How to add a harp to a lamp

Lately I have only had time for smaller updates around the house like my hallway I shared on Monday which I still have to paint by the way (click HERE if you missed it). Today is another one of those but it shows how much small changes and update can impact a room and decor.

I’ve always felt like the scale of my lampshades was off on my lamps by the fireplace. I bought the lamp bases originally at Target years ago and still really like them. They didn’t come with the shades but I also bought them at Target. The lamps are plain without any harps to attach different shades that need a harp.

leopard pillow HERE | similar plaid pillow HERE | pinecone DIY HERE
similar pom pom throw HERE | fur HERE

When I recently went to HomeGoods and found a pair of black studded shades, I knew they’d be perfect. The scale was perfect and the price at $12.99 each was perfect too. The only problem was that they needed a harp on the lamp base.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the shades I had. Just thought the new ones were a better scale and a nice change.

How to add a harp to a lamp

In my case I needed:
– a harp
– lamp steel pipe
– two light socket 3 way switches

This is what the top of the Target lamp looked like:

 

So what did I do? I explored and took one of the lamp bases apart by loosening the screws on the bottom and the top.

I was hoping to just take off the top, add the harp that I ordered on Amazon (click HERE) and then put it back together. What I didn’t know was that the Target lamp top was glued on. It wasn’t just screwed on, nope…someone had put glue on the screw thread which made it impossible to unscrew again.

So I ordered some more new lamp parts on Amazon: two new lamp steel pipes (click HERE) and two light socket 3 way switches (click HERE). The pipes and sockets screwed on and matched perfectly. Please do consider that if you’d like to attempt the same thing with one of your lamps that you need to buy the correct pipe length. My lamp had a 15″ pipe inside so I bought another 15″ inch pipe. Yours might be completely different.

All I did was thread it all back together on to the new pipe and secure it with the old screws.

And when it was time to put the electrical parts back together, I watched this video I found on youTube  HERE. There is no need for me to come up with my own video when this one is informative and helpful and just what I needed.

 

Don’t forget to thread the harp on before you put the light socket on.

Add your harp and voila.

And here is the new black lamp shade. I can even go back to the old lamp shade if I feel like it.

throw HERE | fur HERE | rug HERE | pillow HERE | pinecone DIY HERE | black candles HERE | similar star burst HERE | similar blue box HERE

I searched high and low for the same shades online and just couldn’t find them. It’s just another lucky HomeGoods find and I’m sorry I can’t share a link with you guys. But you can totally DIY something like this. THESE shades her are available in black and all you have to do is add some nailhead trim HERE or even better are THESE nailhead stickers so you can space them out like my lamps shade.

I want to finish this blog post with a quick photo of the tassels I found in my attic when I was purging. Love when that happens. A tassel hoard! What could be better, right?

Oh and if you like tassels as much as I do then you might like my giant tassels made from my old sofa tutorial by clicking HERE.

 

Try it if you have a lamp that needs a little something else. Another small change that I want to do is replace the pinecone art (click HERE to see the easy tutorial). I don’t know how much longer I can get away with the wintery/Christmas look of the pinecone. What do you think?
Another small ch

Well that was it for today again.

Tschüß.

(Youleeya)