Tag: Lighting

Which Chandelier for Eleanor’s Room?

The dark blue walls and ceiling in Eleanor’s room look great, but the room definitely needs more light. The fixture hanging in there now only houses one bulb. She has a bedside lamp, one on her bookshelf, and a rabbit light on her dresser, but she’s a kid. She walks in and flips the light switch — she doesn’t look around and think “ooh, some ambient lighting over in the corner would really add to the space!” So I’ve been looking for a nice chandelier for her with more light output. Ideally, I would have liked it to be either brass or a fun color, and I’ve found plenty of fixtures that I like. But I have expensive taste in lighting, and some of my favorites were thousands of dollars. Thus, two bronze options from West Elm, both bought during their 20% off lighting sale.

When I ordered them, the Mobile Chandelier was on backorder, supposedly until May. I bought the Industrial Chandelier at the same time, figuring that it might look OK and that I wouldn’t have to wait six months for a light. They both shipped out right away though, and I’m not sure which one would be better in E’s room.

They both take on different looks, depending on which bulbs you pair with them (they don’t come with any). I had that frosted white globe in August’s sconce, and I think I like the look of it for E’s fixtures more than I would an Edison bulb, but smaller round bulbs could be cute too. And I would love to add some detail to whichever light I choose by adding brass tape* around each socket, but Kathryn wisely cautioned me to see how hot they get first.

What do you think?

* Or maybe gold adhesive vinyl? It hasn’t arrived yet, but I ordered some for Eleanor’s starry ceiling since a few comments mentioned some potential issues with covering painted stars later.

November 25, 2013
Glass Orb Chandelier

We’re leaving all of our light fixtures in the house when we move, other than the Edison chandelier that I swapped out, so I’ve been paying attention and looking for possible new lights for our next place.

Most of the houses on the Wright Plus Housewalk that I toured recently were decorated traditionally, but there were a couple of exceptions. One was the Frank H. Keefer House designed by E. E. Roberts in 1906. There was no interior photography allowed on the tour, but there was a gorgeous lighting fixture in the dining room, which is visible from the exterior.

I liked that mix of old and new, and that light was a major component in the look of the home. I assumed it was a super-expensive fixture, but then I spotted this glass orb chandelier from west elm. It’s not cheap, but it isn’t the thousands of dollars I assumed it would be.

In the right dining room, this would look fantastic. It’s on backorder right now, which is fine since I wouldn’t be ordering it yet anyway. It’s hard to find good-looking inexpensive lights sometimes, so I’ll be keeping it in mind!

June 17, 2013
Setting the Stage

We didn’t have to do much to get our house ready to sell since we’d made a lot of improvements to the house already over the years, but we did do a few things to stage it. The biggest change we made was swapping out the Edison chandelier in the bedroom for a simple schoolhouse fixture. We loved the other fixture, but it was so taste-specific (you either love it or hate it). The new light is nice, ties in with the one in the nursery, and will appeal to a wider variety of people.

The rugs came up in the living and dining rooms to show off the hardwood flooring (which is beautiful and in fantastic shape). The Eames rocker came out of the living room and the fern is now on the front porch. We removed a small console table from the dining room, and also removed the table leaf and two chairs. People tend to move through houses in groups, so we made more room for them to navigate their way around. I think the house looks a little weird, but it’s standard staging stuff, I suppose.

Also weird but standard: real estate photos. All of the photos in this post, aside from the first side-by-side of the lighting, are from our listing. The photographer went super-wide with the angles to show more of the rooms’ structure, which sometimes makes for odd pictures. Also, why does my living room look even more pink in the photo than it is in real life? It isn’t really that pepto. (And obviously, no, I did not repaint the room in a neutral color.)

We upped the curb appeal a bit with new plants out front (which I actually did a week before we decided to sell, by coincidence), and weeding the garden. Brandon put a new coat of paint on both the front and back porches, making sure to work around my painted rug out front.

We made sure the closets were decluttered (they already were, for the most part), and have been completely on top of cleaning up toys every day. We turn on every light in the house for showings, and also make sure the air conditioning is on if it’s even a little warm that day, and that’s it.

I won’t feel comfortable sharing definitive news until we have signed paperwork and the sale is a done deal, but I will say that we’ve had a lot of interest and a lot of positive feedback. Sometimes the house is too big for a family and sometimes it’s too small, but everyone has said that it shows well. Pink living room and all.

