Hello,

Do you remember this little jem from Dogs vs Cats Episode 2?

Well, I am a little embarrassed to admit that it has spent the last month or so looking like this.

Okay, lets be honest. I am not really that embarrassed as you well know if you have read any of the other escapades in the Dogs vs Cats series. They (the Dogzilla’s and the Cat Monster) trash it. I fix it. Such is the rhythm of our household.

At any rate, our lamp stood sentinel headless or at least hat-less over the living room in this compromising position for weeks, while I, accomplished the arduous task of ignoring its shameful existence. Finally deciding this week to put an end to it’s nakedness and humiliation, I began what can only be called a semi successful attempt to make an entirely new lampshade.

I presume that it goes without saying that the other lampshade was completely demolished weeks ago by one of the many rampages of the Dogzillas.

At this point some of you may be feeling the need to give me pet parenting advise. Please don’t. 🙂

We love our pets far more than our furniture and if that makes us a little weird so be it. I also enjoy the challenge of trying to make my home more pet friendly and pet durable. I get particularly giddy when I can accomplish these no small feats with something I already have on hand or better still something I would normally throw away. I make this comment primarily because I post a lot of my projects on Hometalk where they seem to get much more attention and many more comments. Most of these comments are very nice and complimentary but there are the occasional naysayers who I do try to ignore. I am, however, human and not always successful in this endeavor.

One Hometalker recently made this comment on the cat proof chair cover post from last week.

“Don’t you think a better thing to do is get rid of the destructive animal.
Why do people want to adjust their lifestyles to accommodate a cat or two?
BTW I love cats and dogs but would not live with an animal that tore up my furniture.
Just saying!”

He is not actually wanting me to answer these questions is he? Here is my imaginary response.

“Yes I am sure you are right! Why didn’t I think of just discarding my pets? I thought that love was patient, so I was willing to teach my pets. I thought that love was kind so I forgave my pets when they did damage and I thought that love never failed. So, if I loved my pets I would not kick them out of their home the minute they became an inconvenience. Thank you for clearing up the true meaning of love for me.”

O silly me I do hope that you know I am just poking a little fun at Mr Curmudgeon, after all he is entitled to his opinions but I can only say to him, “Stay away from this blog. You are not my people and you have entirely missed the creative, trash hoarding and pet loving point.”

PS I hope you don’t have messy kids. 🙂

I guess we should proceed onto the point of this post.

I had some wooden balloon sticks, some thin dollar store wire and some paint from which I decided to fashion a new frame for the shade.

I also had some wrappers from granola bars, chips etc that were silver foil on one side. To make them silver on both sides I glued two piece together with some rubber cement.

And then traced and cut out circle shapes.

The circles were then stitched together to make a sheet.

The foil sheets were glued to the frame with E6000 glue and trimmed as needed to fit the frame.

The final step was to add a thin coat of watered down black paint to the foil and then dab most of the paint back off with paper towel for a less shiny more antique look.

It’s not my best work but it will do for now. Besides who knows how long it will last in this crazy house anyway.

Unless I get ride of the dogs.

Hummmm.

Lampshade or Dogs, which one would I rather keep?

If, in the unlikely event, you are still worried about the likelihood of me getting rid of the Dogzillas or Cat Monsters rest assured  I can’t even discard an empty toilet paper roll with out feeling a pang of guilt.  🙂

Happy Upcycling,