How To: Cardboard Chandelier

Back to work today, eh? I'm so sorry... but not really because I (like many!) started back to work yesterday.  So I felt your pain.  But hey, tell your boss you're going home early because you have more important things to do, like tackle this adorable cardboard chandelier:

Sorry Boss! Just can't compete with something this sweet.  I saw this project on How-To Tuesday on Etsy a while back, and have always kept it in mind for just the right time.  This last weekend we got the wild idea to empty out two of our bedrooms and switch them entirely (I can explain...later...with pictures!), which now has me brainstorming the details of it all.  My favorite is figuring out the lighting, I want something unique and fun - this might just fit the bill. One big, one small.... hanging out.....

Head over to Etsy's How-To Tuesday for the full instructional.  Have a great "Monday", as odd as that may sound, it's all how you look at it, right? Sure...

Until next time, hugs! Oh - did you enter my String Art Giveaway on Better After yet? There's still time! Clicky clicky...

     -Jesse

Up Next: Dare we paint that fireplace? Let's think about it first....

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Pinterst Picks: Rainy Day

So I'm supposed to be mopping the kitchen right now, but that is so boring and the computer was staring at me from across the room - as usual.  And I thought, "lemme just hop on pinterest real quick.." which turned into a quick post session.  And why not, it's a rainy day!  Which inspired the theme of my search, and I found some great stuff! So here they are, in no particular order - and notice how this time around, I've learned to embed! They say you learn something every day, so I guess I've met my quota... :)
Look who's on first, a rainy day mobil!

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Precious lil thang. Sadly, the original pin didn't include the exact link, but I felt like going the extra mile today and finding the original post. Anything to avoid that mop for my readers! Here she is. Oh, and by the way, links to the pin are under each photo, so click that pic, if you think it's "sick". Oh man, I'm full of it today! HA! P.S. "sick" is supposedly some slang term that actually means "good" or "cool", but you all probably knew that already because you're hipper than I. Or is it me, hipper than me?

Next up - a chandelier that threw me right back into my childhood, hanging out at Grandmas.  She had one of these teardrop chandeliers and I adored it. I still do actually.

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Delightful, huh? Agreed. Moving on, I don't have all day here! (Ok, maybe I do) Let's move onto rainy day wall art.  Look at these cute wall decals, I can think of several places in my house that these would be more than welcome...

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Nice.. and look at this 3-D rainy day wall art...what's cookin, good lookin!

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I think that's my favorite, I'm a sucker for 3-D wall art. Can't get enough. Especially this two direction theme here.  Raining into puddles, evaporating into clouds. That's how it's done! Here's one more wall treatment:

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That's a rainy day theme you could do.... say.. on a rainy day. Jeez, where'd they get those towels? Send a link if you please.... OK - I think that's enough for one day, this house isn't gonna clean itself.

Eh one more:

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That was worth it! Can you believe that? The color attracted me to that post, first and foremost,but then on closer inspection I saw the crazy gutter work here.  This place plays music once it starts raining!  That is probably a love it or hate it situation, but either way it's impressive. I wonder if the wall takes requests...

Alright, well if the weather is better in your neck of the woods then I wish you the best! For those of us in the rain, set up that crock pot and redecorate your house.  Enjoy it, woot!

-Jesse

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Ghost Lamps

Have you heard this term before? Ghost lamps? Well I hadn't, but I had seen the style before.  It's where you strip an old lampshade to it's bones, and either leave it as is or give it a (tedious!) paint job.  After some research it seems they've been coined "Ghost Lamps" - which is kinda cute!  Seems every style gets a title at some point (wait until we talk about ombre... haha). 

My big concern when I saw these lamps was how bright they seem.  Would the bulb blare at you? So I had to try it out.  I had a few lampshades here with some less-than-lovely fabric on them, and they were begging for this project.  I wanted to review this style for myself, and it turns out I really like it! Check them out:

 I did lime green for mine. I bare bones'd 'em, primed and painted.  The wiring is new and was from one of those lamp bottle kits at the hardware store. It had everything I needed. Since the shade is lightweight, the wire is enough support.

 Here is the secret to making this work. Low wattage bulbs.  In this case, I used "Vintage Style" bulbs that are now available at any hardware store. Look at the filament in there! The light is soft, non blaring, and gives a great accent to any room.  Any low wattage bulb will work, but since the bulb itself is a big part of the focal point here, it's fun to get an interesting one.  Tons are available online too.

 When it's off, it adds a bright color accent in this green & cream corner.

 Here's the second ghost shade, and it was one of those scalloped frames before.  This is also a vintage bulb, they come in two shapes so I got one of each.  The filament in this one is more like a spiral.

 There we go! I gotta say, I like them best as a set. And it STILL was not too bright or blarey, despite what my camera is telling you.  It's nothing to go studying under, but it's perfect for an accent. 