June 13, 2013
Kitchen Lighting Options
The ceiling in the kitchen is 7’10” high. The light that’s in the room now has three fluorescent bulbs, hangs down 10″, and has a 15″ diameter. It’s the right size and has the right light output, but I never did like it all that much. Now that the kitchen has been updated a bit, I want to replace the semi-flush mount fixture with something prettier, but not lose too much light or headroom. Argh, I feel like I’ve been here before.

Lighting I Really Really Want to Work in the Kitchen
1. Factory Satellite 3
  I don’t know if it would look funny hugging the ceiling, and I worry that the shades will block too much of the ambient light that we currently have bouncing off of the ceiling. Also, Edison bulbs look great but I would replace them with fluorescent bulbs for practicality, and even the round ones may throw the look off a little.
2. Bluff City Pendant, Large, Mint/Red
  It’s supposed to be a pendant, not a flush-mount fixture. It’s slightly too tall (13″), and I’m not sure it would provide enough light. But I love it. I would happily save up for this one.
Somebody please tell me that one of those two will suit my needs perfectly and we will be happy forever and ever. Except don’t if it isn’t true. I mustn’t allow my infatuation to get the best of me.

Here, we have some more options.

Lights I Like a Lot but Know Won’t Work and are Therefore Easier to Resist
1. Artimede Nur Mini Ceiling Light
  The “mini” version is still fairly large, and it’s a good size for our kitchen, but it focuses light downward and wouldn’t provide enough general illumination.
2. IKEA 365+ Brasa Black Pendant Lamp
  This looks much more expensive than it is, but again, it directs light downward. And it’s another pendant that I’m trying to force into a semi-flush mount, and that’s probably silly.
3. FLOS Glo-Ball C Ceiling Light
  If you haven’t seen this one in person, you’re probably thinking this is a really simple light with a really high price tag. I assure you it is organic and special and beautiful, and yes, the price tag is still high. I don’t love it enough to spend that much, and it only holds one bulb anyway.
4. FLOS Smithfield Ceiling Lamp
  I adore the shape, and there is even a 3-bulb option. Alas, it is directional, downward light.
I used a fancy-ish html trick to continuously label those bullet points with a break between the ordered lists, so hopefully the numbers correspond. If not, may the powers of deduction and common sense be your friend.

Moving on! This next collection has another catchy name.

Lighting That Will Work Just Fine but That I am Less Excited About Overall
1. Robert Abbey Antique Nickel Ceiling Light
  Cute. But is it too cute? Also, the shade is fabric and I wish it wasn’t.
2. Black Horizontal Stripe Nickel Wide Ceiling Light
  Black and white stripes would look good in the kitchen! But on the light? Dunno. And it’s fabric again.
3. 3-Bulb Semi-Flush Light
  This is the stupid light we already have. It is passable. It’s biggest selling point is that it’s already in the room (no work, no money spent).
Can you tell I don’t have as much enthusiasm for this last set? There’s also this collection of flush mount lighting to look at from when I did my big ceiling light guide last year, and my whole lighting board on Pinterest.

What do you think? I’m tempted to try one of the first two out, and then Swiss cheese my ceiling to bits with recessed lighting. Kidding (sort of).
March 5, 2013
The Lighting Guide: How to Put it All Together

A reader had asked me a seemingly simple question about how to choose lighting fixtures that work well from room to room, and I was inspired to create this entire lighting series to answer. Today, ten posts later, we reach the end and finally pull it all together to answer the original question! You’ll find links to each collection of lights at the bottom of this post, and I’ve also linked to each light individually on Pinterest. Below are my suggestions for combinations that work well together.

The Entire Ceiling Light Series

Jump to a post:
Sputnik Inspired // Hanging Drum Shades // Rectangular Lighting Fixtures // Round & Airy // Modern Traditional // Vintage Industrial // Drop Pendants // Flushmount Fixtures // Statement Lighting

April 18, 2012
Statement Lighting
Here we have the stuff of dreams. Numbers two and three may be within reach, and for the impact they have they’re worth it, but they’ll likely require saving up a bit.
1. Superordinate Antler Chandelier, $5900
2. Patrick Townsend Orbit Chandelier, $600
3. High-Minded Chandelier, $998
4. Artichoke Frosted Glass Pendant, $66,000
  (The plain white versions are a bargain at $7,000-$14,000.)
March 27, 2012