Hallelujah! New dining room pendant!
I’ve had my eye on this pendant lamp from Pottery Barn for months! I actually mentioned it in an earlier post, proclaiming my love for “faux bois” and tree prints. It was already on sale, so I kept checking and checking on it to make sure that it didn’t sell out. As you might know, we went on vacation for a week earlier this month, and when I got back I decided to check on my pendant to make sure it wasn’t sold out and to my surprise it had DROPPED $30 MORE IN PRICE! Woo-hoo! So I bit the bullet and a few clicks later it was mine…I mean ours. 
Here it is in it’s Pottery Barn loveliness. I love the lamp with the black, white, neutral, cool and warm tones. I can’t make a decision on my favorite design styles, so I like to mix it up!
Here is the “before” shot (that is not the actual light fixture, that is a paper lantern from our wedding that Glenn cut to fit over the hideous “wagon wheel” fixture with broken glass – bleh!):
And here is my wonderfully handy husband installing it for me! Wasn’t the paper lantern an improvement?? I’ve been dying to get that thing out of the house since we bought it last July!
To switch out a light, first of all – turn the power off! And all you do is re-connect wires. If you have an extra set of hands, connect them as you disconnect them so that you know you’re getting the correct wires.
Here is Glenn connecting the ground wire (the copper wire, screwed down with the green screw). That is very important!
And that’s it! Now he’s screwing the housing back onto the mounting plate.
It works! Yay!
As a general interior design rule, a pendant hanging over a dining room table should hang at least 30″ above the top of the table. Our pendant came with a few different sized bases and we chose the one that hung the bottom of the shade 32″ from the top of our table – this thing is pretty massive!
Ta-da!! I’m so glad to have that old one gone…I did a happy dance as I took it to the trash!
I even like it when it’s off.
See, I told you it was massive! Harper looks teeny underneath it!
Aawww…he installs my pendant and then cooks me dinner! Thanks, honey!!
Now I can’t wait to finish the dining room! On my list: 1). A slipcover for the loveseat that is at the table. We were going to sell that loveseat, but had no luck. After I was sick of it in Harper’s room I had Glenn help me move it to the dining room and I love it there! It’s just ugly! 2). Some kind of valance to cover the top of the sliding panel system that covers the sliding glass door. 3). Some white shelving to replace the poster and candle sconces that are above the loveseat. The black is too harsh in the kitchen – it needs to go back to the living room by the pool table. I think I’ll actually try to keep a corner of my house light and airy instead of dark and dramatic! 4). After I get my shelves, I’ll need some knick-knacks and candles, photos, etc. for the shelves. Like the lovely Pottery Barn photo. Ahhhhhhh….
Likely, California
I switched up my blog background and wasn’t able to use a custom header anymore. This photo was what I used and a lot of readers liked it, so I thought I’d bring it back as a post!
xo,
Lindsay.
What is it about sleeping in your own bed?
Ah, vacation. We had a great time in Costa Rica, but as soon as we got home and retired to our own bedroom, I was in heaven. I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. Yes, that kind of feeling! What is it about sleeping in your own bed? I love our bed. It’s gigantic and comfortable and I could spend all day in it. I’m blogging from it right now. The frame is a little dated (I know, I know!) but it’s all we have for now and we’ve had it for years (it was a hand-me-down from Glenn’s sister) so it’s hard to just let go! Eventually we’d like to get a more contemporary platform bed, but it (like a lot of things!) will have to wait…until we hit the lottery. But a few things that we are planning for our bedroom for the near future are: 1.) New, matching side tables. 2.) Matching table lamps for the side tables. And 3.) A coat of brown paint (not sure yet if it will be chocolate or tan) for the moulding on the wall and the ceiling. I’ve seen some neat dark ceilings and I think that would make our bedroom even more cozy!
When I began planning the design for our bedroom, all I knew were the colors I wanted; a warm palette of orange, brown, and cream. I wanted to find a pattern or fabric, so I started with the pillows and did a search on etsy. I literally searched for “orange brown cream pillow” with the goal of finding a pattern that both my husband and I could agree on (i.e. no flowers!), and I found the Joel Dewberry Aviary fabric through the pillows at Norajane’s shop!
I bought 2 pillows there – 1 square and 1 rectangle. The square one was intended as a single throw pillow for our bed, and the rectangle one was meant to go in a wingback chair that used to be in the bedroom. I loved them once I got them – but the square pillow looked so teeny tiny on our small bed!
Here is what it looked like -before- with the 2 pillows I bought (and I made the other square one with extra curtain fabric!!). But how dinky to they look?
I decided to add some more pattern and bulk up the pillow factor. I’ve had my eye on anything in the “tile” pattern from Pottery Barn for awhile, and I ran across some organic euro pillow shams in orange on eBay! How perfect! When you mix 2 different patterns, a general rule of thumb is to use patterns that are different sizes (1 large pattern with large colors and 1 smaller, tighter pattern with more colors is always good), and try to keep one a little lighter and airier. What do you think of my eBay score???
My husband and I actually both loved -and agreed- on the fabric so much that I bought more of it to sew curtains to cover the closet. Okay, I didn’t sew them (thank you to my mother-in-law! But I did hem the bottom and plan on sewing more this summer.) Check it out!
The other thing that I love about the new euro-size pillows (which I bought from Sears online) are super soft and fluffy, so I actually love using them to sleep on! So there you have it, my comfy, cozy, super-gigantic, gender neutral bed and bedroom. I could spend all day in there – especially because the window coverings are super dark so it’s a cave that you could sleep in until noon in. Which is great because our room is on the East side of the house = direct morning sunlight! Eek! Alright…time for my nap…
Read MoreOn vacation…
I’m so sorry that my posts have been dwindling but I am currently in the beautiful country of Costa Rica on vacation!! I promise that as soon as I get back I’ll finish all of those draft posts that I’ve started & make some progress! For now, enjoy my Costa Rica pics here. Pura Vida!
Like a Tall Drink of Water…
We were in the market for some new large drinking glasses (we have a bad habit of breaking them!) when we spotted these babies on a recent trip to Wal-Mart!
When you live in Likely and get out of town, you have to go to Wal-Mart! We spotted them right as we were leaving the store so we snagged them up and so far they are working wonderfully. They’ve even survived an 8-month old pulling one over on the coffee table! They are the Anchor Hocking 6-Piece Eco Tumbler Glassware Set and they are just what we were looking for! They are nice and sturdy with a slight green tinge (which is fine, as our kitchen is green), and the best part is these green tumblers are produced with a minimum of 35% recycled or reclaimed glass. The packaging also contains 25% post consumer materials and sustainable inks! And the second best part is that they are only $7.97 for a set of 6! They are also made in the USA, which sometimes you really have to look for when shopping at Wal-Mart.
A pretty sweet find if you ask us!
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About Me
I'm an interior designer and a draftsperson, but I live in the country. I like it that way. I'm also a firefighter's wife, mom to 2 cute kids, and a homeowner and I like that even better. But right after that is a pretty and affordable space...and I mean a REALLY affordable space. Because I believe good design can be for EVERYONE!
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