Project #6 - Bye Bye, Dirty Lampshade

Remember these? I teased you with this picture sometime before Christmas. I got these two lamp bases for a steal (Can you see that 1.89 a piece?!). The problem is---lampshades are obscenely expensive. So they sat on my desk until I could come up with a solution.

I kept visiting my local thrift stores until I found two lampshades that were nearly identical in size and shape. For $1.00 each.

But how was I going to make them fit my decor and cover up the dinginess? I thought about fabric. I had tried to make a lampshade with fabric once before. I made a complete mess of it. It's so ugly that it is relegated to my bedroom until I find something different. I wasn't anxious to repeat that mistake.

Then I saw the solution on a home and garden show. My husband thinks it's a complete waste of time for me to DVR all those shows, but I know differently. You never know when inspiration will strike! They used wrapping paper. Yes, wrapping paper.

Of course! It is fairly inexpensive. And if I hate it, I can rip it all off and start over.

So here it is, the lampshade wrapped all up.

First: Gather all your materials. Lampshade, wrapping paper, a pencil, scissors, ribbon, and a low-temperature glue gun. Low temperature is important. You won't burn your fingers as bad.



2. Unroll wrapping paper. Place the lampshade, starting at the seam at the edge of the paper. Using the pencil trace the top of the shade by rolling the shade across the paper until you get back to the seam. You should have a smile shape. Repeat across the bottom. Cut out leaving an edge allowance if you don't plan on adding ribbon. It should look like this:



3. Before you glue anything, make sure it fits. Start at the seam and wrap it around. Then put a dot of glue at either end of the lampshade. Attach paper and wrap around. Glue again at the end. It should meet up again at the seam.



4. I neglected to take a picture, but using that ribbon you have left over from your last project, wrap around the edges. This will cover up a multitude of sins, including a bad cut job! You can also put it down the seam if you don't want that part to show. Then you should have a lamp with a "brand new" shade. Like this!



Cost of the project:
2 lamp bases on clearance: $1.89 each
2 lampshades: $1.00 each at thrift store
1 roll of wrapping paper: $4.99
Leftover ribbon: $0
Total: $10.77

Some Nice Reader Comments

A few posts back, "Nanette" left me a very nice comment on how I inspired her even on a small budget.

Nanette has a private profile, so I have no way of getting in touch with her. I wanted to tell her how much that comment meant to me.

You see, I started this blog as accountability for myself. I get in the doldrums at times. I am an All or Nothing sort of girl. I kept thinking there was nothing I could do until I 1. won the lottery or 2. went back to work. Neither is really an option. If I waited around until I could afford to fix everything all at once then I might be waiting a very long time. It's about baby steps!

It comes down to keeping my eyes open to new possibilities. So far I haven't even spent $20 dollars a week. Here's to a 2009 decorating frenzy!

Project #5 - Replacing Light over Kitchen Sink

Remember this? It took a little longer to get installed than I had anticipated. You see, at Christmas we had several family members that had vicious colds. Even though I was drinking immune boosting Vitamin Water by the gallon, both my husband and I got it. We've been in hibernation and trying to get better. Cross your finger that the kids don't get it just in time to go back to school.


To refresh your memory on the "Before" picture. Here we have a 1970's era light fixture. I'm sure it was very trendy at the time. I wanted something a little more modern. That light way up there in the ceiling didn't do much as far as task lighting. We used it mainly as a sort of night light for the kitchen when we didn't want all the big lights on.
Here's the new light fixture. Sorry the picture looks a little funny. It's hard to take a decent picture of a white light fixture on a window with the sun shining in. I had to do a little photo editing so you could even see it. (wouldn't that window sill look cute with some tiny boxes of plants? Hmm. I'll have to work on that.)



Light fixture: $6.00
A roll of electrical tape: $2.49

Total cost of project: $8.49

Project # 5 Preview

Christmas is behind us now. And I have a new project just waiting to blog about! I thought I would be able to get it done yesterday while my husband was at work. However! It appears that more than two hands will be necessary to finish it. Also, I didn't have the correct light bulb in the house. I will pick one up at the store, and with any luck my husband and I can complete it on New Years Day. I have a sneak peek for you though.

