DIY Lamp Shade (Dollar Store Challenge)

September 23, 2017


I've seen a lot of DIYers do the Dollar Store Challenge so I thought I'd give it a try. For those who are not aware of this challenge, basically all you do is visit your local dollar store, without prior idea of what you're going to do, scout for items with potential DIYability, and make something new and posh out of the things you scouted.

 I live in the Philippines and we don't have dollar stores, so the next best thing is DAISO Japan, where they sell various products for only 88php


On my Daiso exploration I saw this hanging net thinggy (I honestly don't know what it's for, maybe its for laundry or maybe its for vegetable hanging) and I thought I can make this gorgeous circular lamps that are so IT right now and are quite expensive. At first I considered using wax paper or cartolina to cover this up, unfortunately they don't have any of those at Daiso. Luckily I found this mat with a cute pattern.

This DIY is perfect to cover up those exposed light bulbs in the ceiling that all of us filipinos are so used to seeing.


  1. That blue hanging circle thinggy (I dunno what it's called so from here on out let's just call it a "hanging net thingy")
  2. A cute patterned mat/ a plain canvas mat or fabric
  3. Glue gun
  4. Glue stick
  5. Scissors



Step 1: I cut off all the things I did not like from the net hanging thinggy, namely those hideous straw rope, and the side netting, cuz all I need is that metal circular frames


Step 2: Once I got these clean cut circles, I measured it out to see how much fabric I'm going to need. 

Step 3: The mat I had can cover up half the circle, so I just cut it in half, lengthwise, that way I had a 24x5inch fabric that's perfect to wrap around my circular frame.

Note: when you cut your fabric make sure it has equal measurements all throughout so it wouldn't be crooked once it's done


Step 4: I chose a top part from the circle frames and glued the ugly, unsown part of the fabric on top of the circle

Note: Gluing it on top will help you get better support in holding the weight of the fabric and the bottom circular frame.

Note: start gluing from one of the rods across the circle frame, that way you'd have sort of a guide in gluing the other one and making sure the rods of the top circle frame and bottom circle frame are parallel to each other making the lamp more polished looking


Step 5: once you've glued the fabric around the entire top circle frame join the ends of the fabric together using glue gun


Step 6: once your done you'll have like a circle basket. I'm now adding the bottom circle frame again as noted above start from one of the rods that are across the circle frame. THIS TIME, glue it on the side of the the circle for that clean finish 


Step 7: clean it up, when you use glue gun there are possibilities of getting a lot of glue strings, so make sure to remove it all

Step 8: (Optional) If you're planning to put it over an exposed light bulb make sure to cut a hole at the top where you can insert this lamp shade.


and you're done!



I love doing this challenge, not only does it help stimulate my creative juices but it's cheap too. I made this for only 176php. If you buy this on your local furniture shops this would cost a whopping, 2,000php. I don't know about you but that's a steal.

*Prices are rounded off, all materials are added assuming you don't have any of these materials at home

Net hanging thinggy (Daiso)                88
Mat (Daiso)                                             88

TOTAL                                                   176



  • This DIY takes only 5mins or less to make
  • The lamp is soo light weight you can hang it using command hooks
  • You may also remove the netting on the circular frame if you don't necessarily like it, but I kept mine on to help defuse the light
  • That circle hanging thinggy is only available on blue so if that does not match your decor, you can always spray paint it to your liking
  • I love this DIY so much I'm thinking of building a bigger one using hulahoops to put at our mezzanine, and maybe also do a table lamp. (I'll let you guys know if I've done it.



Thank you so much for sticking with me till the end, I love to challenge so much, I'd love to do it again, and I'm currently redecorating my room/home office so there sure is plenty more to come. If you like this DIY make sure to visit my previous DIY Faux Marble Texture


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Khloee Padilla Photography