Crooked, Cracked, and Shady

Moving day 2012 was just like most of our other moves (wayyyyyyy too many to recount at this point since we're in the double digits).  As usual we were completely packed.  As usual friends helped us load up the truck.  As usual the truck was just a bit too small.  As usual stuff got broken.  It's to be expected no matter how carefully I pack.  Kinda like a badge of honor with weird bragging rights...I think my furniture talks to each other saying stuff like..."Oh yep I earned that dent back in the Big Sunshine Move of 2004.  See that scratch...it's from that bike that leaned on me for 3 long days during the North Pole Move of 2008.  And we still cannot speak of the Disaster Moves of 2003.  Both of them.  We lost a few good possessions that year.  May that bubble glass vase rest in peace...'cause it sure was in pieces."

So I was not shocked to find that my lamp shades did not quite survive the Mall of America Move of 2012.  They were all cracked up (and not in a funny ha ha good way.)   But much like the crack disasters on Celebrity Rehab...I wanted to try to save them.  Why?  Because lamps and shades are some of the most overpriced items out there.  Along with painting services.  (If ya wanna be the next millionaire...skip college and become a house painter who sells lighting fixtures.  And moonlight by building cat scratching posts.  Become crazy rich with no student loans to pay back.  Awesome!)

In the meantime, I'll just keep on rescuing and rehabbing my cracked shades.  Originally they lived in the bedroom of our North Pole house.  The shades had a pleated fabric on the outside glued to a plastic drum on the inside.  After the move, the plastic drums were cracked beyond repair.  So I went about removing all the plastic which allowed the fabric to unpleat and hang low, almost twice as long as before (yes again...this calls for another "that's what she said."  Hopefully I will stop saying what she said soon).

I also had to remove a ribbon from the back which was covering the fabric seam and making the shade hang all crooked.  Needless to say...I still need to hot glue the seams together and cover it with some ribbon.  Probably will take less than 5 minutes but 9 months later it's still on my to-do list.

My solution was to face the seam against the wall.  'Cause in my world...if you can't see it then it doesn't exist.  A few months ago, I did consider fixing it...but then I couldn't find the glue sticks for my hot glue gun.  I finally bought some glue sticks but now I probably won't be able to find the glue gun.  'Cause I'm just lucky like that.

I don't think these lamps are a permanent solution since the table lamp is a bit short for my liking but it works for now.  So until the lamps start interrupting my sleep by talking to me at 2am...the current setup is a keeper.  Of course it helps that I didn't have to shell out any cash for this lighting project which makes the whole thing that much more attractive.