How to make an IKEA lamp into a whimsical mushroom lamp.

I'm working feverishly on the nursery and while it's almost finally together furniture and organization-wise, I still have to finish the detail painting of the mural and other little touches. Today I focused on the lamp.

 
I purchased the LJUSÅS SALBO at IKEA a couple of weekends ago with the idea of a mushroom or toadstool lamp. Someone suggested a dimmer lamp would be best for night feedings and this one fit the bill. I really liked the curvy base but the little green shade had to go so I also bought a FANSTA shade in a bright red.

I've been thinking about what would be the best way to attach white dots to this fabric shade. So today I tried white felt, white card stock and then plain white printer paper. Tape it on top or cut a circle into the shade and back it with the white? Let's see.

 

Gather some round items to be your pattern and a pencil. Trace onto your paper (I have felt and cardstock here from my trials but ultimately went with plain white printer paper).

The felt (top left) was translucent but it would attract dust and be hard to clean. The card stock (right) was nice and bright; however with the light on it was too opaque. I liked the printer paper best (lower left) because it was bright with the light off and with the light on it was a little translucent letting the light come through.

I tried cutting the shade itself (and did a crappy job I might add - it was really difficult to cut!!) and then sticking a circle of paper on the inside. While it looked good without the light off - I didn't like how it looked with the light on. So - back to taping the dots on top of the shade.

After cutting out different sized dots from the printer paper I used double-stick tape to affix them to the shade and VOILA!! A lovely, whimsical mushroom lamp.

The stuffed momma and baby hedgehogs in the pictures are also from IKEA :) Good luck!
 

Comments

[Jules]

So cute! I had no idea they were paper dots until I read the post. I thought for sure you stenciled or painted them on with your magic brushes. :)

[supersue]

Aw shucks :)