So, my review of the ghost lamp idea is complete, and I'm in love. I really like the style, and I'm happy that these vintage bulbs are available and affordable.  I got mine for about $8 each. Since I already have one thousand lights in my home, I will be putting these up for sale in my shop.  I will eventually be doing some for myself though, hehe. What are your thoughts on this upcoming trend? Have a great weekend!

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Spotlight: Zipper 8 Lighting

Recently I posted about the paper artichoke lamp tutorial, and shortly after I found Zipper8 Lighting. Oh wow! Allison, of Zipper8, and I have been corresponding and she shared her blog with me, check it out: The 3 R's Blog .

Right now she's in the midst of 30 projects in 30 weeks that revolve around reusing materials, there are SO many creative ideas on there. She also has an etsy shop where you can buy many of the creations she's been making, I love all her lighting!

She has so many great ideas on there, and here you can see she did an artichoke pendant lamp for herself. It came out fantastic! Here are some pictures of her wonderful lamp, and many other pictures from her blog:

The straw lamp blows me away, it's so cute! Reminds me of a Jelly Fish. Have a great day everyone, be sure to check out more from Zipper 8!

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Digest

A lot of things have been going on this week! Sales have been up, and the purple hexagon table was adopted by a couple in San Francisco, and left us on Sunday. I'm glad they liked it! I have two more end tables in the works right now.  Both are square, one I already showed you so here is the other one:

Pretty crazy isn't it....... this one definitely puts up a big challenge. I'm open to ideas! I need a lot of them. I'm definitely thinking solid color, but the panels behind the designs on the doors come off, so I might do them a different color or maybe in a fabric. We'll see. Here's another "beautiful" project I have going, that I have some ideas for but I'm also pretty blocked:

Interesting, right? The problem here is some of the glasses are broken. But, I know something good will come of them. I have 2, this is the big one and I have one more that is smaller. Wish me luck!
Lastly, I put up a couple more parasols also:

Alright! Those are in the shop, have a great day!

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Super Seventies Chandelier Makeover

Here it is! The super seventies chandelier is done. This was a chandelier that was going to be thrown away during a home remodel. I had a few ideas, and eventually went with paying homage to it's 1970's roots by redoing it in retro fabric and colors.  It lights up really nicely.  I yet again forgot to take a before picture, but I have a picture of it in pieces before hand. You can really see the improvement! For sale here.

On a vintage note, Ross and I came across this really pretty serving tray and thought it would be a great addition to the shop. Click here to see it in the shop.

Have a wonderful week, the weather is great!

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Shells and Cheese

Hello! Hope everyone had a graet 4th of July weekend. Here's an update on what I've been up to lately. I found these book ends in a thrift store and it looked like someone just left them in their garage for years. Tarnished and it looked like a child with a sharpie attacked them.  I wish I took a picture,oh well.  I had the idea that they would look great in a really high gloss solid color, for a retro-modern look. After debating about the colors for a week or so, I decided to just go for golden yellow.  I love this color! After it dried it immediately reminded me of that nuclear velveeta ooze on those shells and cheese - I can't help but love that stuff!  So these are up for sale in the shop.

In other news, I recently got my hands on this really great 1970's console stereo (thank you sarah!).  I can't wait to get my hands on it. It needs new curtains, but the stereo itself works, the speakers and great (with amazing bass!) and it has auxilary ports to hook up an ipod or mp3 player.  We had a phone hooked up to it streaming Pandora, when a phone call came in, and we actually took the call on the stereo! Pretty funny. I think I found my new love, console stereos....

A long time ago I did a few chandelier make overs, and I really liked that. Here is the teal "candle"-lier I did. I'm onto another one.  Again, I thought I took an assembled picture of it before hand, but I can't find it. So here are it's parts, just so I can show you the progress!

So, I hope I can explain this, the wooden pieces connect to that metal center. The metal center has the lights on it, and the 6 wooden pieces that attach hold 6 semi circular glass panels with a brownish tint. I'm going completely 70's with the chandelier.  While working on that one, Sarah sent me a few more chandeliers that were being tossed out, so I went and grabbed them. I'll have updates on it soon to show you more, but think 1980's octagonal & rectangular lamps... we've GOT to find a way to bring these "beauties" into our modern decor. Any ideas?  Thanks for stopping by, have a great one!

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Teal Chandelier

Here's an older project of mine. Sarah found me this old chandelier which was in terrible shape.

So I tried to take it apart and rewire it.  The light worked, then starting blinking.... I realized I didn't want to risk fire and just tore the wires out. Now what should we do with it? I instantly thought of candles, and Ross found some perfect flower candle holders that we could attach. Here she is:

The "S" hook is no longer there, it's now on a teal chain.

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