Lamps bask in the glow of decorated shades.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

FORT WORTH, Texas _ There is no excuse for a plain lampshade. Even if it is pristine white, without a smudge, nick or dent, it is an abomination, at least in the eyes of Melinda Alexander. She's a bit of a lampshade fanatic and will use every opportunity to take a bare-bones shade and paint it, gild it, add fringe and crystals, sometimes all on the same shade.

Alexander owns House of Tuscany in Fort Worth. It's a lamp shop _ specifically, a lampshade shop. She said she noticed that lamps don't come with the right shades, or the right-size harps, or that the frame may be all wrong for the lamp base, and she is on a crusade to set things straight.

Lamp harps are the most common and easy-to-fix problem. A lamp harp is the structure that supports the shade. Almost inevitably, it is too big for the shade, Alexander said. If a lamp harp is too tall, the mechanics of the lamp will show: The switch or the socket that holds the light bulb will be visible under the shade, like old-fashioned garters under a short skirt. It's visually offensive, she said. Replace the harp so that the gap between the lamp base and the shade is minimal.

The second atrocity is lack of surface interest, she said. Alexander firmly believes that something something has to be going on: a color, a fringe, a decorative bibelot. For this creative moment, Alexander turns to custom trims, antique fringe or Swarovski crystals, all of which she has in quantity in her shop.

Alexander sells the makings for custom shades, plus the trims and finials, so customers can make their own shades. She can reproduce antique shades and restore some lamps and lampshades.

She received intensive restoration training in the Soviet Union while her husband, Gary Alexander, worked for the State Department. She said life in Russia was bleak. " `Veranda' magazine cost $27, and a bag of Doritos was $8. I ...