up-cycled lamp shades

I have bought second hand and upcycled all my life.  I was attending jumble sales before I hit my teens.  I can vaguely remember wearing a blue velvet jacket bought at a jumble sale before I was thirteen, this may or may not be before I began to sew, so I don't know if I refashioned it at all.  When I moved into my home, I did not have a lot of stuff to bring with me, so my love of upcycling was very useful as I did not have a lot of money either, but I have always wanted a home that whilst warm and comfortable was also indicative of my personality and love of second hand goods that have been rejuvenated and craft work.  I prefer a home to look lived in, colorful  and interesting and have character, I don't mind if the house is a little shabby ( I am not the tidiest person in the world).  My house from the outside is not full of character but I hope that the things I fill it with are.  Unfortunately living in this way means that it takes longer than usual to decorate and it can get a little messy, this may not be conducive to a harmonious home life.

Some years ago, I worked in a hotel, I needed some lampshades and I had the idea of using the wine labels as decoupage on a plain white shade.  My work colleagues thought I was mad, but were happy enough to save me any interesting/colourful labelled wine bottles that were sold so that I could soak the labels off the bottle.  I dried the labels out and stuck them to a plain white lampshade.

This is how that lamp shade looks today.

 

This lampshade sits on my very colourful windowsill, which I will blog about later in the year.

Have a good week!