The Creative Lampshade Upcycle That Keeps Your Food Safe From Bugs

Nothing quite puts a damper on your outdoor family barbecue like flies landing on your meal. To make matters worse, it's not just annoying to have flies buzzing around your face while you're trying to eat, but it's also a sanitation issue, as these little bugs spread diseases and can possibly make you sick by landing on your food. Before you move the party inside, consider alternative ways to keep your food safe, like keeping your plates covered up. While it's true you can purchase protectors like these Spanla Mesh Food Covers off of Amazon or from your local home goods store, you can save a little money by repurposing an old lampshade into a protective cloche with just a little bit of mesh netting.

On top of saving some money, another benefit of building your own fly protector out of a lampshade is that you're upcycling something you already have, rather than simply purchasing another plastic item that's destined for the landfill. Most of the mesh food covers for flies for sale are made with plastic pieces, which means they're not only going to be less durable than one you can DIY from a lampshade, but they may potentially have toxic chemicals. Plus, if you build your own food protector out of a lampshade, you'll have the opportunity to customize it into an elegant accessory you're excited to bring to your next picnic, BBQ, or other type of fun outdoor dining experience. While your food cover will likely be most useful outside, you can also show it off inside the home to protect your produce from fruit flies.

The beauty of this hack lies in the shape of a lampshade frame, which is the perfect size and structure to fit over a plate of food. To protect your food before it even hits your plate, it's also possible to reuse a lampshade to protect your garden from hungry critters looking for a meal. To get started on this food cover, you're going to need to first remove the old lampshade fabric so you're left with just the frame. If you're striving towards maintaining a low-waste household, there's no need to trash the old lampshade cover either, as you can repurpose fabric scraps into one-of-a-kind DIY artwork for your home. Additionally, if you don't have a lampshade on hand to use for this hack, any tent-shaped object should work. For example, you can try using an old basket or even building a frame from wire.

The next step is to drape your mesh netting over the frame. Be sure to leave enough fabric at the bottom so that there won't be a gap that the bugs can crawl or fly through to get to your food. Once the mesh netting is in place, you can whip out your trusty hot glue gun and attach the mesh to the frame of the lampshade. After you've attached the mesh to the lampshade or other frame, you're set to use your new DIY food protector. However, you can also transform your food protector into an elegant piece of table decor by customizing it with ribbons, doilies, or lace trim.