Western Lamp Shades

Our Picks

Faux Leather Empire Lamp Shade ( Spider )

Stitched Western Lampshade

Loon Peak®

Available in two colors, Geneva ash and pearl, this lampshade has a minimalist design. Accentuated by visible brown stitching at the top and bottom, it is an empire shape. The attachment type is spider. A fitter is not included.

Designer Advice:

The understated design of this lamp shade makes it easy to blend with your existing décor. Ideal for a mountain lodge or winter vacation home, it has a rustic look that isn’t too out of date. Pair it with a dark brown or golden base for a cohesive look that will bring out the warmth of your shade.

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Classic Cowhide Lamp Shade

Royal Designs, Inc.

Featuring a heavy grade rust-resistant metal frame, this shade is covered in cow print. It has a tapered shallow drum shape and a spider fitter. The shade itself is made from silk-type hardback shantung with a premium off-white lining.

Designer Advice:

As cow print is an eye-catching pattern, keep the rest of your décor simple. If you want to highlight your lamp, match it with a rug that has a similar brown and cream color scheme. This will accentuate your lamp without creating a clashing look. Additionally, pair your shade with a brass base to complement the brass stitching and fitter.

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Black and White Horse Lamp Shade

August Grove®

This lampshade has a clip-on style that will fit a standard light bulb. The clipper is included. It has a classic empire shape and a black-and-white illustrated design featuring horses and other animals. The top and bottom are solid black.

$73.99

Designer Advice:

As this shade has a muted monochromatic color scheme with a few gray accents, it will go well with a variety of color bases. However, we recommend a silver base for the best look. This is because silver will bring out the subtle metallic undercurrents of the drawings on your shade.

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11'' H x 14'' W Cotton Drum Lamp Shade ( Spider ) in Brown And Blue

Picturesque Southwestern Lampshade

Union Rustic

A fitter comes with this southwestern lampshade, though a finial and harp are not included. The drum-shaped hardback shade has an intriguing pattern - a blue background with colorful horses and flowers scattered around. The attachment type is spider.

$87.99

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Royal Designs Shallow Drum Hardback Lamp Shade, Dark Leather, 9"" x 10"" x 7""" (HB-624-10)

Creased Cowboy Lamp Shade

Royal Designs, Inc.

This lampshade is intentionally creased for a well-worn look. It comes in two size options, each with a spider fitting. It also features gold studs around the top and base for a finishing touch. The color is dark tan leather.

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Distressed Western Lamp Shade

A correctly sized harp is included with this shade. Featuring a charming and elegant look, it measures fifteen inches on the bottom and thirteen along the top. Moreover, it comes with a polished brass spider fitter.

Designer Advice:

A great option to create a warm and pleasant ambiance in your living room, the bronze-brown color of this shade is versatile. Chic and rustic due to the distressed crackle finish, it will look like a family heirloom despite being brand new. However, this shade is unlined, which means it won’t filter light as effectively.

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Brown Cowhide Southwestern Style Lamp Shade

Gracie Oaks

The scattered cowhide pattern of this lamp shade gives it more of an authentic look. Although fake, the cotton fabric shade could pass for real leather. It has a clip-on fitter attachment type that will fit most standard light bulbs.

$67.99

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8.25'' H Paper Empire Lamp Shade ( Clip On ) in Oiled Kraft Paper Shade With Wrap-Around Scene

Scenic Western Lamp Shade

Millwood Pines

Unusual and classy, this lampshade has a double-laced trim top and bottom. The pattern is created via a special process where the silhouette is inked between oiled kraft paper and the inner lining. It has a brass-plated clip-on attachment style.

$39.99 ~~$43.99~~

Designer Advice:

We love the unique pattern displayed on this lampshade. Guaranteed to catch the eyes of guests, its scenic look will illuminate any dusty corner. Even better, the wrap-around design means you’ll see something different every day. When your lamp is lit, the deer part of the pattern will intensify to glow bright and create a cozy feeling.

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Buying Guide

The era of the westward movement, the age of the cattle rancher and dusty settlements, along with the establishment of the railroads was relatively brief. But it spawned a lot of interesting artifacts that have been duplicated and expanded upon. Western lamp shades carry on the theme of the cowboy, the cattleman and the rodeo rider with shades and lamps that harken back to the twenty or so years that saw Europeans expanding from the Eastern seacoast toward the west. Television shows such as Bonanza and Rawhide sentimentalized the era, and it was further glamorized by more modern productions such as the movie Tombstone.

What Constitutes a Western Lamp Shade?

Since the movement west put many people into a land where they were on their own, far from cities and small towns where people could afford to specialize, they had to learn to manufacture items that they might have purchased from merchants when they were “back east.” Both pig skin and sheep skin can be tanned into fine leather that will let light through, so pig skin and parchment (another name for sheep skin) could be used as lamp shades. Metal would have been scarce, so the originals might have been stretched on hoops of willow or hickory – any tree that might have been flexible. Modern versions are stretched on metal forms, such as might be used for any lamp but laced with strips of leather as a sort of memory of the way things once might have been.

What are the popular themes depicted on western lamp shades?

Emulating More Affluent Westerners

Not all people who went west were cowboys, sheepherders or hard-scrabble farmers. Some got rich in various ways. A beautiful mica lampshade depicting a silhouette of a moose and evergreens is a reminder that there were ranchers and townspeople who developed fortunes in those short years.

Rodeo Riders

The memory of the westward movement is often kept alive by traveling or seasonal rodeos. The word rodeo comes from Spain, traveling through Mexico into the United States, means to surround or go around and originally referred to seasonal roundups of cattle. Today, rodeos are primarily contests that reflect the skills once needed to herd recalcitrant, long-horned cattle. Some of the lamps considered to be “western” are ordinary shades with scenes from historical or current rodeos – bucking horses, herds of cattle with those big, long horns, a vaquero with his range-riding gear. These are often accompanied by lamp bases that depict worn cowboy boots, barbed wire, saddles, rearing horses or wagon wheels.

How to make a DIY western lamp shade?

The west, like many cultures, focused on making do with the things that they had. One way to do this was to reuse the metal from tin cans. (tin cans were invented in 1910. The cowboy era was from around 1865 to 1880.) A can could be flattened and the sides pierce with a nail to make a shade that could surround a candle or a tallow lamp. Pierced tin lampshades that cast interesting shadows are a continuation of that custom.