painting a lampshade before upcycling?

[LunaLoveg00d]

I have bought an ancient standard lamp on Gumtree for a tenner and have plans to upcycle it. My plan is to use my extensive stash of buttons to decorate the shade and paint the upright bit in a zingy shade - possibly orange or lime green.

The current shade is like the one in the picture, sort of a flock wallpaper effect. I don't want to have to go out and buy a new shade - sort of counteracts the point of upcycling and something new from something old. So I was wondering if I could perhaps paint the lampshade instead with some plain white/cream paint and then stick the buttons on?

You can use chalk paint to paint fabric, but the pattern may still show. What about just using the metal frame?

How about using the metal frame and stringing the buttons vertically on it. You could alternate the button strings with orange or lime green ribbon, or both.

I ended up painting the upright bit and spraying the shade with gold paint - very please with the way it turned out.

Keeping the buttons for another project, not decided what yet.