Suzanne O’Connor’s Bargains LA

Lamp Quest

During our re-design of our home I wanted to brighten up our dining room with new lamp shades. I was able to find a bunch of cream silk chandelier shades at Lowe’s at Lamps Plus for $3-$6. But a pair of table lamp shades proved harder to do.

My unusual shape shades seem to be one of a kind. After shopping through dozens of websites and stores I finally decided I should look into either re-covering them or using different shaped shades all together.

Before:

Lamp in hand, I stopped into Hye’s in Tarzana. Famous for their huge selection and custom lamp work, I didn’t expect to find bargain prices. But I also didn’t expect to find rudeness either. After only showing me one possible shade options @ $69, he then showed me 2 swatches of fabric silk & linen to recover the shade. With a quote of $58 for the linen and more for the silk, I said, “No I didn’t want to spend that much.” He promptly walked away to another customer in the midst of my asking if we perhaps should change out the harp and go for a different shade all together. Staring in disbelief at his rudeness, I notice how he jumped at the chance to wait on another lady who already had a salesman waiting on her. A bunch of group fawning was going on.

I was outta there.

From there I headed to Lamps Plus Outlet in North Hollywood to see if they had anything that might work.  Not known for a huge shade collection, I didn’t expect much.  But, I strolled down the aisle and found several possible shades, if I changed out the harp. After changing out the interior harp for free, one of these completely different designs, in silk, worked perfectly… at just $24. I bought 2.

I guess some folks don’t want to talk to you if you’re not going to let them dictate how much you’re gonna spend.
That simply don’t fly with me.

After: