Shady Shady, Crafty Lady

Finally, finally! 

I have been working on this stupid lamp shade for so long. It's really quite simple to make, but there are a few things that you can get pretty caught up on. Surprisingly enough, the hardest part was trying to find the lamp shade to start with. It has to be almost exactly symmetrical or the sticks will have too much space between them. It has to be the perfect length to fit the sticks, and it has to be as plain as can be. Easy task right? No. Not if you don't want to pay an arm and a leg. Which you probably don't, or you wouldn't be doing this DIY style in the first place. So I finally found the perfect shade and had to order online, and wait forever. Then, the next hiccup is that the sticks are actually just paint sticks from Lowe's or Home depot. Simple and awesome right? No. They don't let you purchase those. So unless you buy paint a lot, you have to sneak them. Yah, I know. Don't tell anyone. Needless to say, I spent a lot of creeper time at Lowe's. I also had Derek's mom do it for me, because they totally start to recognize you. Don't judge us. 

After a few months of gathering paint sticks I finally had enough. It takes a lot to cover the size shade I got. Then I stained them, and hot glued them to the shade. Viola!

I was so happy to be done with it, and I truly loved the way it turned out. That rarely happens with my DIY projects. I'm picky. Derek put it up in the living room above the coffee table for me. Of course I hated it. Once it was up, it was so obvious that it was meant for a dining room table. Duh. No light really gets out the sides, so it is all forced down. That is kind of awkward in the living room. Well it was too much money and effort to ditch it so we left it up. Now I actually don't notice the lighting situation so much, and I love the way it looks. So project successful! Now we don't have to be the weirdo's that have a random bulb hanging from their ceiling.