Exquisite and different lighting

These pendant lamps featured at Terrain are so unique. Wouldn't they be beautiful hanging as pendants in a bathroom? Or over a kitchen island? They might not give off the most amount of light, but boy, they are beautiful.

There may be a way out

So with new pool table, I've been slowly waiting (dreading) Mr. Big's request for an overhead table light. I doubt I could get away with this, but it does get the creative juices flowing.


Note to self: There are options that don't have Miller Lite plastered across the side.

Another DIY chandelier

Very cool. Learn how to make this fun and funky pendant light here.

No words

How exquisite is this chandelier?

From Atelier Abigail Ahern

And call me weird...I like the ostrich table lamp as well.

Saturday morning treasures

Oh how I look forward to Saturday mornings. My energetic hubby sprints out the door by 8:30am to meet his buddies for volleyball and I get lazy, lazy mornings. Sleep in, listen to music, play with the dog...just decompress basically. Lately, I've been spending my Saturday mornings to slowly make my way through my favorite blog posts via google reader. (Yes, I'm completely behind the times on google reader, but I enjoy it just as much.) It's like spending my morning flipping the pages of a virtual magazine...without advertisements. Heaven.

We still have not finalizing our dining room table light. The temporary fixture from Bo Concept will soon be making it's way to our outdoor bathroom (of all places). It's been a cute temporary solution, but it will be much better suited in its originally intended spot. And it's far too small for the dining area.


And while I simply cannot get the Kou chandelier out of my mind, it's virtually impossible to imagine spending so much on a lighting fixture. Oh, but how I love it. Wouldn't it look great in the space above?


This week Design*Sponge featured the talented Alex Earl from Melbourne, Australia. His Butterfly pendant can be custom made in any size and provides a similar soft ambient light. It's modern with a bit of fancy to it.


This could be a real option, especially with our new gardens that surround our dining room. And I haven't done too much "girly" decorating in the house, so I think that Mr. Big might just be okay with it. And his Lionfish lightshade could be really fun in a boy's room.


So my lazy Saturday morning is officially over...I'm now up and motivated. Off to contact Mr. Earl to find out more on sizes and costs. Wish me luck!

DIY pendant light

Design*Sponge had this great DIY post on pendant lights using felt circles. The top light is really unique and the bottom light sort of reminds me of the light here.


Wonder how this would look on this square pendant light that I've been noticing on Ebay?

Hmmm. This may be an inexpensive option until we can save (for the next 10 years) for the Kou chandelier.

Simple, but not too modern

Just imagining this lamp in a future child's room. It's simple, but still has a bit of whimsy to it. And no Mom, there is nothing to report...

Josephine Lamp by Julih32

Only a whisper

I had no idea what a susurrus was, but now I know: a whisper. This expansion in my vocabulary is due to the breathtaking ceramic sculpture included on Item Home UK's website. Wow. Anytime a lighting fixture inspires you to do research, it must be good. And when it starts out as a light, but is also installed just as a piece of art, it must be doubly good.


No, no, no...we don't have a need for this in the house, so I have no idea why I am posting about it. But then again, who doesn't have a need to appreciate fanciful, beautiful artwork? At least that's the way that I justify it. Shhhh, let's keep this a whisper.

Inspiration vs reality: chandeliers

One of the most exciting design opportunities in our house that I did not anticipate was the stairway. When I found the following images on the Bocci website, my heart raced.



But when I found out that it would cost us multiples of thousands of dollars, my heart appropriately sank. In an interesting twist of fate, another new home on the island had received a duplicate light in a vendor error. We viewed the alternate and it gave a similar effect to the light that had originally won us over. No, it isn't as dramatic, but it does provide a bit of fancy. With multiples of thousands of dollars left in our bank account, we now have this lovely donation (yes donation...) giving us lovely ambiance.


And just because I couldn't get the beautiful Bocci lights out of my mind, we now have three in our powder room. The mirror has a nice effect of multiplying the lights. Six for the price of three!


And while we are on the subject of lighting, I thought it might be useful to update the previous post regarding our entry way light. It has now been installed and draws many "oohs" and "aahs" from visitors. It's difficult to get a photo that really captures how much it offers, but here was the closest that I could get.


I was holding my breath about this light because I ordered it without Mr. Big being with me. I also didn't elaborate on it much because he typically doesn't go quite as modern as I do. One of the sweetest recent phone calls that I received was the day the light was installed. "Holy cow! I LOVE our cool new light". There was a deep exhalation on my part and we haven't looked back. Whew...

Ceiling light

The front entry ceiling light has been perplexing us for a while. The standard white flushmount fixture just didn't seem exciting enough for the entry of the house, especially as it will be helping to highlight our fisherman painting. I was hoping to find something with a bit of pizazz. Unfortunately, that hoping has spanned a period of many months (not dissimilar to many other decisions!).

