Premier Lampshades have just completed another antique lamp shade restoration project and this time it was for Dame Janet Ritterman.  We have made for Royalty and Celebrities before but never a Dame. We have even made wall light lampshades for Jamie Oliver`s Mother Sally and Father Trevor at the The Cricketers, Clavering, Nr Saffron Walden, Essex.  We were  invited for a weekend stay at the Cricketers and fitted the lampshades while we were there.  Anyway getting back to Dame Janet`s Ritterman's lamp shade, when Dame Janet told me the dimensions i must of been thinking of something else because when it arrived to us ,i have never seen such a large standard lamp shade before (28" Inches across the bottom of the shade.)  But not one to be put off, I just got on with it.  You can see in the 1st picture the antique lamp shade was really old, also the lining on the inside had perished.

 

Antique Lampshade Restoration

 

We totally stripped it down to the bare frame and give it a quick rub down with some wire wool and then wiped it with white spirits getting it ready for spraying in a white enamel gloss spray paint.  Then we left it to dry for several hours while we made the new covers in a plain cream dupion fabric and a cream stretch lining for the inside of the  antique lamp shade restoration.  The day after, when the frame had dried, we recovered the lampshade with the new covers  we had made the previous day, then lined it in the stretch lining  we had already prepared.  Dame Janet sent me a small piece of her new carpet  she had fitted and wanted me to best match it with our braid and tassel fringe.  In the next set of pictures you can see the finished lamp shade and i have to be honest it was not the easiest i have ever restored.  Dame Janet was so very kind to email me some pictures of the bespoke lampshade in situ and you can see from the pictures the antique lamp shade restoration project looks stunning in her living room.