Using the right lighting for your home is tricky – not only are lamps expensive, but it’s also hard to find ones that fit with the general aesthetic of your home. Trickier still is finding the right shade for your lamp. Even though lamps come with their own standard shade, those shades are rarely the best fit – or the most interesting. Finding interesting shades to match with your lamps is a challenge in and of itself, and when you do, they’re often incredibly expensive. So what’s a lamp-lover to do? How about DIYing a lampshade to your preferred style? That way, you can turn your lamp into the piece of furniture you’ve always dreamed of. Below, we’ve found 14 interesting ideas for how to DIY your lampshade into the shade of your dreams. If you can find the materials, #11 is totally awesome.This effect can be achieved by poking small holes in your lampshade, to enable light to shine through. Get creative – you can do this in whichever pattern you want.
Decoupage some artificial leaves onto a lampshade to create this cool, earthy piece.
Can’t get enough of your family photos? Try putting them onto a plain lampshade where you can see them all the time.
Knit shades are popular, and you can achieve the effect cheaply by using an old sweater.
This lampshade has a vintage aesthetic that is created by winding spools of colorful yarn around the shade.
You can get creative for this one: Make the skyline of your hometown, or even your own neighborhood.
Vintage maps make excellent decorations in any capacity, but we especially love the idea of repurposing them to create an awesome lampshade.
Cover a plain lampshade in buttons to get this fun, colorful effect. Perfect for a shabby chic living room or a kid’s room.
If you happen to have your grandmother’s collection of vintage brooches – or just found a bunch of them at a thrift store – cover your lampshade with them for a 3D effect.
Have old books lying around? Try using the pages to decoupage a lampshade that every book lover will appreciate.
It’s almost like a lamp you’d find in your grandparent’s house, but with a modern, DIY flar.
If you want a patterned lampshade that you don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for, try covering one in the fabric of your choosing.
If you’ve got a boring white lampshade, try adding white pom-poms to give the shade some visual interest.
This DIY lampshade was made from 1930s monopoly money.