Exhibit A-- 1970's era light fixture.


Exhibit B-- New fixture bought off the clearance rack for $6. I was expecting to pay $20. An early Christmas present!

Christmas is Coming!

This year I am not getting worked up about Christmas. And I'm getting plenty more accomplished. Not much house renovating though.

I'm sure most of you can relate to the Christmas season as a time of great memories and wonderful feelings. But in reality, our paychecks don't get any bigger for the month of December. Yet we are expected to spend money like we got paid twice as much this month.

My husband and I have made a conscious effort to not spend money we don't have. That includes Christmas presents.

On that note, my 20 dollar weekly budget has been going to making Christmas a little brighter. This means I am not spending anything on the house for the next couple of weeks. I could smack myself on the head for not considering this when I started the whole blog thing.

HOWEVER! There's a bright note! I have a kindred spirit that has been blogging about her super chic, yet totally thrifty ways for a lot longer. Check out what she did with some wallpaper and visit her archives for some great inspiration. I'll be back in a week or so when a house full of kids on Christmas break makes me stir crazy. Now where is that old wallpaper I never used?.............

Project #4-Window Valance

I don't know if you've gathered this or not, but, I hate. I mean HATE, window blinds. They look great for awhile, but then the slats get filthy. Even though there's all sorts of gadgets to clean them, nothing I've found is satisfactory. When the pieces start breaking off, I really get uptight. Since I'm prone to fits of remodeling in anger, I have tried to limit the number of mini-blinds in the house.

In protest I put up a cafe curtain in the window over my kitchen sink. It worked well at night when I really didn't want anyone peeking in at me while I scrubbed pots and pans. During the day, however, it was difficult to open the curtain and let the light shine in.

After some shopping, I found that mini blinds were very, ahem, cheap. I suppose I could replace them fairly often. Sort of like the moldy shower curtain liner.

A mishap with the current curtain and an adventure at the fabric store the day after Thanksgiving, found me with no fabric or curtain for the window. Did I mention there was a party at my house in 15 hours and counting?

My husband encouraged me to go to the closest fabric store and find a replacement. The problem with this solution was that I had already been to the store and didn't find what I wanted. I had to make do with what I already had.

I had no luck digging through my fabric stash. So I decided to raid my closet. I have clothes that I hate, that don't fit right, etc. etc. that just sit in my closet. I tell myself that someday I will find the right blouse, lose weight. Whatever. I found a skirt that I love but never had the right shirt for and had never worn. It had little beads all around the hem. I chopped it right in half, cut through the seam. Voila! Valance.


Add some vintage jelly jars that I inherited filled with some votive candles,



The kitchen window is now ready for the party!

Mini-blinds - $3.88
Fabric - $.00
Candle Holder - $.00
5 votive candles @ .33 each. 1.65

Total Project Cost --- $5.53

Project #3 - Making Kitchen Curtains More Exciting

About a year ago I had a hissy fit and tore down the vertical blinds covering up my sliding glass door. The slats kept coming undone and falling down and I'd had enough.

Because of my hysteria, I needed some curtains. And quick!

Curtains are expensive. I was having a hard time finding a pattern I liked. I did not want the neighbors looking into my back window. Instead, I bought two white, twin-sized flat sheets and two packages of clip on curtain rings. A new curtain rod--and voila! New curtains.

They fit the bill perfectly. I still like how airy and light they are. They just needed a little punching up.



So this week I bought some heat fusible tape and some black grosgrain ribbon. With my iron plugged in I set to work.



First you lay down the heat tape with the paper backing facing up. You iron that on. Let it cool. Grab your ribbon and start peeling back the paper backing. A few inches at a time, lay down the ribbon and iron until it fuses. I had both curtain panels done in about 20 minutes.

Side note- Make sure the heat fusible tape is washable, otherwise you will have to sew it if you want to wash it.



Curtains that look a little less like bed sheets.

Grosgrain ribbon - $1.97
Heat Fusible Tape - $1.67

Total for project - $3.64