How to disguise my ugly light fixtures?

I spray-glued a lacy hand pressed paper to the outside of a shade I didn't like. With those I might paste some subtly printed or textured paper on the outside. I also like your idea of painting them on the inside.

Are the "crystal" things removable?

I'm wondering if you can take them off and then surround the lights with paper Chinese lanterns:

Lots of options here, from plain white:



To funky shapes/ colors:



To prints:




All cheapcheapcheap...

Doy... only just saw "WALL" light fixtures. Sconces, you mean?

I bet you could still fashion hemispheres out of paper lanterns, with wire....

I can totally imagine you making something vaguely like this:



An interesting surround/ frame, and then some really nice paper curving outwards.

You could also probably do this with fabric, if you get some thin/ flexible plastic and then spray-glue the fabric on it.

I think lots of variations of wire armatures and paper or fabric could work here...

Hey! Thanks!! Now you've got me thinking.

I was wondering if I could adapt a regular lamp shade somehow but I would have to cut it in half to get it to fit against the wall (I need a half circle). But I would need a way to affix it to the wall so it would have to have some kind of brace across the back.

If I bought a lampshade and snipped it in half, would it hold it's form?

The little crystal things (actually not so little about 2x8" each) just hang on those little hooks so they come off really easy. (Mo has been using the crystal things for some kind of pretend money so I might have trouble getting them back).

The crystal things are actuall plexiglass or plastic of some kind. The front edge is beveled, they're maybe 1/4 inch thick. Do you think they'd be paintable. It might look kind of stained glassy if I tried something like that.

But the hook appartus can come off the fixture so I don't have to use it.

The hook apparatus could also be screwed into the wall (it's sort of a "D" shaped thing with hooks coming off it) so I could make something long and center the light in it.

I could also snip the hooks off and use the "D" thing as an armature for type of material.

I think I would need something with a weight of about watercolor paper for it to hold it's form.

You need the expertise of Lightwizard to help you solve this problem.

Does Mo do watercolors?

You could get some colored foil - cut out a pattern and stick it on the glass panels.

Ohhhhhh. Some interesting ideas. Thanks.

I was showing this thread to Mr. B so, after completely cracking up about my having found our current fixture on craigslist, he doesn't think I'm completely crazy to try to reconfigure something out of what we now have.

I think I'll experiment a little with some paint and paper and see what happens.

Do you think wallpaper would work -- like a grasscloth wallpaper?

Hm, I am not so sure that the glue would hold it together when the lamp
gets hot. Grasscloth is rather heavy and probably could warp.

I admit that it has been a couple of decades since I've bought wallpaper but don't they still make the unpasted kind? They used to sell regular and prepasted but maybe prepasted is the new regular.

I was thinking that I could use the D shaped form I have as an armature, affix the paper to the armature with glue or clips or something and screw the armature back into the fixture or into the wall.

I think that would work...
What about going to a scrapbooking place or art store and looking at their papers?
A stiff frosted plastic might be nice. Like those super thin plastic cutting boards.
Wallpaper -I'm not sure about nonpasted, but I'm thinking buying a roll is a lot of paper.

You could use a frosting spray on your "crystals". On the back side.
Paint may stick, but it would be nice to have an extra one to experiment with beforehand.
Vinyl sign companies also has tranlucent vinyl that could be adhered to the backsides. You could take one in and talk to someone there. Small pieces of vinyl shouldn't be expensive or diffulcult to stick down.

The 12x12 paper they sell for scapbooking is not wide enough. To fit the curve of the armature I'd need at least 20 inches.

I went by the art store the other day while light shopping just to try on some ideas. They have beautiful handmade papers but they were very thin. I don't think they have enough body on their own.

I do have extras. In fact, I have sanded down the back of one and put some clear primer on it so I can play around a bit.

But I was thinking that my house really needs some textiles (there are so many hard surfaces and it will probably stay that way until Mo gets a bit older) and this might be a good way to introduce them.

just for fun

another idea...


This website has a how-to page that looks good, plus lots of other stuff that might be interesting.
http://www.lampshop.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&amp;Store_Code=ls&amp;Category_Code=13_09<br />

As some people worry about their lighting fixtures, the world around them are falling apart at the seams.