Vintage Lamp Makeover

My mom's best friend gave me this ivy covered lamp years ago. It belonged to her mother and she thought I would like it since I was in a big ivy kick in grade school and high school. I am assuming that this lamp is from the 60s or something. It originally had a large cylinder shaped shade, but the fabric was torn and a bit stained. After I graduated college and sharing a bungalow with roommates I decided to replace the lampshade. I was inspired by a how-to article in a BH&G magazine for a frilly shade. I was also working at RH at the time and used a damaged shade that had been marked out of stock for the framework. It's been about 15 yrs and the shade has definitely seen better days, as well as never being the exact right scale for the base anyway.

I had been using this in our guest room, but since that has morphed into the boys room, I figured it could work in the new nursery on the side table (yet to be refinished) in my nursing station. Baby Boy and I ventured out to NoPo to the Rainbow Lampshade Shop. If you bring in your lamp base you can have a fashion show with all the ready made shades they have so you can find the best pairing. I knew I wanted something with more feminine lines than a cylinder shade, maybe a pagoda style shade. The pagoda was too small diameter wise, they are really better paired with short, squat bases, like a ginger jar. There was a nice bell shaped shade, but I finally settled on this square shade with cut corners. I had her add a riser to the top of the harp to give it a little more height off the base.Maybe it needs a little more height?

I was considering getting a colored shade, but she also had some green gimps and I liked that idea best. I selected an olive and straw colored gimp which she applied to the top and bottom self edges. I'm happy with the way it turned out. Now I need to sand down that side table, it was very hard for me to get a good angle for the photos while sitting on the floor 6 months pregnant!