DIY Lampshade recover...and you all said you HATED THESE!

OK!  So, for my newest project, I have some new lamps that need some serious TLC.  I got these babies at the Habitat for Humanity Restore while they were having their 20% off sale!  They cost me....are you ready?! A total whopping $24 for the pair.  I don't have a before picture of the whole lamp itself, but let me just tell you....they are UGLY!!!  :)  My friend's exact quote:  "Michala, I've liked everything you have thrifted so far, but these are just bad."  HAHA.  She doesn't even know how great they are going to be.  She will be eating those words in a few short hours.  My husband, also, HATES these lamps.  He wouldn't speak to me for the whole day after I bought them.  Whatever, he will get over it after he sees how AWESOME they are!!!  

So, how did I make them better you might ask?  I'm about to tell you.  First off, I searched through several blogs and tutorials until I found one that fit my needs.  This tutorial at Shanty-Chic, was really good!  I started by pulling off the trim.  This picture already has the trim pulled off, it wasn't much to see anyway.

Then, Mr. Thrifter and I started cutting the sheer (these shades are a green plastic material, like a plastic table cloth, with a black sheer over it...talk about horrid.)  So, as little Miss Shanty-Chic suggested, I kept the lining to save myself some trouble.  

 Once we had all the black removed, it looked like this....

 Not too shabby!  I almost just left it like that!  haha.  I started thinking about what all came next...blah.  But, in the end, I decided it needed something.

Just a little background knowledge on my lamps....(A.D.D. MOMENT!)  When I bought these lamps, I had no clue what I was going to do with them, I just knew I was going to recover them.  Our living room is green with brown couches.  Our current lamps are waaaaay too small for the furniture, they are moving to our bedroom once this project is finished.  The lamps have a black and green vase.  I know what you are thinking...BLACK AND BROWN?!?!  Has she lost her marbles?  Believe it or not, people in the design and style world are doing this nowadays...check out this "How to Wear Black and Brown"on eHow!!!  Anyway, I have been looking and looking for a great fabric to go on these awesome lamps!  the fabric couldn't be too modern as the lamps are retro...but it couldn't be too retro because I didn't want them to look like they came STRAIGHT out of the 60's/70's!  So, I had to find a happy medium that contained black, brown, and green!  BLAH!  You see my dilemma here!  On to how I found this great fabric...we had a snow day on Tuesday and my little sister called and asked if I could take her to the train station (I would have to drive east to pick her up then drive north west to the train station...ICK) After much hesitation, I decided that I could be nice and take her.  Well, we met about half way...I had to drive mostly country to get there and VERY QUICKLY realized why we had a snow day!  I have a 4x4 and was all over the road!!!  So, we finally made it, alive, and she was off on the train.  I had some errands to run and Jo-Ann's just happened to be on my way so I stopped in "quickly"  Well, for those of you that know me, and my shopping A.D.D., a fabric/craft store visit can NEVER go quickly.  I was there for about an hour, just wandering through isles.  Weird.  BUT!  That's just how I happened on this fabric!  Please see below!

It is PERFECT for what I need it for...but came at a steep price...$10 a yard. OUCH.  I tried to go get one of their little magazine things with the 40% coupon in it...but wouldn't you know, there were the magazines with all the coupons ripped out!  UGH!  I finally just asked the lady at the desk, as I was the only one in the store, and she was kind enough to give me one!  SCORE!  Now I don't feel SOOO bad about paying that much.  So, I finished up my purchases, ran my errands and made my way home.  I was too tired by the time I got home at 9:30pm to work on my shades, so I saved it for the weekend.  Thanks to all the blowing around our snow was doing, I got a call at 5:45 am the next morning saying that we had ANOTHER SNOW DAY!!! YIPEEEEE!!!  I got up early and started on my shades.

This brings us back to where I left off above...After all that ugly crap was cut off, I made my template.  I didn't take any pictures of this because I was way too stressed just trying to keep the shade from rolling all over the place.  After I cut out my template, I put it on my fabric and cut my pieces.  See below:

With my pieces cut, I ironed the fabric and created my ironed overlaps.  Then I went to glue...and realized, I DIDN'T have any E6,000!  AHHH 

And for the final product! YAYYY!!!  I love it!  I especially love the lamps!  The globe at the bottom lights up so you can have a dim "night light" or you can just turn on the top part, or you can turn on both parts!  Man!  I can't get over how cool they are!  I am still trying to decided what I am going to trim the outsides with!  Any suggestions?  I was thinking teal ribbon or green ribbon (what I trimmed the insides with)  

I will post more pics of my steps later after I do my second lamp.  I will also put up some before and afters of the lamps and my living room!  I just LOVE LOVE LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEE it!!!! :)  My husband however, is still unsure.  Sorry if this blog is kind of crazy and all over the place hard to read!  I'm still trying to get used to the whole blogging deal!  :)  I'm signing off for now!!!  ENJOY!