If we’ve been “rapping” on a somewhat regular basis, or you are a long-suffering regular reader, than you may know that shiny things are kind of a “big deal” to “me.” HA HA, ok I’ll stop now. Man, that’s addictive.

On moving in, I decided to replace the not-so-good light fixtures in the house a little at a time. I was going to start with the dining room chandelier but then I replaced the terrible bulbs (those frosted “flame” things. I just don’t like them.) with very anachronistic Edison style bulbs, which you can see here a bit. And I gave the crystals in the chandelier a nice ammonia bath which brought out their crystal-ness again, and scrubbed the brass. Now I love it! The crystals are a very common shape and appeared in a lot of houses in this period. I saw The Big Heat recently and was kind of too excited during the opening suicide sequence to see them hanging off lamps in the house. I think I spent most of that movie staring at the design in the homes since it was contemporary with this house.

Today we put up the first replacement light in the entryway. I put a picture of the old one up and I will say I do not like these 50’s “caged” style lights that were so common. I’m not planning on holding a dodgeball game in the foyer, so cages can go. I know the most important rule of installing lighting, assuming one cares about these things, is the scale, so I picked something that was roughly the same size but much cooler. It’s from the mid-60’s but it doesn’t scream 60’s to me.

There was just one little hitch…the ceiling had been painted after the light fixture had been installed. So there is a ring! Whoops.

I am being lazy about finishing the hallway painting, but I have vowed to finish before the year is out so I can get going on stenciling the entryway. When I do that, I will paint the ring. Projects around here are like hydras, but a really fun hydra that just tickles you a little, and costs a lot at the hardware store.

Oh well. Okay for now.

So this guy gets it hung and symmetrical for me (I balked at his first attempt because the arm was weirdly off-center PAGING DR. OCD) and THEN tries to put the fluorescent bulb back in…SAY WHAT? HOMEY DON’T PLAY THAT. With a clear hurricane cover over it? How about putting on a ballgown and then wearing a giant, realistically-veined dildo as a brooch…wait, that would be kind of awesome, especially at an event honoring the life of Robert Mapplethorpe or something. Back to the drawing board on this failure of a metaphor.

How about no?

It’s done and I love it and I jumped around in the foyer making ape noises and waving my arms around, because even though we can have nice, uncaged things, I refuse to act in a dignified fashion about them. I got this light from an outfit that calls itself The Old Above, and I am watching his stock for a nice hallway light, and a couple of mini chandeliers to replace the “boob” lights in the kitchen. Apparently he has a lot of my light because I see there are more up for sale.

I also am happy to see I am not the only boob light hater. I love these ideas but I refuse to work with mine. REFUSE.

We started a fire after the light was hung and P. asked if he could burn the box the fixture came in since it was all safely hung and the inside irrational part of me screamed and freaked because, hey, cool 50-year-old box. That I will never do anything with. I contented myself with frowning slightly as it was engulfed in flames.

I hope your Sunday is treating you right.