Pottery Barn Inspired French Lampshade

While I have been in somewhat of a crafting slump lately, my best friend has been on a crafting frenzy since we returned from our shopping trip to Canton.  Since she doesn’t have a blog, I’ll be sharing some of her finds and projects over the next few days!

First up is a cute little lampshade she made to dress up a corner in her kitchen.  This was a trouble spot for her, since it had been decorated with “leftover” accessories since they moved in their home several months ago.   Here’s how the corner looked before:

A trip to Canton and a scan through the Pottery Barn catalog finally provided the needed inspiration for a change. Here’s the after:

The tin was purchased in Canton and the platter is from TJMaxx.  The lampshade was inspired by this one from Pottery Barn:

You can make one of these lampshades of your very own! Here’s how she did it.

Start with a plain shade in a light color.

Print out any words or phrases that you want to use on the shade.  My friend Googled “French phrases” and found one that she liked and printed it out in a fancy font.  “Que mes baisers soient les mots d'amour que je ne te dis pas”  translates to “kisses are the unspoken words of love.”

Tape the words on the underside of the shade.

Add any other elements that you’d like to personalize your shade, such as a postal marks, numbers, dates or initials.

When the lamp is turned on, the words show through clearly, allowing you to trace them.

Trace over the printed words/phrases with a pencil. Paint your traced words/phrases.  Don’t worry about being perfectly straight or exact, you kind of want an imperfect smudged look.

She also dry brushed on a little brown paint to age the shade a bit.  You could also try doing a tea stain to darken it to achieve the look you want.

And there you have it! A French-themed, Pottery Barn lookalike shade for a fraction of the cost!  I’ll be sharing this post with Metamorphosis Monday, DIY Day, Transformation Thursday, and more fun linky parties seen HERE.