Argos Value Range Paper Shades

Since we moved into our house about 18 months ago, my partner and I have had terrible trouble with finding lampshades to fit our awkward light fittings that were already here. We have the energy saving bulbs throughout the house, but that isn't the problem. Instead of having the normal round light fittings which dangle from the ceiling, ours are square shaped, and consequently, normal lightshades do not fit! We've tried several types of lightshade but to no avail and we got sick of spending money on something which didn't work!

I was browsing through the Argos book one afternoon just having a little look at things to buy, and I stumbled across these in the lighting section. It looked like they didn't have a circular fitting like most lightshades do, so we thought for £4.41, it was worth a try just to cover up the bare hanging bulbs we have been stuck with! After queueing for yonks in Argos, they handed me a lightweight package with 3 flat lampshades inside it. I was a bit dubious about it, as they didn't look the best thing in the world, but nevertheless we took them home.

I unwrapped them from the usual yards and yards of cellophane you get with these things. There was an instruction sheet showing you how to assemble them (although you could easily do so without the aid of this!), 3 flat, unassembled lampshades and 3 metal rectangular shaped things. I had a look at each shade and decided just to assemble all of them at once. To assemble, simply insert the metal shape into the paper shade. There are 2 metal holes for the ends to go into at one end of the shape, so put the metal in there, and pull the paper shade up so you can get it over the other side. Done! The metal shape holds the paper shade in its position, so its important to make sure the metal frame is down the centre of the shade.

Fitting to the ceiling is quite easy too. I'm really short, so standing on a chair to reach isn't even enough for me, so I had to leave it in the capable hands of my partner. I explained to him how it should sit, and showed him the instruction leaflet. He understood and went to do it. It took a couple of attempts but soon he managed to manipulate the electrical cable around the slot in the metal frame. He just had to straighten the frame again to make sure it was centralised, and it was done! The whole thing took under 10 minutes to do, and makes our light fittings look so much nicer! Whats great is that they can be on any type of fitting, as the opening at the top of each shade is plenty wide enough for either a square or a round fitting.

For the price of £4.41, you get 3 paper lampshades. You get a spherical one, a triangular one and a square shaped one. They are all white, so will go in any room, and do look quite nice, especially for the money. Obviously beign paper they are quite delicate so you have to be careful when fitting them, but other than that they are a great product, and have solved our bare-bulb problem! It specifies that you need 1 60 watt bulb for each, but we have a brighter bulb in our sitting room and the light shade has been fine, and hasn't been damaged in any way.

A great product for the price, it looks nice and does what it should do. What more can you ask for? Available from www.argos.co.uk (item number: 430/8636) for store collection or home delivery.

Thank you for reading!