Ikea Lamp Makeover. "As Is" Item Just Got BETTER.

You all fans from Ikea know the "as is" section, right??
And sometimes you find things that would work out, it's just that they're too damaged.
Well, ladies and robots, I think it's a nice opportunity for a makeover.
You see, I live in Mexico City and we don't have an Ikea store here, but when I visited my sis at Orlando last april, I thought that was my first and last visit to the home decor cheap heaven.
Wrong!! But I did cease the opportunities. I saw this really cool paper lamp but it was kinda pricey for me. But then, when I thought my hopes were trashed, I went to the As Is area and found the same lamp with a $3 shave off, just for a tiny hole in the paper shade.
"So what if it has a hole?" I said. But then, when I faced the packing issue, I found myself in the position of having to destroy the paper at all. Bummer?? Not at all, as soon as I hit home, I started the makeover.

I got lucky finding the lamp I was obsessed with, but you can take anything there and make it your own. So, go to your nearest Ikea and go straight to the As Is. Look for something broken or damaged, something you can work with and be proud of the final results.

I got the Orgel Table Lamp with the tinniest hole, at the awesome price of $4 USD. Sweet!!

Now that you have your lamp, you need some basics: a new sheet of paper, something to stick everything and a supervisor. In my case, I used three sheets of tissue paper, I drew the design on just one of them and save the other two. The pretty part of it?? I used Sharpies and that turned out so well!! I used 1 part of white glue for 1 part of water mix to make one sheet out of the three. And although I'm a big girl, I appreciate Momo's supervision on every project. She keeps the leash really tight!!

Of course, you need a big enough surface to work on. Cover it with plastic and newspaper in case of any leaks. Plastic will avoid your tissue paper getting stuck with the newspaper, so it's really important!!

Pile up the three sheets of tissue paper, the one with the design on top BUT with the design on the inside part.

With a soft brush, start soaking the paper with the glue/water mix. You have to be very careful, tissue paper is really delicate.

As you can see, I started from the corner. BIG MISTAKE. You'll get so much less bubbles if you start from the center to the sides.

You can either wait the whole night for the paper to dry or do as I did and use the old hair drier. I was in a rush to see the final results!!

You'll end with a crunchy, maleable, harder sheet of paper, with an awesome design from a Photoshop curls paint (royalty free, of course).

I'm still figuring out getting a smoother texture, but wrinkly works for me.

Time to bring the damaged goods. Because of the packing, the tiny hole became a HUGE gap, but doesn't matter!! Nevertheless, I measured the shade before stripping it. It does matters, because of this two wires that hold the frames. So, MEASURE BEFORE STRIPPING!!

Now let's bring the Marvin Gaye CD, because it's stripping time!!
We need to get rid of every particle of paper and glue, so our own paper will stick right. See those wires I was talking about?? It's so hard to put them in their place if you didn't take measures correctly.
Now we have our basics: sheet of paper, frames and the joy of doing stuff with the hands.

I used white glue as well to mount the paper on to the frames. I did it one side at a time, both frames together, then I put the wires on its place. Now the shade is standing on its own.

Put the shade on its proper place, plug the lamp and turn it on!!!
Oh wait... a few days later I added black ribbon to the edges, it looks a little bit more finished, without the paper edges where they stick together right on sight (no pics about that, sorry, I'll update it soon).
And if you ask me... my lamp is gorgeous!!!