Let there be light

So yesterday I filled you in on a little of the back story for the guest room/office. Since the full room reveal is still a few months away, I figured I better start posting on the backlog of pinspirational projects I've been knocking out.

As the title suggests, this post is all about lighting. The guest room has an overhead fan/light combo that I had installed in each of the bedrooms and the living room when I had the house built. I watch those shows on HGTV where the designers hate ceiling fans and immediately rip them out when redesigning a room. I don't know about them, but I actually live in my house. A ceiling fan is very practical, and personally, I don't think they are that ugly or that much of a distraction to the design.

But in addition to the ceiling fan/light combo, I always like to add in some accent lighting, which is again, very practical. For this room that meant adding a bedside lamp and a lamp for the desk.

I had purchased fabric that I used to cover the boxspring of the Craigslist bed I bought, which I'll post about later. I had lots left over, so I decided to use it in some of the accessories around the room since the fabric so perfectly ties in all the colors I'm using. I plan on making some pillows with it, but my new sewing machine hasn't arrived yet. I was itching to get a project done and remembered pinning a tutorial on a fabric covered lamp shade. Here's my final product! I love how it turned out!

The pinspiration on the left via From New House to Home and my version on the right

I actually ended up covering two lamp shades with the same fabric, but the one for the desk does not have a base yet, so I didn't take photos. For this little silver lamp, I got both the shade and base on clearance at Target for $13. I figured if I messed it up somehow, then it wouldn't be a huge loss.

Now since this blog is not meant to be a how-to, I'll spare you all the details of how I made my fabric covered lamp shade. I can barely follow others directions, let alone remember how I created something. But, From House to Home had a great tutorial to follow, if you decide to make your own. I did buy some spray adhesive, and had an iron, scissors and glue gun on stand by. What I did not use that she did was iron-on hem tape. Instead, I just ironed down my edges really well. She also wrapped the edges around to the inside of the shade and secured them down with hot glue. I just measured my fabric exactly to the depth of the shade so there was no overhang to wrap on the inside. I think mine still came out great! It was so easy and took maybe 10 minuted to complete. I can't wait to find a base for the other lamp shade now. I am thinking I'll probably pick something up at a thrift store and then use this technique to tie it in with the shininess of the other lamp.