DIY Lampshade for Ikea’s Arstid Wall Lamp
Many years ago, we purchased 2 lovely Arstid wall lamps from Ikea. (They’re peeking out in a few of these pictures from our previous Beach Cottage Bedroom.)
We used and loved them for years. Then one day, the glue let loose on one of the shades and it fell off. I tried and tried, but – like Humpty Dumpty – I just couldn’t put it back together again!
Sadly, we discovered that Ikea doesn’t have replacement lampshades for this particular lamp.
I’ve been searching and searching for shades, but the design of the lamp made it impossible to find replacements.
I decided to start thinking outside the box and looked for anything that might remotely work.
As we were in the checkout line at Ikea last month, my eye landed on this item:
Tea light holder lanterns. I tested them in the store to see if they just might happen to fit on the wall lamp – and they did!
I thought the black shade on the silver lamp was a bit wonky, though, so I decided to give it a little spray paint makeover.
I taped off the chain and cord with painter’s tape and sprayed the lamp base with Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint.
Then, I covered the whole outside of the lampshade with painter’s tape.
I made sure to press down firmly on each piece tape, so that paint wouldn’t run through the cut out designs. I then sprayed the inside with metallic gold spray paint.
Although I forgot to take pictures of some of these steps, I did do the whole thing on Facebook Live [here] and [here]. (If you want a few pointers on how to make a spray paint booth and spray painting tricks, be sure to click those links.)
The gold paint inside brightens and warms up the light, and adds a touch of sparkle to the space. We love how they turned out:
Having the lamps up on the wall frees up more space on our nightstands ~ a great trick for a small space!
PS.If you need a little chuckle for the day, head over to my Instagram feed to see the hilarious “behind the scenes” photo of the above picture.:)
How clever to spray the insides with gold. You sure love painting, and do a beautiful job.