Living Room Tweaks and a Lampshade Tutorial

I had a great weekend, how about you?  We did lots of family stuff, but in between all the action I managed to tweak my family room a bit.  Below is a photo of the family room "before."  Mainly I have been frustrated by that cavernous area above my fireplace.  I would so much rather have a traditional fireplace and mantle, but since that's not happening, I just keep tweaking!

The lamp you see up there has a red lampshade.  I decided I wanted a break from the red, so I grabbed a lampshade I had picked up at Goodwill for $4 awhile back (pre-Henry!).  

It was rather plain, so I scrounged around for some fabric that I also had lying around.  In order to cover the lampshade, I first had to trace it onto the fabric so that I could cut the right size.  I ended up with a "U" shape when it was all done.

Then I grabbed my spray adhesive to affix the fabric to the lampshade.  I did this on my deck because I learned the hard way that that adhesive is no fun to scrub off your kitchen countertops!

I also folded down a simple "seam" where the fabric meets (vertically down the length of the lampshade), and ran a bead of glue down the whole thing to hold it.  Then, once the main fabric was glued down, I just needed to seal the top and bottom edges.  First, I made a few snips in every few inches of the fabric so that it would be easier to glue down.

I used my handy glue gun to glue the edges of the fabric to the inside of the lampshade.  Then I just trimmed off the excess when I was finished.  

Here is my new lampshade, complete with a few new accents, in my family room "cavern!"

I also opted to move in a bookshelf that used to live upstairs in the loft.  I feel like the space needed something a little more bulky to the right of the cavern. 

I am happier with the room this way!  It feels a little more cohesive, with a more neutral color palette.  Amazing what one little lampshade can inspire me to do!