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Painting a lampshade is an easy mode to revamp an old shade or give it a new look to match your home decor and change the feeling of a room. Chop-chop requite a lampshade a new coat of color with a can of spray paint or a paintbrush and paint of your choosing. Use paint to add stripes and other designs to a lampshade. Either way, all you demand are a few art supplies to create a brand new lampshade for your habitation in just a couple of hours!

  1. 1

    Have the lampshade off of the lamp. Unscrew anything that is property the lampshade in place and lift it off of the lamp. Many lampshades have a slice in the middle at the elevation that holds the lampshade onto the base of the lamp.[1]

    • Y'all might need to unscrew the low-cal seedling to lift the lampshade off.

  2. 2

    Cover the top of the lampshade with plastic bags and tape. Place plastic grocery numberless over any metal parts at the top of the lampshade. Tape the numberless to the inside edge of the lampshade with masking tape or blueish painter's tape.[2]

    • You could likewise comprehend everything with tape instead of using plastic bags, but it is easier to just cover the whole area with plastic, and then seal the edges to avert getting spray paint on parts that you don't desire to paint.
    • You can record designs onto the lampshade if you desire to create a pattern instead of but a single shade all over. Try a zig-zag design, for example.[3]

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  3. 3

    Lay out some onetime newspapers or other paper on a flat work surface. Choice a flat piece of work surface like a work table, a garage floor, or the ground outside. Put down onetime newspapers or regular paper in two-3 layers to encompass the expanse and protect it from spray paint.[4]

    • Work in a ventilated area when you use spray paint. A work area exterior or most open doors and windows is the best selection.

  4. 4

    Identify the lampshade on the covered piece of work surface. Put the lampshade in the heart of the paper y'all laid down. Add more than paper around the sides if the lampshade is closer than 1 ft (0.30 thou) to the edges of the covered work area.[5]

    • In that location is even so a adventure that the pigment tin migrate outside of the covered area when you spray it, then it'southward best not to utilise nice furniture like a dining room table as your work surface, and avert spraying near other objects you wouldn't want to get paint on.

  5. 5

    Spray the lampshade all over in an even glaze. Take off the pinnacle of the spray paint tin and hold it about 6 in (fifteen cm) away from the lampshade. Aim the nozzle at the lampshade and press information technology downward to spray on the pigment. Spray all over the lampshade until you have an even coat.[vi]

    • Work in the aforementioned direction as you spray to apply the glaze of paint evenly. For example, work top to bottom or left to right.
    • Lighter colored spray paints work best so that the light can nonetheless polish through the shade.
    • Acrylic spray pigment works best to pigment any type of lampshade.

  6. 6

    Let the lampshade dry out, then attach information technology to the lamp and plow it on. Let the lampshade sit for at least ane-two hours until it is completely dry out. Put it back on the base of the lamp, screw the lightbulb back in if you took it off, and turn the lamp on. Take it off and add another glaze of paint if there are whatever uneven spots or if yous are not happy with how it looks yet.[7]

    • If the shade looks splotchy, so you demand to utilise some other coat of pigment. Apply the 2nd glaze in the same direction as the 1st.

  7. 7

    Pigment the shade by manus with a paintbrush if you want to avoid using spray paint. Set up the lampshade and your work area the same way equally you would for spray paint. Put some acrylic, chalk, or fabric paint in a paint tray or plastic loving cup and employ a pocket-size flat paintbrush to apply an fifty-fifty coat to the shade.[8]

    • Use long, directly up and down brush strokes to glaze the lampshade evenly. Examination the lampshade on the lamp once the pigment is dry and apply more coats until you are happy with the finished wait.
    • Using chalk paint volition give the finish an aged, chalky appearance. You can experiment by watering information technology downward a bit to give the end dissimilar looks.
    • Acrylic paint volition give your lampshade the near solid looking coat.
    • Fabric pigment is like to acrylic pigment, only information technology will have a less strong-looking finish since it is designed specifically to soak into textile easily.

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  1. 1

    Detach the lampshade from the lamp. Unscrew the lightbulb and any other pieces that are holding the lampshade in place. Elevator the lampshade off and set it downward on a flat surface.[9]

    • Set aside the lightbulb and whatsoever other screws or pieces of the lamp that you took off in a safe place until you put the shade back on.

  2. 2

    Employ a flexible record measure out and a pencil to measure out and mark out the stripes. Utilise a vinyl tape measure that tin wrap effectually the lampshade. Decide how yous desire to infinite your stripes and make a mark at every interval with a pencil.[10]

    • You can tape the finish of the measuring tape to the shade with a piece of painter's record or masking tape to go far easier to hold in identify.
    • The kind of record measure that tailors use is the best for measuring around the lamp.

