Chevron Lamp Shade DIY
Hello friends! A few weeks ago, I saw this lamp shade and immediately started exhibiting signs of my “I can make that” disease, which I of course caught from Miss C long ago.
I happened to have a white drum shade sitting around, waiting for something awesome to be done to it, so here she is folks: my chevron lamp shade DIY!
The great thing about a chevron pattern, especially on a rounded surface, is that the pattern is very forgiving, and doesn’t have to be lined up perfectly to LOOK like it’s lined up perfectly.
Step 1: Decide how large you want your chevron pattern to be, I chose a little over 3″. Measure from the base of the shade, up to whatever height you’ve chosen for your pattern, and place a strip of blue tape at that height, rotating and placing the tape while measuring every few inches to make sure the height is consistent.
Step 2: Place blue tape in chevron pattern, with the bottom points just touching the bottom of the lamp shade, and the top points just touching the bottom of the blue line you placed above in step 1. You may have to adjust your lines a bit once you get around the shade to make sure there is enough room for all of them. Again, don’t be too worried about each repeat being the exact same width. If it looks even to the eye, it will look even when you’re done. Once you have finished placing the first row, remove the line of tape we placed in step 1.
Step 3: After you’ve removed the line, start repeating the pattern, being sure to leave approximately the same amount of space between each line. Use scissors to trim the edges and make clean points. Repeat row after row until the entire lampshade is covered. Don’t forget to place little corner pieces of tape along the bottom of the shade to fully complete the pattern.
Step 4: Using a stencil paintbrush, paint in a dabbing motion to avoid paint leaking under the tape.
Step 5: Remove the tape, and voila! You’re done!
And here she is nestled in the corner of my living room. Welcome home little lamp! I’m sure you will be very happy here!







Love how this turned out! I also appreciate that this project allows for some movement (as in , not perfect!)….. thanks for adding that!
Awesome! Found you on Pinterest!
Love this! I’m going to try to do this later! Thanks!!
This is great! What kind of paint do you use for the lampshade?
Totally neat idea;]
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O this is SO happening soon at my house! Thnx for the tutorial and inspiration!
What type of paint should I use for this project?
I just used plain old blue tape, and it worked pretty well.
Thanks for reading P&C!
Sent from my iPhone
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I was wondering what kind of paint you used and what material was the lampshade?
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Love this but what kind of paint do I use? Acrylic?
Hi Hannah! Thanks so much! Yes, I used a couple of coats of acrylic paint, watered down just a bit.
Thanks for reading P&C!
Thank you! Did you have a problem with the paint casting a weird shadow once the light was on? I tried to do a similar project before (just with ribbon) but once I turned on my lamp it looked all weird.
Hi Hannah! Turning the light on definitely made a difference in the effect. If the paint is either not thick enough or is uneven it can have a sort of sponge painted victorian feel. I think the trick is to do enough coats, and to make the coats as even as possible. Try putting the shade on and checking the light that comes through the painted parts before you take off the tape!
Thanks again!
[...] chevron into my decor, and earlier this week stumbled upon a great DIY lampshade tutorial over at pomp & circumstance.com. Their directions were pretty straightforward, but I’ll recap here, with a few additional [...]
I love this! Its so easy!
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Such a great project with big impact. I’m excited to try this on a shade I’ve been wanting to update for a while.
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