yes, you can paint a lampshade!

this colorful lampshade was a spur-of-the-moment weekend project, 

an idea that came to me as i collapsed into a chair 

after the second day of my weekend studio/office overhaul project.

i was scrolling through Instagram and saw an image that completely delighted me - 

and solved my problem of 'what can i do to this plain ol' lampshade?'

paint it, of course!

so, i put down the phone, grabbed my paints, and gave this old thrifted shade a makeover.

i really love the way it turned out, and it was an easy way to add color and pattern to the room.

continue reading to see what started this whole thing...

i was inspired by this image of painted color charts on Instagram:

floral artist Annie Quigley shared this photo of her paint palette on her IG feed, 

and the way she arranged hues in this pattern appealed to me... 

it's orderly but still a riot of color.

(much like my entire goal for reorganizing my studio/office this weekend.)

so i took the plain white lampshade that's been sitting on this alabaster lamp for years,

mixed up a slew of paint colors, and started painting.

they are sorta' square-ish... but not perfect. and definitely not perfectly spaced.

i outlined them with a thin black Sharpie marker to give them some structure.

the ROYGBIVP (Red . Orange . Yellow . Green . Blue . Purple . Pink) hues

repeat twice around the shade: 

here's something you may notice - or not - that appealed to me about Annie's palette:

the rows of color are not completely segregated/separated.

in other words, there isn't a row of pink and a row of orange and a row of yellow.

they fade into one another within the same row, then continue on to the next one. 

i like the way that sense of motion pulls my eye around the shade. 

i also love how it lights up at night - it really glows!

(the colors don't show up as true then, though. they all look yellower

and it was impossible to get a decent photo.)

i do want to come up with a fun finial for it... any suggestions? 

i was thinking perhaps a paintbrush!

another lampshade in my studio/office is a riot of color, too - 

simply made by tying rainbow-hued ribbons onto a wire lampshade frame.

(for the last few months, that ribbon shade sat OVER the plain white shade that i just painted!)
now i'm using it for something else - sharing that in an upcoming post about my creative space.

you know, i've done a lot of things to a lot of lampshades over the years...
you'll find some of them here 

ps: follow Annie Quigley on Instagram! her floral paintings are STUNNING!

you can follow me on IG, too - 

it's ME, deb, not 'homewardFOUND decor'. i share all kindsa' stuff!


shared online:

funky junk interiors | diy salvaged junk projects #523