Sneak Peek: Fixtures & Furniture

I don’t know if I can do the sheer awesomeness of this moment justice right now because I just spent the better part of an hour with the blades of a fan that hasn’t been dusted in, oh, probably a decade, shoved down my shirt and I’m feeling a little itchy.

Guys, whatever it is that compels me to come up with these, uh, creative solutions to hanging and removing light fixtures by myself? It’s not logic, but dammed if it isn’t effective.

Here’s what I want to share with you so much that I’m delaying a much-needed shower for another ten minutes…

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That is a room. In my house. That contains actual furniture, and no sawdust. (It also contains a ladder, apparently, which is such a normal part of the landscape in my house that I don’t even think to move it for “after” pictures.)

Mind you, it’s not the final furniture, and the room is far from finished, but 1.) it has the feel of a place that an actual sane person might spend time in, and 2.) it has an effing Christmas Tree. I don’t know how I managed to pick a tree that is almost wider than it is tall, or how I got it in the house, or what magical forces are keeping it upright in the tree stand, but it’s there.

No doubt the parlor is going to go through several iterations before it really feels like my space, but since I basically want to spend all of my time in there now, the one thing it definitely needed was a working light fixture. The one shown above is my favorite thing ever to have a lightbulb screwed into it, but it was just a little too big for this space. Since I’m seriously considering building my own fixture for this room, but wanted to have working lights in there sometime before 2013, I decided to stick one of the fixtures I brought from Memorial up in here temporarily.

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Here’s another shot…

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You may remember it from the glorious slice of heaven that was the Memorial Beachy Bathroom

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(Incidentally, that bathroom is going to make its debut in an article for Better Homes & Gardens soon– maybe in another issue or two. I keep forgetting to re-subscribe to the magazine so if anyone sees it, let me know.)

Anyway, back to rooms in houses that I actually still own, the capiz shell chandy totally changes the feel of the parlor. It’s a little fancier, and I don’t mind it for now, but I’ll likely move back towards that iron/industrial look I love in the end, and that chandelier will move up to the yet-unstarted master bedroom.

And, since I was playing musical chairs with the fixtures anyway, I figured I might as well give the big Weathervane chandelier a try in the kitchen, which has been sporting an awesomely ugly fan since I moved in.

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Fan? I am in awe of how ugly you are.

I tend to feel like the hours after midnight are an exceptionally good time to balance on top of a step-stool, on top of my kitchen table, in the dark. Right?

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So. You can see why I basically had to wrap the fan around myself to hold it in place while cutting the wires.  And then I worked that process in reverse to get the new fixture up.

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These are really shitty pictures, but it’s really late at night, and I’m not actually home in the daylight anymore, so we’re going to go with it.

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I probably need to drop it down a few inches, but I think I may have found its home in the Liberty House. There is so much to do in this kitchen yet, but putting something I love in here definitely makes my eye twitch a little less when I see the forest green counter and pink marble backsplash.

So that’s a quick look at what is keeping me up until the wee hours of the morning.

 

 

21 Responses

  1. Yay for you! I love how everything is coming together. It looks fabulous. I am sad that the chandelier didn’t work in the parlor. It looked awesome in the pictures. But it does look wonderful hanging off that beam in the kitchen.

  2. Watch out: if I ever manage to convince the husband to move to the country, I’ll be stalking your house :o) I love how things are coming together and it’s amazing how …uhm, civilized a room with light fixtures, furniture and curtains can make you feel :o)

  3. The room is looking pretty darn cool. You totally made me laugh a few times during the post-your moxie is admirable. Congrats on the BHG article. Let us all know when it’s published, I’ll buy a copy for sure.

  4. OMG that light looks awesome in the kitchen. It even makes all that paneling look warm, cozy and rustic…you know, the way a 150 farmhouse should feel.

  5. Is the lighting fixture French? Nord, Sud, Est, et Ouest? I think it must be, or I can’t explain the “O” for West. Which leads me to another question: is the fixture oriented with the letters in the correct direction? It’s pretty cool.

    1. Ha. Oui, French! At least I think so. It is facing directionally the right way. The N, S, E, O are optional, but I stuck them on just to see how it looks. I also have shades for the lights, but I kind of like them just hanging out there in the open… like me.

    1. I know, I was starting to get used to it in there, but it was too low, right? I need one that’s between 24-30″ from the ceiling, I think, but hopefully in the same style.

      Also, you can see I’m trying out the window treatments. I thought maybe 96″ treatments just shy of the baseboard would be okay, but no, they definitely need to go all the way to the floor. You were so right about how to hang them, though! I’m thinking of having Tonic Living make them custom for me, since 104″ is not a standard length.

  6. It looks wonderful in that space! I predict that someday you will be the subject of one of those detective mystery shows when they find you at the bottom of a pile of step stools, tables, light fixtures and possibly a whirlpool tub. They’ll never figure out what happened to you!

  7. I love that your parlor is ‘furnished’. Of course you want to spend time in there now! It’s got a comfy couch!

    That chandy looks incredibly awesome in the kitchen – I agree that it just may have found it’s home.

  8. I LOVE the chandelier in the kitchen- it’s perfect!!! I know you mentioned painting that paneling- in my head the paneling is a light creamy color and that main beam is stained dark. Then, perpendicular to the paneling are some of those sweet old barn beams! (like this: http://st.houzz.com/simgs/1921b6f10d9e1486_8-2630/traditional-kitchen.jpg but without the lower beam)

    Also, I totally feel you on trying to wrangle fans on your own- I’ve discovered I can set my ladder’s height to be just below the level of the fan so I can lower the fan a few inches and balance it on the top of the ladder while I deal with the wiring. It actually works fairly well!

  9. I love the chandelier in the kitchen and can’t wait to see the longer curtains.

    Re hjc’s comment: it will be a two hour movie, you’ll be in a coma in a coma, the cat will not leave your side and 1 hr & 50 minutes into detectives trying to figure out what happened, you’ll wake up and say it was the zombie’s fault.

  10. It is coming together so nicely!

    Is the white curtain in the parlor a test for length or color or both? With all the neutrals in there you could really do a wild curtain.

    And if you left Memorial House with the capiz chandi – what does Mystery Man have in the bathroom?

    Woo-hoo for BH&G – I’ll have to watch for that!!!

  11. What a difference! looks AMAZING! – i love the look of the fixture in the dining area now – it totally makes that dated pine chalet look more like sophisticated and cozy modern rustic. Looking good – must feel like a great Christmas gift to yourself to have a mostly finished space!

  12. I finally got to see the Memorial House when Jon and I were home for Thanksgiving – and pee in that fabulous bathroom you just put a picture up of! 🙂 Love the colors of the floor in the parlor and am hoping that is the color we will make our floors on the stairs and upstairs!

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