Losing the lamp shade battle

This amazing find came home with me the other day:

It was a Salvation Army find that I scooped up while on the hunt for some large, gawdy gold frames. The frames were nowhere to be found, but the selection of lamps was inspiring! I stopped in during lunch, thought about the lamp all day, and went back after work to snatch it up. To no one's surprise, the lamp was still there...sporting this little notice:

Sold as is, they make no guarantees as to if it actually works. Well, okay...fair enough. But I was a bit puzzled as to how I was going to "check before purchasing" when there was no outlet within reach. Or more importantly, a light bulb. Well, for $5.99 I was going to take my chances!

A fellow shopper commented on how cute the lamp was (well, thank you kind lady!) and then remarked, "now to find a shade, huh?". She had a valid point. I guess I didn't realize just how valid that point would be until I started my search for the perfect drum shade.

I arrived home to find the lamp was in working order (woo hoo!) and ready for a few coats of metallic spray paint. Next up, the search for the perfect shade. An online search turned up some definite contenders:



photos courtesy of Lamps Plus

But then I decided it was best to go neutral, in the event I wanted to move the lamp to another room, or change the hallway color scheme at some point. Back on the hunt, I headed to Target & eyeballed the perfect sized shade! But my "wing it" method proved to be unsucessful, as it was just too big for my new-old lamp (for those of you keeping track--that's 1 point for lamp shades, 0 points for Katie).

So back I went to return my purchase & continued the hunt (this time with measurements!). Lowes, Home Depot & a local lighting store all turned up nothing. HomeGoods produced yet another "perfect" shade, and as I walked out with my $14.99 purchase, I was 99% sure this one was gonna be too big too. So I hit up another lighting store...which was apparently no longer in business. Well, hello fools errand! It was around this point when I realized why the previous owner of my new-old lamp had dumped it at the Salvation Army in the first place!

My last stop was to the most random store in the universe, Christmas Tree Shops, where I discovered you aren't allowed to buy a lamp shade separate from a lamp base...even when you nicely ask the lovely customer service lady. They did, however, have a small selection of shades for purchase, which turned up this:

We have a winner folks! It's pretty much what I had in mind & for $9 (marked down from $16.99), it'll work. The charming pink piping will definitely be changed out. This might be my chance to bring an element of black to the shade!

More pics to come soon...project hallway is moving along!