Plain lampshades are inexpensive, but they’re also very ordinary, and they don’t add much vibrancy or color to a room. I have two plain paper lampshades with pottery-style bases in my living room, and I’ve been considering ways to decorate my plain paper lampshades to make them more decorative, unique, and appealing. I’ve discovered a number of great ideas, and I plan on making them more colorful and decorative with one of the ideas I’ve found.
If you have plain lampshades, consider the following easy and inexpensive ways to decorate them. You can turn your plain lampshades into extraordinary home accessories you’ll never find in a store. Best of all, they’ll look more expensive and far more decorative with very little expense. Give these ideas a try. With a little effort and a lot of creativity you can decorate paper lampshades to look far more appealing and decorative than anything you could buy ready-made.
Button Lampshades
Lampshades embellished with colorful buttons are perfect for a bedroom. If you have a plain bedroom lampshade that could use some color, decorate them with flat buttons. Cover the entire surface with rows of colorful buttons to match the room, or create a colorful edge along the top and bottom. Use your imagination and unique sense of creativity to make button lampshades that will definitely light up the night as well as your bedroom décor.
Add Shades of Color
A small amount of color is sometimes all that’s necessary to decorate and give new life to old lampshades. Consider trimming plain shades with ribbon. Using clear drying fabric glue, attach a single row of colored ribbon of your choice around the top and bottom edge. Match the ribbon to specific pieces of furniture or fabrics. The newly decorated lampshades will give the room a warm glow with designer appeal.
If you like flashy décor, consider using craft sequins to decorate plain shades. Visit your local craft store and you’ll find sequins in all colors and sizes. They provide a great way to decorate plain lampshades while adding glitz and color to a room. Cover the entire surface with sequins of various coordinating colors, or add them just around the edges. It’s amazing what you can do with eye-catching sequins and a little glue!
Stenciled Designs
I love the outdoors, and my living room is decorated with rustic furnishings and embellishments. The walls are decorated with oil paintings of fox and pheasants, and I’ve chosen pinecones, deer, and other wildlife themed accessories. I decided to decorate my plain lampshades with stamped pinecones in varying shades of brown latex craft paint. They look fantastic when the lights are on, and they look far better than higher priced lampshades I’ve found in the store.
Look for stencils in a theme you prefer, and use a craft sponge and latex paint to add graphics to plain lampshades. Practice on paper before trying this technique on plain paper lampshades. With a little practice you’ll achieve the look you want, and when using stencils, artistic skills aren’t required. If you can dream it up, you can create it!
Leather-look Lampshades
Many kids in school have made bottles with a leather look, and this look is achieved with ordinary masking tape and brown shoe polish. This simple covering looks great on glass bottles, and this technique also looks highly impressive when applied to ordinary paper lampshades. They look like pieced strips of leather, and it’s a very easy and affordable way to decorate plain lampshades.
Practice on a large paper cup before using this crafting technique on your plain paper shades. Randomly rip off sections of masking tape between two and three inches in length, and haphazardly apply them to the surface. You can’t make a mistake! Overlap the tape, and place it in varying directions. Once the entire shade is covered, apply a thin wash of brown latex craft paint or brown shoe polish. Your paper lampshades that used to be plain and lifeless will look like expensive and highly unique works of art.
