Saturday, July 24, 2010

My Precious

The light above my dining room table doesn't work.  It's actually a fan with a light, and the fan works, but the downlight, not so much.  July is a 3 paycheck month so I went out and got lighting.  The dining room light is here, but I need an electrician to also put in the pendants over the "bar" and recess a light over the kitchen sink before that story is complete.  So this is actually the story of my new bedroom chandelier.

A lighting store down the street (remember, I live in the contractor-retail section of town) had a big advertising sign drawing me in, thanks to the mattress store being nearby and me needing a new mattress.  I also need new lighting because mine's godawful and always has been, but it's pretty much the last thing to do in the design so I hadn't thought much about it yet.  But I do watch design shows on HGTV and I know what Candace Olsen can do with a sconce.  Really, though, their ad mentioned fans and I thought maybe I could fix mine, so I stopped in.  While  at the lighting store I saw a sparkly light.

This was not just any sparkly light, but a glittery, shiny, beautiful bouncy light. And it would not work at all as my dining table light.  Gloom!  Despair!  But I have seen the HGTV folks putting chandeliers in other rooms, and I couldn't walk away from this light.  So I bought it for my bedroom. My friend from Phoenix has an even more elaborate one in her bedroom (more inspiration) but she also has vaulted ceilings and an opera theme. This is the perfect scale for my place!  Since I have yet to pick a theme, I'll make sure it works. Even with the clearance + floor model discount though, it's still two orders of magnitude more expensive than my previous bedroom light.  But oh, so worth it.  I picked it up 2 hours ago, and it's already up, lit, and I'm telling you about it.   See for yourself. 

My precious, chandelier with layers of crystals in willow or bloom pattern

More pictures after the jump.


Here's the haul from the lighting store. The bottom box is my precious. The middle box is my new dining room drum shade, and the top two boxes are pendants.
boxes stacked on foldable dolly next to my Mazda 3

Opening the box, we get the first glimpse.
crystal chandelier hanging in a box from a bent threaded rod

 While the paper lantern from IKEA on a Target lamp kit worked well enough, it was always supposed to be temporary and only cost $6 or $8.
white paper lamp hanging from ceiling by droopy cord

This is the room with new lighting!   The bulbs are a little strong and throw a lot of heat, but they'll do for now.
bedroom with bright light and my precious

Without the flash, you can better see the pattern it throws on the ceiling.
rays of light out from the fixture

Up close, the crystal details are prosaic enough.  It's just having a thousand of them on bent, bouncy wires that makes them awesome.  Plus they make rainbows.
swarovski crystal detail with dangling crystal ends

And that's My Precious.  I kept the long cord so I can shut it off from bed, and take it with me when I move. Once more, with feeling:
My precious, chandelier with layers of
crystals in willow or bloom pattern

8 comments:

MarciaBC said...

Obviously, you are just moments away from your time on the red carpet.

S said...

That does indeed make a really cool pattern on the ceiling. Is it prone to swiveling/moving and making even more funky patterns as air moves through the room, or is it heavy enough to be pretty fixed?

Oh Miss West said...

I was going to make some sort of pithy comment, but my brain is too dazzled by all the shiny.

CrankyOtter said...

I love it. The candelabra bulbs I had laying about the house were too bright though. I had 6 60W bulbs in there and it was blinding. I took out 3 and it's more tolerable, but I think I'll go get some dimmer bulbs.

But it's rainbowy and sparkly all over the place. Extra Shiny. The strands move a little but not much meaning I can see them waft about when the AC kicks on, but the ceiling pattern stays mostly fixed.

The dining room fixture is still in a box on the table. Sunday was consumed by sleep & BBQ, monday by the shoe shelf, and tuesday by Transformers and working out. Maybe I can get that up today... or do laundry.

Angel Junior, Orion and Sammy said...

Love it!!! Shiny, sparkly...wonderful!!!!

Anonymous said...

My good it's you! Now you have to go in search of a worthy window treatment to pair with your precious light.

CrankyOtter said...

Yeah, I really liked the bamboo blackout shades when I moved in, but they're too heavy for the space. And don't go with the new lighting...

Only problem is that lighting and window treatments are the two areas of design where I feel most at sea. My windows in Boston were all fun (bamboo patterned) shower curtains. Maybe IKEA will know what I need.

Laura T said...

I LOVE it! Here's my 2 cents worth. Get a dimmer switch. The rainbows are even prettier when you dim it and it can keep it cooler too. I'm thrilled I could corrupt, I mean influence, you.