Painting a Fabric Lamp shade

 

 

Did you know that you can paint lamp shades and fabric using Chalk paint? Who knew?

I had been staring at this Black and white lamp shade for the last fews weeks and feeling like it just did not fit my decor anymore. I was not loving the black contrast with the frame behind it and I really wanted to make a change. I moved around a few of the shades I had on other lamps in the house but I was not loving any of them on the lamp. After a few days of staring at the shade I realized that I could totally paint it. I had never painted fabric before but I had heard that you could paint it with Chalk Paint and since I wanted to make a change anyway I figured it wouldn’t hurt to at least try it out.

 

I grabbed some of my already mixed up paint that I made using my favorite BB Frosch powder and went to work Painting a fabric lamp shade and working my magic to transform this piece into something new. I was painting stuff already so I just had a big ole painting party.

I did the first layer of the chalk paint on the lamp and I was really hoping that some of the 3d layered effects from the current fabric would be noticeable through the paint. And it totally was.

After one layer I could still see the black but I could also still see the linen of the fabric which is what I was wanting.

 

I did 2 more layers of paint until I had the desired color and look I wanted.

 

The 3d linen effect was still showing through! Score!! But the shade was a bit rough because chalk paint isn’t fabric type soft until you work your magic.    

To work my magic and remedy the roughness I took a medium grit sand block to the piece and worked on sanding away the rough feeling until it felt smooth. I did not want to rough away the linen feel so I was not pressing down super hard. When I was done sanding, I wiped off the excess dust and applied the layer of wax and then wiped it off. I did not buff it because I did not want it to be shiny.

 

 

I love how it turned out! It was exactly the cream-colored linen feel I was going for. I did not want the light to be shining bright through the shade because it always caused such glare on the frames and so I was going for a thicker lamp shade feel. I totally achieved that look using just the Chalk Paint mix. I am super excited to go try it out on a chair or piece of fabric furniture now!

I love that you can still see the 3d outline of the stripes. I was going to paint them on using a lighter color but I totally got that look without the extra work.

I need to redo my thrifted sewing table now too. I am on a roll getting projects knocked out around the house right now… I have finally decided what I want the table to look like so now I just need to do the fun part… the creating.

Have you painted fabric before? What did you think of your results?

Go here to purchase your own magic of BB Frosch