How To: Preserve your lampshades

This video is from FusionNW.com - Fusion: All about the Northwest home. In this video we learn some tips about preserving your lampshades. Bea Searles from Naomi's Lampshades & Lamps joins us to give us some advice. Lampshades come all wrapped in plastic and you may be tempted to leave the plastic on because you think it will protect your lampshade. But, actually, you always want to take that off, because the plastic holds the heat in and, while you think you're helping them, you're actually harming them. Another issue is cleaning your lampshades. You should not use a vacuum, as that will transfer dust from other things you've been cleaning - such as your window blinds - to your lampshade. Instead, use a really soft-bristled brush to brush around the edges first, and then brush it down. One way to do that instead of taking the shade entirely off is to just loosen the finial a little bit ad cleaning it all around. The dust is really what ends up destroying your shade. Another thing that harms your shade is heat. And by that we mean not just heat from the sun beating down on it from a window, but also heat from the bulb inside. Pay attention to the labels indicating the wattage of bulbs you should be using with the shade. If you want a higher wattage bulb, turn it off for a little while after having it on for a bit, and that will help you a lot. Visit NaomisLampsAndShades.com for any advice you need about your lamp, what kind of shade you should have on your lamp, what little finial you should have on it, whatever - they'll help you out.