Hello! I hope you had a wonderful weekend!
Raise your hand if you have ever felt like you have emerged from a time warp when leaving an IKEA store. Hand raised over here! It seems that every time I walk out, I’m asking myself “how have I been in here for 4 hours?!”
I think it’s fair to say that 80% of my college friend’s apartments had some variation of the IKEA Magnarp lamp. I’m pretty sure it’s still a staple in dorm rooms, apartments and homes alike across the land. I am no exception, I have one from I don’t remember how many years ago and it currently resides on my nightstand. I still appreciate the lamp base’s clean lines; my favorite part being the long pull chain that I can easily reach, regardless of whatever my state of grogginess may be. I am, however, over the vanilla crinkled lamp shade. It almost caused me to break up with the lamp altogether, so I decided I would try what many of us have tried pre-breakup, to change him. I mean it. The lamp shade. 😉 That tactic never works with real breakup scenarios, but there is no such precedent set with lamp shades that I am aware of.
First I tried a deep mossy green, which I thought would be a darker variation of our bedroom wall color. Fail. It blends in to the wall exactly. Why can’t I match paint colors that perfectly when I’m trying to?! Sigh.
Doubt began to settle in, however I still wasn’t ready to give up on this baby. For the next round I decided to paint a slightly metallic champagne color on top of the green lamp shade, so that only a little bit of the green shows through.
I used a pretty stiff paint brush with very little give, so as not to apply as much of the champagne paint as I had the green. I got a pack of 3 stiff nylon brushes like this one at Dollar Tree.
I’m very pleased with how it turned out! I couldn’t capture it in a picture, but when the lamp is on it let’s out sun like rays in the more transparent areas. When the sun shines in our bedroom window the metallic champagne glistens beautifully.
We’re good now, IKEA lamp, I don’t have to quit you after all.
Have you ever attempted to makeover a lampshade? I admit, I was a little nervous that I would ruin it!
Buckeye girl says
Cool.. Would’ve never thought if that
Mom A says
looks awesome!
Lydia Nordhoff says
Thanks!