Illuminating Your Way…My Lighting Favorites

Friday Faves 

With the right lighting you can transform a room to any mood you desire. Table lamps, wall sconces and chandeliers, just to name a few, are like jewelry to a great outfit, or icing on the cake, while being a functional feature in a room. Lighting can be one of the easiest ways to update a room as well, and as long as fixtures are not being moved or added, can be a fairly simple DIY project for a homeowner with a medium skill level. 

My hubby is an electrician, so he cringes when he hears someone is working on their own electrical projects, so keep in mind changing a light fixture is not like changing out a lightbulb. You must follow all safety and code guidlines to ensure the project is done right.  When in doubt it's always better to hire a professional!

 Here I'll share some of my favorite lighting designs from some the finest lighting manufacturers on the planet! There are so many choices to consider in selecting lighting. Weather you need ceiling or wall mount, chandelier or pendant, semi or flush mount, hopefuly you will get some lighting inspiration for your special place.

Oversised Lantern Chandelier

This oversised lantern style chandelier really makes a statement! Used or antique ones can be found just about anywhere and can be retrofitted for any propose.

Architectural Digest

This honeycomb-like chandelier adds an interesting element to the Palm Beach home of fashion designer Josie Natori.

Blackband Design

I absolutely love this grouping of pendant lights over the table in this casual dining space. They evoke a  vintage hand blown glass feeling in this southern California home.

Blackband Design

Lee Broom

These ring pendant fixtures in polished brass by Lee Broom are simply cool to look at!  They remind me of a pair of earrings a celebrity would wear to the Oscars or somewhere fabulous.  What sculpture…what form…!

And what can I say about these bubble fixtures….Fabulous…so whimsical and fun!

Home Grown Design

Wall mounted fixtures like sconces and swing arm lamps are a functional alternative when table top space is limited.

Shades of light

Troy Lighting

 Here these swing arm lamps give ample light when needed for reading and free up valuable space on the bedside tables.

Swing Arm Bedside Lamps

I love how the lights in this barn door headboard were mounted through the wood instead of the wall!

Home Stories A to Z

Michael McHale Designs

When I went to the Architectural Digest Home Show earlier this year I was mesmerized by the lighting creations of Michael MacHale Designs.  His use of industrial elements combined with the glitz and glamour of crystal accents contrast beautifully. It makes me think of a song by Stevie Nicks years ago called "Leather and Lace" does anyone remember that song?

Creative Design Group

The use of pendant lights in interiors give not only task lighting were you need it but also help to create a focal point and add visual interest and movement in a space.

Blackband Design

My table lamp favorites are this one by Wildwood Lamps called "Coral Colony," 

I love the contrast of brass and lucite base and the sculptural quality it has.

Coral Colony by Wildwood Lamps

This lamp by Pier 1 Imports called "Oceans Mosaic" is covered in beautiful and lustrous mosaic tiles.

Pier 1 Imports

I could go on and on showing you my favorite finds.  Lighting is one of the most exciting elements I use in rooms I design to integrate style and function into the design.  For more great lighting finds visit my Pintrest board, Lighting!

Thanks for visiting the blog today! If you have any comments or questions please, I'd love to hear from you!

Transformation Tuesday, Two Exterior and interior Makeovers

Happy Tuesday folks,  I hope your week is off to a great start!  Did you get any weekend projects done? If not, I hope this weeks Transformation Tuesday projects will get the your ideas flowing and give you some inspiration for next weekend! 

The weather here in the northeast is is getting chilly, but we've had some really nice autumn days.  Pretty soon it will be to late for the outdoor projects so roll up your sleeves and get started before it's to late!

I'm sharing two projects today, one my hubby and I did on a hot July weekend this summer on our front entry.  And in case it's already to cold for out door projects in your neck of the woods, or you have guests coming for Thanksgiving, I found a great bathroom fix up project that you can easily do before the turkey comes out of the oven! Well, maybe not that quick, but easy!

First up: Our front Entry.

We have an older Cape Cod style home, quaint but plum full of projects, even after 30 years of living here!  I swear, by the time you get around to all the necessary projects, the first one you did needs an update already!  This is the real world, not a TV show fixer upper!

Front Garden

 Here's a shot of the front of the house and garden in early spring, (don't mind the dead grass) the crabgrass fills out beautifully later in the season! There is along concrete sidewalk leading to the front door.  That's another project I'd like to tackle some year!

Front Entry

One of the quaint, but unfunctional, elements of the house is this front entry.  Although it's great for wiping your feet and getting out of the weather, it really is too small inside to do much of anything decorative. So inside I gave it a new coat of paint and called it a day. The blue stone landing stepping stones that were there seamed to have sunken into the earth over the years causing the rain water and ice in the winter to make a pretty deep puddle in front of the door.
When I got to pulling back the overgrown ivy, grass and Pachysandra vines that were there I discovered the blue stones were actually much wider than they appeared and quite a bit thicker than we thought!

