Last fall we did a gallery wall on our stairway. We taped out the measured area on our carpet first, with painting tape, organized the frames how we liked them, then hung them.
Best part of the project? Buying half the frames at a thrift store and spray painting them… Saves money and looks more unique.
This is one of those projects that is really useful to spruce up a space. I purchased a lamp I loved… only problem was the stark white shade. I wanted the shade to go next to our office furniture, which is an off-white color. After assembling the lamp I realized the shade is custom fit to the base, so no other shade could fit. I had planned on buying a new shade, but that option was out.
So I found a couple tutorials online, merged some ideas together, and altered some of their suggestions to finish this project.
We love our lamp.
Here’s how you do it: start with your shade, a fabric of choice—only about 1/2 yard depending on your shade size (I recommend a thicker décor fabric), fabric glue, fabric scissors, tape, and a pencil. Pretty simple so far, right?
Lay your fabric out with your shade. Place the shade in the middle, then roll it to the right to trace it’s angle to one side, then roll back to the middle, then roll to the left to trace its angle for the other side. Trace both the top and bottom of the shade as you roll it. This will ensure the fabric follows the shade curve.
Next, add two inches to each side that you traced, and cut two inches away from this line. You’ll need to leave extra room on either side to fold. Then iron, iron, iron your fabric. Make sure all seams are out.
Then, take the fabric end and match it up to your shade’s seam. Before you glue it, hold it in place to make sure it is aligned to cover the shade evenly as it rolls around. Then run your fabric glue along the seam and secure the fabric end. If you have a thick fabric, you won’t have to worry about the glue showing through; if you have a thinner fabric, smear the glue with a paintbrush.
All other tutorials I read said to pull the shade around and tape it back at the original seam. I tried this and realized the shade wasn’t pulled nearly tight enough this way. I wanted it really really tight. So I began pulling the fabric as tight as I could, then gluing about every 6 inches around.
By the time I’d glued it all the way around, it was tight and easy for me to cut and fold the ends in without disturbing the body of the shade.
After it’s all glued, cut around each side, leaving about 1/2 inch of fabric to glue under.
Then fold the seam under all the way around to make sure it looks even.
And glue.
When you get to your final edge, glue it under so it follows the shade’s seam nicely.
That’s it! Very easy. Place your shade on and admire it.
A couple months ago I made a monogrammed “E” print for Emerson’s room… really, really easy but looks nice. I’ve seen a lot of cool wall hangings for children’s rooms online, but they are pretty expensive for simple designs. I can understand canvas prints being more, but posters are pretty easy to do from home. When I got done, I made some for friends as well.
In the past couple months I’ve found myself post-pregnancy nesting… I’m home so much more now that I notice all the little places or things to update. I love being at home everyday and running our “household.” It feels fulfilling in a weird way, though once I finish it all one day, I have to start over and do it again the next. Sigh.
Back to the house; here are some of our updates:New pillows for our chairs and new clock (we’ve been looking for pillows for over a year; so glad to find some we like):
New kitchen table (our old one was an oak/painted black hand-me-down we got 4 years ago; we looked for a new one for about 6 months... though we liked our old one, it came time to have more than a 4-seater :):
My favorite part is the detailing on the legs:
Cube shelf in our bedroom (thank you IKEA; inexpensive and very functional):
We added the cute stuffed dog and “E” to the nursery just after Emerson was born:
And just recently framed some pictures for E’s room: 
Now we just need to get some paint in our guest room. It has been neglected.
