The Palette Muse

Creating a color-filled life

Lamp Shade Hack

41 Comments

Don’t you hate it when you score a great thrifty find, only to realize that the amount of work you have to put into it to make it usable is more than a new one would cost?  This is what I’m always trying to avoid when shopping in thrift stores.  But sometimes a plan just doesn’t come together like you think it will.  Then you need a hack.  As in, to hack in to a system and make it work for you in a way it probably wasn’t originally intended.  Today, I’m sharing a cool hack that my husband came up with for retrofitting a lamp with an uno socket.

What’s an uno socket?  That’s the term for the bulb socket that has a little flared lip on it so a lamp shade doesn’t need a harp (the metal support thing that looks like a lyre, with a finial on top).  Uno sockets are usually found on table lamps or smaller accent lamps, since larger floor lamps require larger shades, with more room for a harp.

Anyway, back at the fun part of the ranch, I found this gorgeous glass lamp base at Goodwill for $3.99, then I scored this beautiful lamp shade on sale, and with a coupon, from World Market, so this was a pretty thrifty pairing.  But when I got the lamp shade home, I realized it was the wrong kind for my lamp base.  I needed an uno socket to be able to use the lamp shade, but I really didn’t want to rewire the whole lamp.

Not to be deterred, I got online and did a search for “uno socket retrofits” and found that you can buy them, but at almost the same cost of the whole lamp and shade!  Now I was discouraged, and complained to my husband.  Always one to support me spending less money, he came up with the brilliant plan to use the neck from a gallon milk jug to make a flange around the socket that the shade could sit on.  Here’s how it works.

  1. First, I cut the neck off of a gallon jug.
  2. Then trimmed it a little, to take off the sharp edges.
  3. Checked to make sure it fit the lamp and shade.
  4. Layered the milk jug piece on the socket, then the shade, then the bulb.

Now my lamp shade is sittin’ pretty, with the whole lamp costing less than $11.00!

Sometimes you just need to think out of the box, and into the jug, to solve a problem.

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Comments

  2. You are brilliant! I’m so glad there was such an easy solution for a seemingly insurmountable problem! Even better than I didn’t even have to leave my house to fix it!

    Reply

  4. Have you had any issues with the plastic heating up? I have a gorgeous shade I bought online that I love, but it doesn’t fit the base I have correctly. It’s an uno, but it wobbles. I think your solution should work, but I’m worried about safety.

    Reply

    • That’s a great question! The answer is no, and to make sure, I left the lamp on for hours yesterday, but the plastic didn’t heat up at all. If you’re worried about it, you might try using a CFL or LED bulb because those put off even less heat than an incandescent bulb, like I was using. It shouldn’t be a problem, but you can never be too careful!

      Reply

  7. This is a fabulous idea and so glad I found your post from 3 years ago! I have literally made 4-5 trips to the local big box hardware store (plus a couple trips to Walmart) in my attempt to get my thrift store lamp (originally from Pottery Barn and now retired) and Uno-style lamp shade to work! Something so simple and yet the perfect solution!

    Reply

  8. I love the internet…typed in my problem and up comes this solution! Worked perfectly!!! So now I can use the lamp shade I found and loved on the lamp I already owned and loved. Thanks so much for sharing, Meredith!

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  10. I have the opposite problem. The socket on the lamp base is a bit big for the shade as it barely sits on the socket. Have you experienced this?

    Reply

    • Same problem here. The shade is only as steady as the light bulb. Did you find any solution? Some have suggested electrical tape or rubber gaskets or bands, or even a bead of silicon underneath the uno fitting to give it something large to sit on.

      Reply

  13. Best hack yet. I try to think outside the box..and had created a hack that was doable but not ideal. This is ideal…thank you for sharing .

    Reply

  14. I have been trying to figure out a lamp shade/base combo for months, finally got the right shade for the base and since World Market shades aren’t universal, I thought I was out of luck- til I found this! Thank you!

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  15. Thank you so much! This worked great with my old floor lamp and my new shade from World Market. We had tried everything we could think of and everything that we could find online. I was ready to return the shade. My husband added a slight variation where he put the milk jug neck (as shown) on the socket followed by the shade then the milk jug lid (with a hole cut in the top) to secure the fit with no wobble.

    Reply

  16. I’d hug you if I could! I’ve been carrying around a lampshade for a year trying to find a base! Now I can use the $3 I found from the thrift store. Just grabbed a milk jug from recycling and this worked perfect. Thank you again!!

    Reply

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