My beeyoootiful new bedroom light

As promised, this project deserved it's own post. One of the few things I didn't love about the master bedroom is the light. It was ok, kind of generic, white base with alabaster glass. It didn't put out enough light for the room, though, so right off the bat I knew I wanted something a little fancier and something that cast more light.


Having taken the time to make the ceiling fancy with the molding and two colors of paint, I knew I wanted something that would feel upscale but not too formal. I love the crystal chandelier trend, but didn't want something that looked overly girly. The wall colors are Natural Linen and Simple Silhouette, a pale beige and deep gray-brown. Very neutral colors which can lend themselves to either shabby chic or modern decorating styles. Since I am more eclectic, I wanted something that was romantic but not too frou frou. I waffled over light fixtures for some time, thinking first to use this one from Lowes:

When I saw it in person, however, it just wasn't right. It was more bronze than pewter and was quite small. I liked the less formal shape, but it just wasn't putting off enough light and wouldn't look right in our 14'x14' room. So then I started looking at other, more traditional chandeliers. When I saw this one on Overstock.com I knew it was the one:

It was a little more than I was hoping to spend at $206, but it was everything I wanted- with 6 lights, real glass, and softened by the big drum shade which happens to be a current trend that I like, as well as a trendvery suitable for a bedroom. 


The light arrived on Monday so we decided to call it an easy night and just install the light. Most of the crystals were assembled so we figured about an hour, no sweat. HA!


Now, I want to say that my husband is no slouch when it comes to installing things like this. He installed every light fixture in the house and swapped out ancient fixtures in both our first house and our current one. This was not his first light-show-rodeo. And yet it took us 3 1/2 hours to install this bugger. 


Within about half an hour we had the old light down and this one ready to install. Except that as soon as we saw the small little cap for covering the ceiling hole we knew it wasn't going to cover our standard sized box. Enter the emergency trip to Home Depot to try to find something that would work.

This pic shows our solution. See the brushed pewter cap that has the fluted edges? That is what was supplied with the light. The larger circle is a brushed nickle ceiling fan cover that we found at Home Depot for under $6. It came with it's own bracket and mounting hardware, which we tried to use. It didn't work. Then we went to plan C which was to combine the two. This worked, but it required some careful consideration on how it was all going to be threaded and put together. 


The problem, I think, is that the manufacturer originally designed this to be a portable lamp. The cord had a warning tag on it for the consumer which indicated it had a polarized plug (one prong larger than the other)- as if they expected you to plug it into a wall socket. There was no prong, however. I think they tossed this cap in as an afterthought. Or maybe electrical light boxes are smaller in China than our standard? Who knows. What I want you to picture is two fairly intelligent people puzzling this whole thing together while the one with the bum shoulder tries to hold it over her head for an hour. 

(that would be me)

The light came with a long chain, but the fixture itself is so long that we only used one link. I absolutely adore how it looks in this room and I think that between this room and the laundry closet, I'm starting to feel a sense of ownership in this space. 


This, of course, is a double edged sword. The more ME I inject into this home, the less it seems that mom remains. The emotional toll is it's own post entirely, but I'm trying to think less about that so I don't have plans to elaborate about it on here any time soon. 

My lovely light from a few angles- lit up at night:

How it looks during the day:

Now my question to you is, what kind of bed?

Iron? Wood? White wood? Black? 

Give me your thoughts by posting in the comments, please!

Desk makeover

One of the items that happened to be in the garage at H2 was my husband's childhood desk. It was given to him by his aunt. I think our niece used it as well, but the desk itself was showing it's age. This is a picture of how it started:

Ok, that isn't exactly how it started. There were three wooden knobs and the top wasn't sanded. Two of the drawers had missing backs and two of the wood pieces that support the drawers had fallen off. But you get the idea, it was in rough shape. My daughter saw the potential, though, and wanted this painted green for her bedroom. On the whole, it was a pretty easy and fast refinish.

First things first, there was a spot on the top corner I had to patch with wood filler. This stuff is really stiff, but works well. This is what it looked like after it was filled but before I sanded it down-

I used a palm sander to sand the entire finish off the desk. I'm not sure of the wood, perhaps mahogany or cherry. The wood was red straight through so it wasn't simply a stain. After sanding-

Next, I rolled primer on. With all the primer options, I'll be honest. I rolled on the Zinsser primer we happened to have. It did not list bare wood on the label, but I ignored this. It took 3-4 coats of primer to completely mask all of the wood. Three for most of the desk, four for the drawer faces and top because they are the most visible surfaces.

I didn't think to take a picture of it after priming, basically picture it white. I had planned to have paint mixed to the right shade of green and roll it on, but happened to see a can of Rustoleum brand paint in nearly the exact shade of green my daughter picked out. I put about 4 coats on which required all of one and part of another 2X (twice the coverage) cans. 

Since I already had these knobs leftover from an old loft bed, we decided to reuse them. You can see two are missing, that is because two of the screws that were with the knobs were too short. 

The desk fits perfectly into her dormer. As in, an inch more and it wouldn't have worked. 

I promised I'd show you how the top came out. The bad spot was right above this heart sticker. Can't even tell now, can you? That wood filler has probably saved us $500 in doors that my husband has been able to salvage instead of replace. The door jambs in nearly every interior door have been clawed to bits by cats. Like the surface of the desk, however, once they have been filled, sanded, primed and painted, you would never know.

You might be able to see that I distressed the edges slightly with a sander. This brings up a faint white line from the primer and gives this simple piece a little dimension and enhances the fact that it is a vintage desk. I put several coats of Minwax finishing wax over the top surface to give it some protection. I didn't bother with the sides because as you can tell, noting can really touch them in this location.


Give me your thoughts! Makeover success?

Potential

Ahhhh... the infinite potential of a stack of primered 2 x 4's...
Wait until you see what this becomes!