Blue stone Slabs

After much sweat and tears, this is what we dug out of the earth! Three large blue stone slabs.  The largest was over five feet long and five inches thick!  Now let me remind you, this was a hot weekend in July and we were trying to get most of the digging done before the sun came over the roof of the house to the front…we didn't make it! Yes, that is hubby taking a much needed break!

Step One-Dig Out!


So, after seeing how large these blue stone slabs were, the plan was to dig out an area the width of the entry and  wide enough to make a nice landing area with a step up from the sidewalk.  We had these old cobblestones and used them for the border, they were just the right height for a step up.

"Set in Stone"

After laying a thick bed of paver stone base and sand we set the blue stone making sure there was a slight pitch to one side for water runoff. Mind you, moving these stones into position was no easy task!  Thank God my hubby has learned how to use his head instead of back over the years! 

Finally all stones in place!

Now there is a nice size landing area for the large planters as well as a small step up which give a feeling of grander entrance.  The rain no longer puddles and hopefully the snow and ice this winter will be easier to manage.  I sure hope we don't get the amount we had last year!

Next up: quick and easy bathroom makeover

I found a photo on Pintrest of this bath makeover project and though it was a great transformation!

It was done by fellow blogger Katie Bower of BowerPower . You can see the full story on her blog page.  The transformation shows how a little paint, new lighting and a few accessories can have  a powerful effect on a small space.  With home improvement stores like Lowes and Home Depot changing out cabinet hardware, faucets and lighting is budget friendly solution to a quick and low cost update.

                         

Painted Vanity

Afresh coat of pain is an easy update to a dated vanity.

Great Fabric

New lighting

You can see more of Lowes creative Ideas on Pintrest.

Ok, it's Tuesday, you have a few days until the weekend…what project are you going to tackle this weekend?  So, get all your ideas in place and your supplies and materials ready before the end of the week so you can transform your space!

Thanks for stopping by, and please feel free to comment or ask questions. I'd love to hear from you.  You can also post a photo of your transformation on the Facebook page here!

Don't Throw Out That Table, Transform It!

It's Transformation Tuesday!

This weeks transformation is a simple project I did a while back.  I have a sofa table that was being used as a television stand in my living room.  Although it worked great, there was not enough storage to hold the cable box, DVD player and it was a little to tall.  So, as I was looking at it one day a light bulb went off in my head!

Now, I love to repurpose things, mainly because it's cheaper than buying new but also because I never seam to find exactly what I'm looking for when sourcing products, and when I do it's usually costs way more than I'm willing to spend!  Any item, weather a piece of furniture or an accessory, can be altered and repurposed to fit the intended need.  In the case of the sofa table all it needed was to be shorter in height and have a shelf for storage, easy fix!

So here is my sofa table before the transformation. It was about thirty inches tall and had an open Cabriolet,  (Queen Anne) leg design that I liked. The simple design and distressed finish is elegant but also casual, so it worked well in my very "lived in" living room.  Our TV gave out, so we had to buy a new one. Of course, it ended up being a bit larger than the old one, so there was no room for the equipment on top as I previously had it.  I also wanted to hang a display of five botanical pictures on the long wall above the TV, however the height of the TV and table made it difficult to place the pictures so they wouldn't be hidden behind the TV.  After the light bulb went off,  decided to cut the legs of the table down and add a shelf for storage.

Sofa table before transformation

I figured out how high I need the table to be and proceeded to cut out about a twelve inch portion of the  legs making sure to save the feet.  I would use these later, under the new shelf.

Funny looking now, but just wait!

As I was figuring out how to add the shelf and feet my wonderful hubby entered the room! He just shook his head, "What are you doing now?" It really shouldn't surprise him to find me knee deep in a project….and he seams to always have a much better, and easier, way to accomplish what I start out to do!

His ingeneous method was to add the shelf first, making it the same size as the top of the table, and fastening the leg to the top of the shelf, then adding the feet to the underside of the shelf. All attached with wood screws. That idea got him a special dinner!

Since this shelf was not original to the table, I had to match the distressed finish from the rest of the table.  This was not very difficult. I just used some left over cream paint, added some distressing with my putty knife and some gold accent paint and called it a day!

I am very happy with the result.  All the issues were addressed and the gallery wall above the TV really makes a focal point.  If I was to even find a table like this in the right size, it would cost a small fortune.

This project cost me nothing but an hour of cooking!

I hope you got some inspiration here to find something you can repurpose or refinish from what you already have.  So don't throw out that old thing…find it a new home!  If you think you could use a piece you already have but not quite sure what to do or how to use it, send me a photo, I'd love to help!

What are you going to transform today!

Tina