  3. 3

    Tape over the areas between stripes that you don't desire to paint. Completely comprehend the areas that you lot want to leave the original color with painter's record or masking tape. Fold the tape over the edges at the top and bottom of the lampshade to protect them.[eleven]

    • Painter'due south tape and masking tape are available in different widths. Y'all tin use different sizes of tape to embrace larger and smaller areas, or to create stripes of different widths.
    • For tapered lampshades, you may want to trim the tape so it besides comes to a tapered point at the superlative.

  4. iv

    Encompass a apartment piece of work surface with old newspapers or other paper. A table or desk that yous will be able to sit at is the best work surface for painting a lampshade by hand. Lay out 2-3 layers of quondam newspapers or normal paper to completely encompass the surface.[12]

    • Since you volition be using acrylic paints that are meant for indoor utilise, you don't need to worry nearly working in a ventilated area. These paints are meant for art projects and other indoor projects.

  5. 5

    Put the lampshade on top of the newspapers or paper. Place the shade in the middle of the covered work expanse. Rotate it so that any stripe you want to paint first is facing you.[xiii]

    • It will exist easiest to paint in a well-lit area. Try to pigment during the twenty-four hour period when there is natural light, or make certain you have plenty of bright bogus light.

  6. half-dozen

    Use a flat paintbrush and acrylic paints to pigment the stripes. Squeeze out some of the acrylic paint color you want to use onto a paper or plastic plate, or into a newspaper or plastic cup. Use a flat brush that is at least 1 in (2.5 cm) wide to fill in the stripes with even up and down strokes.[14]

    • You could likewise utilise specialized fabric paint that is bachelor at craft stores for material lampshades.
    • Acrylic pigment will work on lampshades fabricated of any textile.
    • Get paintbrushes of different widths if you want to make different sizes of stripes easily.
    • Go along in heed that lighter colors will allow more than calorie-free to smoothen through the lampshade.

  7. 7

    Mask off dissimilar geometric patterns instead of stripes for different looks. Use masking tape or blueish painter's record to make zig-zags, Xs, hexagons, or just random patterns on the lampshade. Paint the areas inside or outside the record with a minor apartment paint brush and acrylic paint to create your designs.[fifteen]

    • You can apply chalk paint to create a more distressed, anile wait.
    • Fabric pigment is another paint option similar to acrylic, merely will soak into the fabric more.

  8. 8

    Employ stencils instead of record to paint on more than complex designs. Describe any design you desire on a piece of paper and advisedly cut it out with pair of scissors or a utility knife to create a stencil. Tape the stencil to the lampshade and dab paint of your choosing onto the shade with a stencil castor.[16]

    • Y'all can also buy stencils at an art store or impress out designs to cutting out.
    • A stencil brush has a flat, round tip for dabbing pigment on rather than brushing it on. This helps preclude bleeding and keeps the pigment within the lines of your stencil.

  9. 9

    Sketch a design in pencil and paint over it, or free-hand paint a blueprint. Utilise a pencil to draw any design you can imagine onto the lampshade. Paint over the blueprint with a small-scale paintbrush and the pigment of your choosing.[17]

    • Information technology may assist to take a variety of paintbrushes in different sizes, depending on how intricate your design is.
    • Remember of your lampshade as a coloring volume. Yous can describe on intricate geometric patterns like mandalas or annihilation else that you think will be fun to paint!

  10. 10

    Attach the lampshade to the lamp once it is dry out and plow the lamp on. Allow the pigment dry for at least 1-2 hours until it is totally dry to the touch. Place it back onto the base of the lamp and turn the lamp on to encounter if you need to add another glaze of paint.[eighteen]

    • Check for spots all around the shade where the light shines through and makes it await blotchy. If you run across any, take the shade off and add some other coat of pigment until you lot are happy with how it looks.

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Things You'll Demand

  • Lampshade
  • Plastic numberless
  • Masking tape or painter's record
  • Newspapers or other paper
  • Tin can of spray pigment
  • Flat paintbrush and acrylic, chalk, or fabric paint (optional)
  • Lampshade
  • Flexible measuring tape
  • Pencil
  • Stencils
  • Masking tape or painter's tape
  • Newspapers or other paper
  • Flat paintbrush
  • Acrylic paints
  • Chalk or fabric paints (optional)
  • Paper and pencil (optional)

References

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