While recently in Orlando, we stumbled upon a lighting store chock full of lighting...so much so that it was actually difficult to see individual fixtures from one another. A turn around a corner...and wow...there it was. The perfect fixture for our front entry. The ET2 Larmes fixture was hung with the glass bulbs only a few inches from the flush mount base (as opposed to the image below). It twinkled amongst the rest of the lights and I was smitten immediately.


I had seen it on websites before, but it is much more impressive in person. One more decision down...and one more fixture to anticipate getting installed.

Bathroom lights

Bathroom vanity lights or regular wall sconces? Bathroom searches have not been too exciting to this point so we've reverted to regular wall sconces. Here are the front runners at the moment.

Chip wall sconce by Fire Farm Lighting (leader to this point)

Dot sconce by Lampa

Silhouette sconce by Archer Collection

Broadway wall sconce by Fire Farm Lighting

Dau by Zaneen

Iris by Justice Design

Metra Twin bar wall sconce by Hubbardton Forge

Good idea or just plain bad?

In the quest for a dining room light that would be unique and fit within our budget (imagine that...), I came across Ingo Maurer's Zettel'z light a number of times. It looked a bit "out there" the first ten times I saw it, but then the brightly lit pages, handwritten notes, and fresh aura all started to appeal to me. I'm sure that I've proven some psychological phenomenon associated with repetitive exposure, but I digress...


The light is a combination of Japanese cane papers, some of which are already pre-printed with romantic notes in many different languages. There are then equally as many blank pages for future inspirations. While I'm not sure that Mr. Big or I would want to subject our guests to our passionate love letters (hahaha), it could become a really unique guest book from those many special people who visit us. This could potentially become a memory book of sorts that could spur on discussions at the dinner table.

I just don't know if this is, in fact, a neat idea, or if I really need to get a life, and select a more normal fixture (example left...a bit boring compared to the above images...). Would the Zettel'z be unique and fun or are we better off with a more traditional light piece?

Free Web poll for your Web site - freepolls.com

Someone stop me

We're months away from getting into the house, and I am absolutely drooling over this gorgeous mocha felt cut 2x9 from Brocade Home. It also comes in a 5x8 rug, but this is about the time when I need a little intervention. Wait until you are in the house, wait until you are in the house...


Why, oh why, do I torture myself by looking at all of the beautiful options available on the internet? Find them, get ridiculously excited, come across $$$ price tags, and start all over. In any case, they are worth getting inspiration from...

For the front entrance of the house (from Gulassa Co)

Wall sconce for bathroom (Neidhardt Lighting)

And just for the fun of it, these cute, cute, cute shoes that are taunting me all the way from Spain. Inspiration can come in all different forms. ;) Sigh...

Ceiling fans

As you can imagine, ceiling fans are everywhere on our little island. After living in many rental apartments, you start to appreciate fans that don't squeak or move air efficiently. From a decor perspective, a fan is a fan and we haven't really found anything special that catches our eye aesthetically.

That was until last night when I stumbled across these beauties on ebay. Reviews indicate that they are well made and I love the design. Simple but a bit rustic/worn at the same time. They are built to be used in damp locations, if needed, so we are planning on using them for all of our outdoor locations.

Tommy Bahama Marine Fan

We'll may forgo the light option, but overall, they look really nice. I ordered three at a price $125 lower than anywhere elsewhere on the internet. Whohoo...saved us almost $400 in total. Mightnight ebay runs aren't so bad after all.

High low

My favorite articles in design magazines are those in which professionally designed (and well paid for) room are pulled apart and we have a peek into how to achieve the same look at a fraction of the price. The following inspiration picture has always tugged at me, namely because of the gorgeous (and very custom-made) chandelier from Fuse Lighting. Yowzers. It has leather straps and the whole bit.


We have a 6 ft square dining room table begging for something along these lines. I love modern, but Mr. Big just doesn't. A smaller version of this beauty would be a great middle point. I have been searching a while now and was pleased this evening to come across this option.

Graham and Green

No, the leather straps have not been beautifully replicated, but overall, it comes pretty darn close. And you never know, perhaps this little island has a master leatherman in its midst just waiting for a project like this.

Sweet dreams

It wasn't until our staircase was built that we truly realized just how special the space and windows were. Originally, we just planned wall sconces to light this area, but it is now absolutely begging for a gorgeous chandelier.

Of course, the standard chandelier isn't what has caught my fancy. Rather, I've fallen pretty hard for these romantic Bocci lights which are made by a designer in Vancouver.

"The pendants are articulated seamed cast glass spheres with frosted cylindrical voids in them, which house halogen light fixtures. The pendants are designed to be clustered in groups - the effect being of many tiny candles encased in floating spheres of water. The light interacts with the imperfections / bubbles in the glass to make a visually rich halo of light around the piece."

Imagine your final steps of each day being met with magical twinkles. If these wouldn't send you to bed with sweet dreams, I'm not sure what would.