Wavy Lady

What’s this? Christmas come early?

Tuesday afternoon got off to a great start with a rather impulsive trip to West Elm and this. A lovely box, filled with something I’ve been coveting for quite some time. That’s now ON SALE. Hence the impulsive jaunt to my friendly neighborhood West Elm to pick up a little something something and finally make it mine. This new addition to our abode actually had Scott uttering “even though it’s just a lamp, it does look pretty good back there.” Score one for Audrey!

The lamp situation in our den was a bit dire, in my opinion, so I’ve been on the hunt for a new lamp to take its place for quite some time now. I had the wavy glass lamp in my “Buy me this” column for a month or so now, and every day it was staring me down, begging me to purchase it. So naturally, as soon as this puppy popped on the sale rack, I obliged.

Say hello to my new best friend! I’ve named her Mary J Blige because she’s so smooth and cool. Our old lamp wasn’t quite our style, but this new addition is right up our alley. Our totally awesome, glass lamp base alley.

You may recall another glass lamp that we have in our front den, that now ties in nicely with our new glass lovely. The waves of the glass also mimic the Hokusai print that I gave Scott for one of his birthdays, that also resides in the den. You see how nicely everything is coming together? It’s like I planned it or something!

And here’s the lamp in the grand scheme of the den. Quite a nice addition, eh? Any lamp love you’d like to share? Join in!

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A Certain Shade of Yellow

Before I started this blog, there were many a project that we attempted (some successful, some not so much) that you’ve yet to experience. Unfortunately for you guys, I didn’t take before and after pictures of every little thing I did, so there is no documentation of my process. Thus, you guys don’t get to experience the riveting details of repairing a garbage disposal or our back door’s weather stripping. There are some projects, though, that I may be able to convey with one after picture and some extremely provocative prose. Or, some semi interesting writing. You be the judge.

Ever since we painted our office a dark army brown/green, I knew that I wanted some poppy yellow accents in there. I’m still in search of some awesome curtains (hey, it may be a semi man cave, but I’m allowed some curtains!) but an easy little touch that I whipped up in an afternoon was a custom yellow lamp shade. Believe it or not, but finding a bright yellow lamp shade is actually incredibly difficult. After months of searching, I decided to pull out my DIY card and take a stab at creating one on my own.

I found a great glass lamp base at Target (for a great price, naturally) and knew that I wanted a nice modern shade to go along with it. I was itching for a sleek drum shade, but had to settle for the next best thing – a semi drum shade. Somehow, I found a semi-drum, semi-bell shade at Target, and the price was just right. I made sure to buy a shade that was paper so I could work my magic and dye the shade just the right shade of yellow.

Say hello that the old standby, RIT dye. Remember these guys from the good ol’ days of 3rd grade tie-dyed tshirts? I figured if I can’t find a yellow lamp shade, I may as well attempt to make one on my own. I thought about covering a shade in fabric, but I didn’t want to take away from the opacity of the shade. I didn’t have the means to completely submerge the lamp shade in a vat of dye, so I poured some dye into a big pasta pot (bowling hot water I might add) and sponged the dye over the lampshade until I reached the correct hue of awesome yellow. Be sure to wear rubber gloves when you deal with this dye – they don’t call it dye for nothing.

And voile! A perfect shade of yellow, all for the cost of a cheap-o paper shade and some $.99 RIT dye. Our new yellow shade is the perfect accent in our man cave/home office, and definitely brightens up our deep wall color. Any home projects you’re dye-ing to share (ooo lame… but I couldn’t resist!)?

images courtesy of Pottery Barn and ritdye.com

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Lamp-a-licious

The new lamp from CB2 finally came in! Remember the living room idea collage where I mentioned the more affordable lamp option for our living room makeover? Well, here it is – in all of it’s glass bulb glory! It’s so freaking awesome I can’t stand it. And Scott secretly loves it too. He’s just too proud to admit a love affair with a lamp. Me, on the other hand, have no qualms with sharing my adoration towards an inanimate object that so easily spruces up my otherwise dark and sad living room – for under 100 smackaroos. Now, in glass bulb lamp world, this really is a steal of a deal. CB2 took it’s sweet time in delivering this little piece of heaven, but I will say that their customer service representatives are super friendly.

These pictures were taken with my new 50mm 1.8 lens that I got for my birthday. I’m still working on taking pictures in low light and not screwing them up, so bear with me! The new lense is a dream though, so I know I’ll be able to produce some rockin’ images in no time.

Even Charlie expressed his love of lamp to me (I had to refrain from calling this post “I love lamp” after a favorite Anchorman quote… so I chose something even more cheesy). Do you agree with Chuck? Any awesome house ware finds that you’d like to express your love for? Come on, it’s liberating! I love lamp!

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Come on, baby, light my kitchen

Scott and I recently renovated our kitchen (that post will come later) but our lighting situation is seriously lacking. We have the all too common fluorescent bulb fixture that works well, but doesn’t light my fire. Plus, it only covers a portion of the kitchen, leaving our dining table in the dark.

I’m very torn on what fixtures to put in my kitchen. Give me a client and I can design their whole lighting plan in 20 minutes flat. But when it comes to my house, I’m clueless.

I found this light fixture at work one day and kind of fell in love with it. It’s cheesy, kitschy and kind of modern all in one. I’m thinking it might be a good selection for over the kitchen table. Or maybe I should go for something more classic/traditional, like this lovely from Restoration Hardware.

I know, I know, such silly things to worry about, but it’s such a conundrum! What do you think? Possibly some additional track lighting to fill the void of the soon to be replaced fluorescent fixture?

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