Cheap Fixes: lampshades that don't look like a craft project

Eddie Ross is a Senior Style Editor at Martha Stewart Living and he writes a blog that's chock full of his hyper creative ideas on how to elevate the everyday. In keeping with my series on cheap fixes from a couple of weeks ago, I'm going to turn Mr. Ross loose on some lampshades.

Lampshades can cost a fortune and I've never figured out why. I'm not one for fussy interiors and I've always looked at lampshades with suspicion. They seem to me the first step down a slippery slope that leads to the land of too too. Lampshades are a stepping stone to the harder stuff, like shirred draperies. Ugh. Even with that said, they're pretty necessary and his posting from 6 November, Eddie had a great idea for them.

Here's a pile of shades Eddie found at a Salvation Army in Hell's Kitchen. These things probably cost him two or three bucks a pop and he pointed out that Target's also a great place to find plain, inexpensive lampshades.

Anyhow, Eddie spray painted a couple of these shades and then embellished them with spike tape. Spike tape is a cotton fabric tape that stagehands use to make temporary marks on a stage. I'm amazed how some spray paint and spike tape transformed these shades. I'm equally amazed by how these three different cheap fixes alter completely the room they're place in.

So here's one he spray painted green and then trimmed in black spike tape. You'd never know that this was a five dollar plus a half hour of your life project. It's interesting and kind of fun. If I saw this in some one's home I'd think they spent real money on it.

This black shade with gray trim is more formal and looks even less home made than the green shade.

Here's my favorite. He didn't even paint this one, he just applied some tape in a kind of modern-ish way. Who would have guessed? What can I say Eddie? I'm impressed. So check out Eddie Ross' blog and if you need some spike tape for a project of your own, you can find it at Good Buy Guys.