Ever need a little change? Well, I had this idea for a lampshade makeover for a while, and my friends at Royal Design Studio stencils helped me work it out. Let me show you how easy it is to update or refresh lampshades with their help. And keep reading to the end for a little something special.

So, if you hadn’t heard, there are two things that are definitely out: wallpaper and country stencils. But what is IN is large scale stencil patterns that sometimes mimic wallpaper patterns.

Once you have a stencil, you can use it on all sorts of thing, like walls, furniture, and even lampshades. I’m going to show you what to do and what not to do with these two lampshade makeovers. I had as my inspiration these upscale shades:

Royal Design Studio Stencils sent me two fabulous stencils to try. The Small Hollywood Squares is very classic and glamorous. The Small Kinetic Floral is brand new, and so cheerful!

*****I want them all*****

I was working with two shades. A small drum shade that was just a tad too small for the lamp I had been using it with. The shade is plain but older, so it is showing a bit of age. I wanted to jazz it up. It is a perfect drum shade, so rolling the stencil around the frame worked really well. I used a little spray craft adhesive to stick the stencil to the project.

I started with regular craft paint, which is only a about a buck for each small bottle from the craft store. This first shade I tried using a foam brush, and lightly brushing it through the stencil.

I would not recommend doing this with a foam brush. While the overall affect is nice from across the room, the paint just doesn’t go on evenly, and the finished pattern looks a bit fuzzy. It should have been a crisp geometric pattern. That was my user error, not a problem with the stencil.

But what I loved about this stencil was how the seam looks. Even though it doesn’t match perfectly, it’s a great looking seam, aligned with the original fabric. Below is the “ugly” side that would face the wall.

With one shade down, I changed my approach, and went with the foam roller, which is what Royal Designs Studio recommends.

Be sure to roll it on, then roll it off onto a paper towel, so you only have a very small amount of paint on the roller.

It may not look like there is enough paint on the roller, but if you go over it just a few times, you’ll see plenty of color!

Protect the seams by running a line of painter’s tape where you want to end the pattern.

Because this second shade isn’t a perfect drum and has a little taper at the top, I have very slight gaps at the bottom where I moved my stencil. So this works best with a true drum shade. But it wasn’t a big deal, and my little one loves her hot pink lampshade.

Here are my two lampshade makeovers:

The really fun thing about stencils is that you can customize anything. My next project will be to repaint this little night table (with the old-fashioned stencil) with the same graphic Small Kinetic Floral and hot pink paint, so they coordinate in the room. I promise to take show you when I get a chance.

Y’all know I’ve been doing a lot of giveaways recently, but I wanted something everyone could enjoy this time. The folks at Royal Design Studios are interested in seeing your creativity at work. They have offered a discount on your next all-over stencil design purchase. Here’s the code:

D-HEARTWORK20 with 20% off stencils

This discount code is valid from May 22-June 5.

I would really love to know what stencil designs you are thinking of. Please, take a picture and email me your ideas! I’ll even be the tie-breaker for you if you are in between a couple of choices.