Light of My Life

We finished the dining room almost two years ago, but something kept nagging me. You can see it photobombing my dining room before shot with the faded-safety-vest orange walls.

It's the basic, "traditional style" light fixture. I suppose it is an ok fixture- provides light, probably pretty cheap too. But it didn't seem to be the right style for the room, or this house.

So I've wanted to find a light that would update the room with something simple and solid, like a bungalow. However, I lacked any opinion whatsoever. I would look at light after light and each looked fine, hideous or ok. Nothing wowed me.

Until this morning, when I was shopping for shingles. I wanted to take a quick peak at lighting, just in case there would be a good deal on something for my parents' house. I didn't know I was about the meet the first light I would get excited about.

I thought this light looked very cool, but why was it just sitting on the shelf, with no box? Shouldn't it be hanging, or in some sort of packaging? I moved in for a closer look.

Then I saw it- the deal maker.

YES! And yes, this deal is available near you: 8-Light Dark Oil-Rubbed Bronze Chandelier

I asked a store associate if there was anything wrong with the light, and he assured me there wasn't. He kindly took it to the front of the store for me, so I could continue on to ...

... what was I looking for? Oh yea, shingles.

I've never replaced a hardwired light fixture, and I admit I was intimidated. But I turned off the power, grabbed heavy rubber gloves and rubber sandals, and learned as I went. I pretty much just looked for things that would slide apart and untwist. The old light came down easily.

The new light had a five foot long chain and is 2-feet long already. That's way too much chain for our 9-foot ceilings. I had to figure out how to adjust the chain. 

The links on either end open up, but there's no way to easily adjust the length of the chair. I measured the distance I wanted the fixture from the ceiling, then measured the chain. I inserted one screw driver on either side of the link I figured should come off, and slowly increased pressure, until it twisted open.

I took the adjustable link from the end, and added it to the new, shorter chain.

 I'm saving the remaining four feet of chain just in case I decide we need to take the fixture when we build our next house.

I removed the plate at the base of the chain by removing this washer, and wrapped the extra cord inside the housing.

The light did have one small blemish- something black left a mark on the etched glass shade.

About 60 seconds with a Magic Eraser got me this far?:

So here it is- the new light!

Hope you don't mind all these pictures. I am very excited about this light!

How We Installed a Blind

For a window treatment in the kitchen, we knew we wanted a blind, and I definitely wanted to mount it inside the frame- but that window is shallow, with only enough room for a one-inch blind.

Luckily, we found two stores, online, that carried the one-inch wood blinds: Select Blinds and Just Blinds. The websites are nearly identical- and so are the color selections. We ordered the [free] samples, and chose "Almost White," which is a near perfect match to our trim and cabinet color.

While both stores have great reviews, SB had a slightly lower bottom line. We also ordered the blinds we will use in the office and media room.

If you have ever removed blinds, you know how easy it is. Hanging them is just as easy- it is the same process, in reverse.

Here is a photo of the hardware. Installation is very straight forward and only requires a few tools- a drill, level, pencil and screw driver. For a window with a third bracket, I would have need a measuring tape, as well.

Position the brackets (double check your placement!)...

... and mark the wholes with a pencil. Make sure to hang the brackets on level, so your blind won't warp or strain. (Oops- I marked the wrong spot! You'll see in the next picture, I corrected this before I hung the blind, to get it closer to the window.)

Pre-drill, the drive the screws through the bracket:

Slide the blind into the brackets, making sure the pulley/tilt rod are on the outside.

Snap the brackets closed, to secure the blind in place:

Attach the white, plastic R-clips to the header, and clip the header onto the blind:

Double check function, and level. You are ready to enjoy light-filtering privacy!

What are the cons?

The string is a little long. When the blind is open, it lays on the counter and could fall in the sink. Fortunately, the blind will likely be closed most of the time, for privacy, so it won't be an issue.

Also, the blind makes contact with the window. This is not a big problem, but I would like it to hang freely.

What do you think? Do you have blinds? Any hilarious got-myself-stuck-in-the-blind-cord stories? Do tell!

Spray Painting Lamps: Before and After

DIY inspiration struck again.

