Makeover

Here's a ottoman I recovered last week. When I found it, the legs were cracked and discolored. Unfortunately, I didn't take a true "before" pic, because I decided to knock out the stained portion while up at my in-laws. They have a garage, while I only have a condo. 

Recovering an ottoman is simple and easy. You'll love how fast the little piece can be transformed! 

1. STAIN: I decided the legs would look best stained dark because of the chrome feet. So I used some I got on clearance. Ragged it on and wiped it off.
2. STRIP: That takes us to the next potion- the silk fabric was all discolored. Initially, there may have been only a small stain- which someone may have impatiently used some Resolve Carpet Cleaner on, which was sadly with her at her in-laws. Yeah, it didn't work. No matter, it needed to be updated anyhow. It was easy enough, just a few screws held the base to the top. Rip off/remove the black backing hiding 30,000 staples. I also pulled out the tufting at this stage. I like tufting- as you can see here for my dropcloth ottoman makeover- but I thought this one would feel too "stuffy".
3. WRAP: I seem to gravitate towards geometric patterns. But this was a lot easier to work with than stripes were on the headboard I covered. It's simpler to keep everything lined up when the object is small enough to manipulate and move around. I grabbed this fabric from JoAnn's ~ it's a Waverly print.  got it for 50% off-so 10 bucks a yard. If you've never reupholstered an ottoman, it's very easy.

(a) Lay the fabric, good side down, on the floor.

(b) Lay the fabric, good side down, on the floor.

(b) Lay the cushion on top of it and line up the fabric.

(c) Staple one side, then the opposite side, pulling fabric taut but keeping pattern lined up.

(d) Then do the same to the opposite two sides

(e) Pull the corners down and staple them once you like how you've folded them. It's like wrapping a foam and fabric present-umm, with staples.

Thanks for stopping by! What fun patterns are you using in your home? Have you redone an ottoman lately?

Update:  Check this out! I was featured on About.com in an article and "Color and Pattern"!! Make sure to check out these other AWESOME sites that featured my makeover!
Hope you like the "after"! Now if I could just learn to sew I could tackle my other ottomans.

Cleaning Thirft Store Lampshades

Today's post is featuring adventures in decontaminating cleaning thrift store lampshades! I have been sitting on several lamps that need major makeovers- but the weather is REFUSING to COOPERATE! 

I haven't been able to spray paint a thing for a WEEK!

Since I plan to remake several lamps, for two of them I thought it would be interesting to buy thrift store lampshades and try to clean them. I found some fabric lampshades to go with the bases. One looks pretty cheap- like a Walmart shade or something, and the other is a Restoration Hardware find, yay!. They both have visible stains/dirt and I can recover them if need be- but wanted to explore cleaning methods first.

HOW TO

1.] To clean a lampshade you should start with vacuuming it or wiping it with a dry cloth. Since these shades were visibly dirty I skipped the first choice and started with the next safest for fabric.

2.] You can mix some water and dish washing detergent in a 1:4 ratio with an egg beater until foam forms.  FYI- If your shade is silk the Internet says only to use Dreft or Ivory Snow, not dish soap. Apply foam to the whole shade and wipe with a clean cloth. If you only wet part there may be some fabric discoloration. This method is perfect for delicate materials and for shades that have glued on trim which will not hold up to water.

This probably would have worked for a shade that is lightly soiled. Something that hasn't been dusted regularly (or ever like my home!) and maybe some of the dust has ingrained into the fabric. If that method doesn't work you want to go extreme!

3.] Fill the bathtub with water and some dish soap and DUNK the shade making sure it is fully submerged each time. Don't leave the shade in the water! Pull it out and use a cloth to work the soap into the shade, especially any stains! You can then hang it to dry on the shower rod.

I washed the Restoration Hardware shade first and my experience was that this shade held up to the water well. It could easily withstand the washing. I dunked it quite a few times and worked soapy water all over the fabric. It turned out looking pretty good.

The cheaper shade had a much lower water tolerance. I dunked it about the same amount of times and then tried to scrub it but it had pulled in too much water too quickly. I let it sit to dry out but it was too far gone and the form was ruined. I would suggest scrubbing the highly soiled areas and then dunking the shade only once or at most twice if it's of a poorer quality.

