Lamp shades

[saraha]

How do you clean your lampshades? How often do you replace them?

Thanks!

[Melissa in Australia]

Wait, What do you mean by clean??????? 

[Tap]

I vacuum them with the soft brush on my vacuum every few months. Generally when I do my vents and ceiling fans.  If they get to the point of needing to be replaced, usually the whole lamp in ready to go too.

[KidsHappen]

If they are soft material, I vacuum them with the brush attachment. If they are a hard material I wipe them with a damp cloth. I have some lamps that are 25 years old and I have never had to replace a shade just from regular use. I have had some that have gotten crumbled or hard ones that have broken in which case I replace with lampshades from somewhere like Hobby Lobby. 

[popmom]

1 hour ago, Melissa in Australia said:

Wait, What do you mean by clean??????? 

I feel this in my bones. Thank you.

When it has become dire, I have used a damp cloth to wipe them down. 
 

This reminds me of a dear friend… We both worked at times for our church in different ways. I was a janitor for about a year. She would help out if deep cleaning was needed. One of my duties was making sure the blinds were dusted/cleaned. This was on top of already overwhelming amount of mopping, bathrooms, etc. It was too much for one person. I asked my friend, “how often do you clean your blinds at home???” I was so relieved when she said, “I don’t!!” 😂 We both agreed that we would just replace them if they got that bad off! I quit that position, and they replaced me with 2 kids half my age. And they couldn’t even keep up! I felt vindicated lol. Those kindergarteners don’t care if there’s dust on the blinds! 
 

or the lampshades!

[popmom]

I have never really needed to replace a lampshade. My oldest lamp—floor lamp—is one I bought at Tuesday Morning (RIP) 30 years ago right after I got married. I still adore that lamp. I replaced the shade a couple of years ago just on a whim, but I kept the original shade because it’s nice and good quality. 

[Pawz4me]

Pleated shades are vacuumed with a brush attachment. Sometimes I vacuum the non-pleated ones, sometimes I swipe a sticky roller over them. I've never replaced a lamp shade, although I have thought about it. Apparently vaguely thinking about replacing one is as far as I can get on that. 😉 

[Katy]

I dust them with a swiffer every time I dust, about once a week. And the pair in the dining room I lint roll maybe once a week. 

[MEmama]

My grandmother owned a lampshade shop of all things; the first time I went in was the first time I became aware lampshades could be separate entities from the lamps they are attached to, a fact I promptly forgot and have just now been reminded of some 4 decades later. Does my newly re-found knowledge mean I have to start dusting or--heaven forbid--replacing them?!

[TexasProud]

I have very few lamps, now that I think about it.  There are the ones in my bedroom and that is it.  They are pleated and maybe once or twice a year, I get out the vacuum and use the attachment to vacuum them. Normally either when very special company is coming or if they have gotten so bad I notice. 

[almondbutterandjelly]

The couple few times I have cleaned my lamp shades, I have used one of those tape lint rollers and rolled the dust right off.

[Spryte]

1 hour ago, TexasProud said:

I have very few lamps, now that I think about it.  There are the ones in my bedroom and that is it.  They are pleated and maybe once or twice a year, I get out the vacuum and use the attachment to vacuum them. Normally either when very special company is coming or if they have gotten so bad I notice. 

Oh, interesting! What kind of lighting do you have in other parts of the house? 
 

To answer the OP, we vacuum shades with a soft brush attachment. I love lighting on lots of levels (different heights) so we have a big combo of shades and other types of lighting — all can be vacuumed with a soft brush attachment. Not that I do it until the situation is, ummmm, desperate.

[TexasProud]

4 hours ago, Spryte said:

Oh, interesting! What kind of lighting do you have in other parts of the house? 
 

The living room and playrooms have an overhead fan with a light in the center.  Then it has canned lights on the perimeter of the room.   Both have an end table on it, but there is no lamp.  The kids' bedrooms used to have a bedside table with a light, but they all took the table, the lamp or both with them.  I haven't replaced them. 

[SHP]

I swapped out almost all lamps for wall sconces and all have glass shades. The sole remaining lamp is one my FIL made and means the world to my husband so I had a glass shade made for it. The lamp is tucked away in storage because teenagers.

 

[Arcadia]

The only lamps in my house are the Ikea lamps that collect dust in its inverted cover. I am shorter than those lamps so my husband or my kids clean those when they remember to. 

[Jaybee]

This is timely for me, because I just noticed a couple of days ago that a shade in my bedroom is very dusty. I never thought about using a lint roller on it, so I will try that!

 

[Shoeless]

I vacuum the shade with the brush attachment whenever I think "Wow, that shade sure looks dusty". There's no set timeframe for doing this. 

I'm surprised someone would get rid of a lamp rather than just get a new shade for it? 

As I have established in other threads, I'm cheap and most of my stuff has come from goodwill or an estate auction. All of our table lamps came from a box lot auction, minus the shade. I purchased replacement shades at a local home store and the thrift store. One of the lamps was a fancy, expensive full-spectrum-sunlight kind of lamp that required a $50 light bulb (!!!). I bought a lamp kit and rewired it to use regular bulbs. Easy peasy.