A Better Shade

Mar 2024

Marisa is a consummate professional with 25 years of experience working with lamps and their shades. She'll help you match up a lampshade with your lamp and the completed ensemble will be beautiful--a work of art. Her lampshades are made with quality fabrics, including the linings. She really doesn't use shades made in China because they are cheap. And she does service customers by appointment and you get her undivided attention. White ranges from brighter white to pearl to a subtle light beige, but shades may be designed and custom made to best compliment their lamps and may include using color. Her finished product is a work of art. She repairs lamps, as well. I took in a torchiere that was manufactured with a plastic-encased concrete weight that had crumbled over the years. She will replace the remains of that weight with a metal weight and the lamp will continue to serve for many years more. She requires a customer bring in the lamp so she can properly choose the shade that will complete the lamp best. She doesn't let customers go through the shop to look at the shades because it is a crowded workspace. Also, she can best assess what the lamp needs. She changed the harps and finials for my lamps to best advantage and they are now at the right height, sturdy and look balanced. The work done on my lamps was expensive, you understand, but they are gorgeous lamps now. Trust her artistry and skill.

Dec 2022

When the antique wiring on an antique floor lamp fails, it's good to know it can be professionally resuscitated. When a newer lamp fails, it's annoying and sad. Marisa capably brought both back to life in just a weeks time. Delighted (re-lighted?) to have them back at work.

Nov 2022

Two stars cuz I'm feeling SUPER generous and they already have a ton of 1-star reviews, but WOW this was one of the most insane business dealings I've EVER had. Like not just "bad", but sincerely I have never experienced anything like this... For one, you need an "appointment" to bring your lamp in for repair, that honestly should've been my first clue to go elsewhere but I'm new to Tucson and couldn't fine another lamp repair place on Yelp, so I made an appointment... Day of appointment, I was on my way there, and got a call because I was five minutes late and she wanted to see when I would be there... ok weird but yes I'm en route now... so I get there, and mind you my lamp is rather unconventional, it's a knockoff Arco lamp by Flos (except being a knockoff, not actually by Flos) regardless, it still has a solid marble base that literally weighs over 100 pounds, and she kept repeating over and over that I should've brought the base in.... I'm like lady, I cannot carry it, my very strong boyfriend struggles to move it, and you DEFINITELY wouldn't be able to carry it, and all I need is to replace the cord because it's stopped working... so she accepts it and tells me she'll get back to me soon with an "estimate". So 5-6 weeks later, I get a call back that the "estimate" is ready, so I need to make an appointment to come back in... my bf and I go there together because it's all been so odd at this point I didn't want to go alone, and she proceeds to tell us it's going to be $200, and I tell her that's too much but she freaks out and brings her husband(?) out to tell us about all the work they already did to take it apart; I'm like, ok, why did you work on it when I was promised an ESTIMATE??? And she's like "well we just don't want to quit" and I'm like ok?! That's not how estimates work... so we went back and forth about it and she agreed to accept $165. After we left she even called and insisted I pay cash because she was refusing to accept a credit card payment from me, which was insanely insulting but whatever. Several weeks later, I get the call it's ready to pick up. On the day of this appointment, I went in expecting to just pay and take the lamp, but she asks me "you just plug this into the outlet and operate it by a wall switch, right?" I was like excuse me? And then realized there was no switch installed, just a cord to go into the wall; I was like ummm a lamp needs a switch?! So she asks me how long should the cord be, and installed a switch while I sat around waiting for 15 minutes... but once it was done, I realized she had compacted two of the three sliding poles, and because of where the switch was placed, I would be unable to disassemble the lamp the next time we move or whatever, so I told her it was not right. She began to put up a fight about it but like, hello, you're the lamp expert, why didn't you measure the cord when you took it out in the first place?!! So she agreed to fix it, but with a skinnier cord this time, which I really should not have accepted because when you slide the pieces, the metal can rub on the cord and it really should be a thick cord if it's going to last, but I digress... Cut to the next "appointment" several weeks later, and it's still not actually finished because it still doesn't have a switch installed, she just wanted to ask where along the length to put it (again, you're the expert, why didn't you measure the original cord?! She had even thrown the original foot switch in the trash so now it doesn't even have that feature which is honestly extremely crummy). So we tell her where to install, and she's supposed to call us to pick up later that day... Several days later, we get the call to make the final appointment and go pick up our lamp. My bf goes because at this point, I am so over it. I give him the $165 to take to her, and he ends up calling me be