In a quest to graduate from furniture and accessories left over form our college years, I've been hungrily searching for lamps to replace these:

Collectively, I think I spent about $20 for both lamps and the missing shade. Please note: these lamps look better in this picture than in person.

When I have to shop for something, for the first time, I find that I lack any opinion and end up spending months pre-shopping before I feel prepared to purchase. Drapes? Shopped for about 22 months. Rugs? 6 months. Dishes? HA!

With visions of what the current-TV-room/future-office will look like in a few months (after removing wallpaper and repainting), I started getting excited, and feeling inspired. I wanted dark lamps with a clean, casual look.

The lamps pictured above were destined for the "donate" pile, as I started pre-shopping. I was looking for a dark base (to match the drapery rods I picked) and mica shade- in bloth a floor lamp and a table lamp. Most of what I found came in around $40 per lamp- ouch.

At Target, I was inspired to check out the lamps and shades that could be mixed and matched. This shade caught my eye:

I realized that I might be able to add new shades to my old lamps. Two shades were around $35 together (one large, and one medium). I couldn't find the exact shades on the Target website, but they are from Target's "Home" line.

At home, I found the shades did not fit *perfectly* on the lamps, and wobbled a bit. I made shims by wrapping strips of foil around the base of the shade, for a better fit:

A quick sanding, a few coats of spray paint, and the lamps were ready for their new shades. The brown spray paint did not come out as dark as I wanted, so I may repaint them, later. But for now:

Doesn't the little lamp remind you a child wearing a big hat? Not the most amazing lamps I've ever seen, but they will work for now. If I replace them, later, I will probably keep these shades, though.

Revisiting Janet's Table

You may remember this post about Janet's Table from November 2009. In that post you can see that we wrapped the table legs with newspaper. The legs were originally finished with casters, which have long since gone missing. As a result, the table was a bit short and forced diners to shove their knees under the table.

We didn't want to scrape our knees on the table, and didn't really want to replace the casters. So, for Christmas 2009 I asked for bun feet. Walt made some sweet little bun feet, which were finished many months before we actually installed them. For Christmas 2010, we installed them. It wasn't too complicated:

Tear out the old hardware:

Install new hardware, screw the bun feet into the legs, add some felt pads:

And voila!

The table is much more usable, now and as soon as we get it cleaned off we look forward to using it on a regular basis.

Reworking a Register Grate for the Kitchen

We are so close! We just have a couple small things left, then the kitchen project will officially be completed.

Through the course of this project, we were faced with moving the floor vent, or modifying it, in order to put the refrigerator in. We (rather, Lee, our contractor) put a couple plates over the 10x8 inch floor vent opening, making it 6x8 inches. This meant cutting the register grate down to size- loosing the functioning louvers and stability.

The original:

Defintely not going to fit:

I've been to the The ReBuilding Center a few times, and have seen the same register grates that we have in the house, already. I headed over there Monday, to pick up one of these matching grates (hoping to reuse the original when we finish the basement). I was surprised that I couldn't find a single grate that was the same style, let alone the right size.

And there it was:

The perfect 6x8 inch grate. Sure, not exactly the same design, but it was the right size! With functioning louvers! At the counter, the woman sold it to me for $3 off. I figured it was a fairly small gamble, and brought that baby home.

Just the right size:

At home, I ran it through the dishwasher and sanded as much rust and paint as I could. Inspired by DIY projects of others, I prepared to rework this new grate.

Using a Dremel tool, I trimmed just over 1/4" off the long side. A few coats of spray paint later, it was finished. I'm very pleased with the result. A small step for DIY, but a leap towards polishing off the kitchen.

The reworked grate, in place:

Janet's Table

Let's catch up on one of last year's projects: Janet's table. At the time, we had been eating on a card table, on loan (see the left side of the first picture) for about 4 months. Then, our good friend Janet loaned us an antique table. She recommended Howard Feed-N-Wax to clean and moisturize the wood. It worked beautifully. The table originally had casters, which are now missing. The table (still) sits on newspaper booties I made, awaiting bun feet. Here are some pictures:

Applying Howard Feed-N-Wax:

Finished product (pardon the mess):