So, umm-you can see the results for yourself. Here's an updated image of the lampshade today- if you want to know how to recover a lampshade, check it out! Hope this helps you guys!

- Becca
  Linked up here.

Upholstered Headboard with Nail Head Trim

Ahhh, sweet success!

My headboard is FINALLY COMPLETE!

Click if you wanna hear the planning details and the search for all my budget friendly materials cause this post is about the actual construction.

Upholstering a piece of wood is easy peasy!

1) Sand the edges of the board

2) Apply spray adhesive to the  MDF

2) Place foam (or whatever cushioning product you've chosen) on top of adhesive sprayed board

3) Place layer of batting over the foam

4) Place fabric on the floor with decorative side facing touching the ground ( & smooth wrinkles)

5) Put board and foam on top of fabric with foam touching fabric and back of the board facing you

6) Pull fabric tightly on all sides and use staple gun to secure fabric to back of the board- I like to start stapling opposite sides first. Do the corners last and fold them like a present.

7) Now the tricky part- the trim

This is where I got hung up, because I ran out of the nail heads I was using to secure the strips of nail head trim to the board. I could only find three matching boxes at Joanne's and then they were out of stock forever for over a month.

Finally they got them back in and I got Z to get the board back off the wall and could finally get to work. I do NOT usually have project hanging over my head (pun intended) for long periods of time. I'm type A all the way and like to get in and get'em done.

Here's what I started with today.

All I needed to do was secure two more sides to the outer row of trim and then the inner row. I found the easiest way to ensure the trim was straight was to set up my laser level to keep a straight line. I couldn't find any tips online to really straight trim and that lined fabric in NOT forgiving!
After getting the laser it really was a piece of cake!

{Say hello to Chew-Doggy!}

A few words to the wise-

-(1)- If you're an inpatient person or a little sloppy do NOT buy a striped fabric. You will hate you life- seriously!

-(2)-Secure the foam WELL especially if you're not using trim on the headboard. I could tell my adhesive was coming lose, but fortunately it wasn't a big deal since I was nailing it all down.

-(3)-Wear gloves that trim is SHARP- especially after you trim an edge.

 I used a French Cleat I found at Lowe's to attach the headboard to the wall. This is the perfect device to get the job done because they can support a lot of weight and are so easy to install.
I purchased 1 large cleat with a 100 pound capacity. It comes in two pieces.

It's a piece of cake to install. Just screw the first half to the wall. I used a drill and a level to get it straight.

Then screw the second piece to the back of the headboard (or anything heavy you want to hang) again making sure it's level.

 See how big the headboard is? Almost as large as the bed!

Anyhow, you should have something like this, 1/2 attached to each piece.

Grab someone to help you lift the headboard up above the cleat.   See where the cleat juts out from the wall?
The cleat on the back of the headboard will slide right into this part on the wall.


 Even though you could possibly save a couple of bucks hanging it a different way, I love this method. With it you can cheat the headboard a little to the left or right simply by sliding it!
We've moved the bed a little to the right and a little to the left and haven't had to rehang the headboard- which rocks!

And finally, the finished after!

A small piece of advice-Choose your measurements thoughtfully.When I chose the size of my MDF I decided to make a very large headboard. The H 60 x W 78  inches! The reason being, I wanted the headboard to show a little on each side of my king size mattress.

BUT ALSO- if I ever decide to use this in a guest bedroom with my QUEEN SIZE bed I can FLIP IT and USE IT SIDEWAYS. Pretty sweet, right? It will be the right width and look very dramatic as 6 1/2 foot tall headboard. Have you seen them- they look fantastic! I also left room and have supplies to finish the trim when I'm ready to change things up.

Cost Break Down:
MDF- $15

Carpet Padding- $17 (would be even less for a thinner pad)

Batting-$8
French Cleat- $15
Fabric- Curtain Panel $8

(Target clearance )  

Nail Heads- $1.50/box (8 boxes Joann's) 

Nail Head Trim- (Ebay store)

I already had- staple gun, staples, measuring tape, spray adhesive
TOTAL: $75

Thanks for dropping in on me!

Please swing by and check out some wonderful blogs from these kind ladies who featured my headboard!

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I'm also linked up here.