lamp shade | Sewhooked

How many Ofensteins does it take to change a light bulb?

In this case, two.

So, we had this light fixture. It was a super-cheap, builder installed glass globe. The problem was, the light hangs on a chain in our stairwell. The glass globe, attached to the fixture by screws. It takes a broom handle with a hook attached to the end just to reach it. It takes one person to hold it with the broom while the other gingerly removes the globe, swaps the bulb and then replaces the globe. All of this while trying desperately to not drop any of the breakable pieces to the concrete of the first floor below.

In short, changing the light bulb…pain in the rear end. And the thing was not even pretty.

Some time ago, I found a fabulous silk (or silk-like) lampshade at a thrift store. It cost $2. The shade was meant to be on a floor lamp, but I really wanted to use it in the stairwell. The problem was, I could never quite figure out how, so for over a year, it hung from a hook in my bedroom ceiling.

Then the stairwell light bulb went out.

The hubby and I went to work as described above. 15 minutes into the painful act of changing the stairwell light bulb, with two dropped screws and a lot of swearing, we took a break before putting the glass globe back on.

Then, epiphany. I finally figured out how to attach the shade to the fixture.

I used a small hole punch and made evenly spaced holes around the top of the shade. Into these, I attached short chain I made out of split rings, and then to that, S-hooks. The S-hooks went into the base of the original fixture where the glass globe was attached by screws.

Wallah! A thing of beauty…and no breakable parts.