Christmas Craft: How to DIY festive lampshades
Dec '23
GETTING STARTED
YOU WILL NEED:
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Fabric Lampshade (new or existing)
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Craig & Rose Sample Pots
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Selection of Paint Brushes
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Pencil
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Paper
COLOURS USED
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Wedgwood Lilac
1829 Vintage Collection
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Pullman Green
1829 Vintage Collection
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Morris Blue
1829 Vintage Collection
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Cadmium
1829 Vintage Collection
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Arabian Red
1829 Vintage Collection
GETTING CREATIVE
Step 1: Find Your Inspiration
Start by gathering inspiration for your lampshade design, look at Christmas motifs, foliage, patterns, and colours.
Step 2: Selecting Your Colour Palette
Consider the base colour for your lampshade, the lamp base as well as accent colours or patterns in the room that you may like to incorporate.
Step 3: Practice on a Sheet of Paper
Before you start painting the lampshade, try out different painting techniques and brush strokes on a sheet of paper. This helps you get comfortable with the brushes and paint you will be using.
Step 4: Map Out Your Design
Using a pencil, lightly sketch your design onto the lampshade. You can start with a rough outline and refine it as needed. Consider the placement of your design elements and make sure they are symmetrical if desired.
Step 5: Start Painting
Dilute your chalky emulsion paint with a small amount of water to create a consistency that is easy to work with. Begin painting your design on the lampshade, following the pencil outline. Use a variety of brushes to achieve different textures and effects. Be patient and take your time to ensure a neat and even application. Allow the paint to dry between layers if you want to add depth or shading to your design.
Step 6: Let It Dry, then assemble
After you have completed your painting, allow the lampshade to dry thoroughly. This may take a few hours or more, depending on the paint and the thickness of the layers. Once it is completely dry, carefully place the lampshade back onto the lamp or fixture it is intended for. Turn on the light and admire your hand-painted lampshade.
There is a particular kind of joy in taking a room you see every day and making it feel entirely new. It is a feeling that sits at the heart of our Colour Forecast 2026, and one we wanted to explore through a real transformation.
For this bathroom project, we partnered with Matt Hatt, whose playful, hands-on approach captures the pleasure of decorating from first idea to final reveal. Known for his theatrical touch and his instinct for pairings that are daring yet considered, Matt brings real warmth and personality to everything he touches.
His brief was one many will recognise: to bring personality and cohesion to a main bathroom that, while structurally sound with its subway tiles, black grout and classic fittings, felt out of step with the rest of his Victorian home. The space called for a palette that could honour its period character while introducing something confident and true to himself.
From the four curated palettes within Colour Forecast 2026, Matt was drawn to Timeless, a collection that pairs the elegance of heritage tones with the boldness to reinvent a room, grounded throughout by warm, enveloping neutrals
A Lifelong Love of Transformation
Ever since I was young I've enjoyed transforming the environment around me. I was one of those kids that would go up to my room, and spend all day, on my own, listening to music trying out new combinations before inviting my mum in for a 'Changing Room' style reveal. Always had a flair for the dramatics.
That feeling of making something you see everyday feel completely new has stayed with me, through the many flats I've rented over the years, to my first home that I bought 3 years ago with my boyfriend. Playing with colour and pattern and leaning into the joy of decorating.
Expert Knowledge, Distilled
As a self-taught interior 'creator', I'm always looking for tricks or expert knowledge that I can use in my transformations. Craig and Rose's Colour Forecast is just that, the brand's expert knowledge distilled down into 4 feelings you want and need your room to be in 2026.
The Room That Needed Warmth
Our main bathroom had been on my to do list for a while, the core of it was good, subway style tiles with black grout, a giant fitted bathroom cupboard, a classic white sink, but it lacked warmth, felt out of kilter with the rest of the house.
Why Timeless Stood Out
The Timeless immediately stood out, as they felt to me like they combined the elegance of colours that would suit my Victorian home with the boldness to create a whole new look, and the warmth through the neutrals I was craving.
Knowing that Craig and Rose had done all the hard work for me, and that any combination of beautiful colours from the palette would work helped me to be so decisive when choosing my colours.
Making It My Own
It left me more time to add some creativity into application, and use of colour. Paint is a hugely powerful way to change a space entirely, and by using some decorating tape and following the steps of the useful guide on painting the perfect stripes I now have the bathroom my Victorian home deserves. (Painting Perfect Stripes: A Step-by-Step Guide by Craig & Rose) I have achieved a real stand out space that makes me smile everyday. I adore the warmth of Mallord on the walls and ceiling, Papyrus and Oriental Red on the bath and cabinets, and pops of the energising Smalt on skirtings.
Looking Back
I think 12-year old Matt would be quite chuffed with how far we've come in our transformation skills.
Matt Hatt
The Bathroom a Victorian Home Deserves
With the hard work of colour selection already done, Matt was free to focus on the details that make a space personal, using decorating tape and a steady hand to bring striking painted stripes to life. The result is a bathroom that feels warm, characterful and entirely his own, from the depth of Mallord on the walls and ceiling to the pops of energising Smalt along the skirtings. It is a fitting reminder that, with the right palette to guide the way, a considered transformation can be as enjoyable to create as it is to live with.
His brief was one many will recognise: to bring personality and cohesion to a main bathroom that, while structurally sound with its subway tiles, black grout and classic fittings, felt out of step with the rest of his Victorian home. The space called for a palette that could honour its period character while introducing something confident and true to himself.
From the four curated palettes within Colour Forecast 2026, Matt was drawn to Timeless, a collection that pairs the elegance of heritage tones with the boldness to reinvent a room, grounded throughout by warm, enveloping neutrals
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