Jewels

I’m not a fan of ceiling lights as my 1950′s ranch house kitchen had… what came with the house was a monstrosity of wrought iron and orange glass shade hanging at forehead height in the middle of the room…I switched it out for a temporary light that I used for a couple of years but wanted to make my eat in kitchen cozier. I started my search for something clean and simple… I loved the look of this chandelier/shade from Restoration Hardware, but at $445 it was out of my “single Mom on a budget” range…here is my homemade version…

I made it from a shade on sale at Pottery Barn that I paid about $15 for, some fabric cord and a ceiling plate from a lighting store and some wiring help from a friend..

be sure and use a globe bulb that gives off a soft light

On a dimmer it makes my little dining corner much more elegant than before..

This very simple classic lamp was bought as an inexpensive temporary bedside reading light. I had been looking for something prettier and couldn’t find anything I liked in my budget when it dawned on me that I could just paint the one I had…two, actually. I found a pale blue paint at my local Benjamin Moore store and went to work ..first spray painting with metal primer and then brushing on two coats of the paint. I liked the texture of the paint but wasn’t completely happy with the color..it was a little too baby blue, where I wanted more of a smoky pale blue. I took the paint can back to the store and they worked with me adding small amounts of red to get just the right shade.. I repainted and here is the final result…

Now to liven up the shade… stay tuned…