Pom Poms + A Lamp Shade

Right before Sebastian was born, Anthony and I took a day-time date out to run some errands while our parents watched the twins.  I’ve mentioned this before and usually it wouldn’t be worth mentioning at all except for the fact that, during that particular date we made a spontaneous stop at our favorite discount store, Dirt Cheap, where we were lucky enough to score two bargain buggies.  You can read more about those here.  Well, in one of those buggies was a stack of something like 22 lampshades, all originally from Target.  They were all bedecked with the same floral pattern but were all brand, spanking new.  I gave away most of them to family but kept three for a rainy day project.  Yesterday was that day (even though it barely rained).

Here are two of the shades:

The third will make for another project another day.

The plan?  To pimp these two out with some pom pom trim and sell them.  I’d keep them but we have no place for them!  Sad, I know!

Here’s how I did it and how you can too.
 

First, the supplies.  You’ll need a scissors, a hot glue gun and sticks, some pom pom trim (I got mine on sale at JoAnn Fabrics), and a lamp shade. 
To figure out how much pom pom trim you’ll need, just slip a measuring tape around the base (or top if you’d prefer to do that!) and write that down.
 

To start, I took one end of my pom pom trim and glued it right over the vertical seam of the lampshade.  You’ll want to make sure you start/end at this seam so that your ends aren’t noticeable when you’re finished.  They’ll just be hanging out at the back of the lamp shade.
 

Then, working in small sections, I lined the base of the shade with a strip of hot glue and pressed the trim to the glue.
 
Working with hot glue is bittersweet because, while it gives instant gratification in that it dries super fast, you also have to be really careful when you’re using it because, if you don’t move fast enough, it could dry before you’re ready.  That’s why working in small sections is key.

Also, I made sure to carefully line up the bottom of the trim with the bottom of the lamp shade.  I wanted everything nice and straight and even.
 
One reason I saved this simple project for nap time was because I know I’d have had some swerving lines if I’d had distractions courtesy of my toddlers.  ;)  Joking but serious.

Once I reached the shade seam again, where I had started, I cut my trim past the last pom pom that overlapped the start of the trim.  So, cut it past the last pom pom but right before the next pom pom so that you’ll have a pom pom plus a little of the trim at the end.  (Sick of reading “pom pom” yet?)
 

Like this:

You don’t want to cut your trim so that it just meets the start because then you’ll be able to see the ends that could fray.

Once you’ve cut, add a dab of hot glue on that little bit of trim you have at the end and fold it over like this:
  
Now your edge will look finished and you can then just glue it right over the rest of the trim. 
There might be a couple of pom poms closer to each other than the rest like on mine, but no one will notice since they’ll be at the back of the shade by the seam.

Ta-da!

I went back and forth between gluing the trim onto the outside vs. the inside of the bottom of the shade but in the end I went with the outside because the pom poms didn’t hang off their trim far enough to fully peek out from under the shade.  But, either way would be great if you have the right trim!  I also struggled with what color trim to go with but I won’t go into that because #firstworldproblems

With the leftover six inches of trim, I whipped up a little bracelet for the girls (whipped up meaning I hot glued the two ends together).  They were overjoyed…probably more because their naps were over but hey.
    
I wish I’d have had enough for two but I guess I’ll use it as a lesson in sharing, which they (don’t) excel at at the moment.  ;)

I’ve got another lampshade project up my sleeve that I’ll be sharing soon but until then, have you ever refashioned a lamp shade before?  Do share!  Thrift stores are usually stocked with them, making them an easy makeover target!

  

Happy humpday!

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P.S.  This isn’t my first time in the lamp shade arena.  :)  Check out these past lamp shade projects:
recovering a lamp shade with burlap
gussying up the girls’ lamp shade with crayon
adding a lamp shade to our master bedroom fan (a semi-fail)
adorning a shade with diy fabric flowers