One of the simplest DIY refreshes you can make in your home is swapping out the shades on your light fixtures. Whether you’re looking to update your aesthetic or change your color scheme, adding a new shade to your flush mount, pendant, or lamp can give your space a whole new look without the hassle—or budget—of a full remodel. With our wide range of fitter and shade collections, it’s easy to customize your fixture and swap your shade.
Ceiling Lighting
Before changing your shade, get to know the parts of your pendant or flush mount lighting.
Shade: The shade is the part of your light that covers the bulb. Depending on shape, material, opacity, and size, shades can affect how light is exposed through the fixture—which is essential to how you illuminate your space.
Fitter: The fitter is the part of your fixture that holds the shade—our lighting fixtures are constructed of solid brass fitters. When shopping for a new shade, check the size of your existing fitter to ensure that your new shade will fit. Our collections range from 2-1/4" to 14”.
Linen and glass shades provide ideal ambient lighting, while directional lighting is more easily achieved with opaque and metal shades.
How to Change Your Shade
Once you’ve taken home your new shade, you can add it to your fixture. First, ensure that your light is off or unplugged. Loosen the thumb screws around the fitter to carefully remove the original shade and place it on a table. Add your new shade to the fitter, tighten the thumb screws, and enjoy your new light.
When replacing a table or floor lamp shade, make sure to unscrew your light bulb before removing your shade, and put it back in once your new shade is on.
Glass Shades
Rejuvenation’s collection of glass pendant shades is rooted in timeless, period-authentic styles and quality craftsmanship. With our wide variety of designs and shapes, a simple shade swap can make a big impact on your space.
Eastmoreland shades go naturally with our Eastmoreland pendants—but will also fit on many of our other lighting collections.
Our Schoolhouse Drum shades offer contemporary style with a taller profile and that beautifully complements pendants and flush mounts. Explore our range of Schoolhouse shades. With a slimmer silhouette, our Eastmoreland shades are perfect for lower-hanging fixtures that fit with almost every design.
For a classic, modern look, our Globe shades are a visually stunning update to any room—we offer sizes that range from 8” to 18”.
One of our most versatile lighting fixtures is our Hood Lighting Collection. With 24 built-in shade options and customizable mixed finishes, the Hood Classic Pendant has over 250 combinations.
Design Tip: Going for a subtle change? Keeping the same shade shape but switching from a clear to opal glass (or vice versa) can offer a different type of lighting for your space. Opal shades conceal your light bulb’s shape, acting as though the shade itself is the bulb. Clear shades lend an industrial air to any room and can showcase specialty bulbs.
Metal Shades
One of our favorite easy refreshes is changing out your Carson Lighting Collection shades. With 26 shade colors and a variety of sizes and fixtures, Carson offers timeless style and endless options. Update your shades for the season or select a new color to match your latest exterior renovation.
Our Nina and Butte pendants feature specialized metal shades that can be swapped to invite new color into your home. For larger projects, we offer custom shade colors mixed at our factory—see our post on Custom Shade Colors to learn more.
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