Posts from Michelle

Well, now that it’s way, way past Christmas I’ve finally been putting the finishing touches on the Master Bedroom Redo. (I really think it should be ‘rodeo’…but who am I) As I’d said previously in this series of posts, Montpelier Armoire DIY, Bedroom Redo, Renew, Reno–Step 2, Bedroom Redo – Step 3,  and Bedroom Redo – Step 4, I’m going for a look to resemble something from Restoration Hardware. If you’re familiar, you’ll also probably note that they are fixated on ‘symmetry’. Something that needed help in that department was the massive mirror (or as Will calls it ‘random mirror’) all alone on it’s wall. OK, back to the catalog,….ooooo I like those lights – ouch $319 EACH? Hmmm, let’s examine this before we give up. How hard could it be? Ha, ha ha.

So, a bit later I was wandering the isles of Lowes looking for a suitable victim to dismantle and found some lovely lamp shades in just the right size (I couldn’t believe it). You know I couldn’t stop there. I looked through the wood moulding section in search of an antique iron railing substitute. No luck. Then after some thought – what has a finial and is hollow to run wire through? Yup, a curtain rod! So, off I went to the drapery section and right there they were – perfect! Squared off rods, with square finials in a stainless aluminum finish. Oh, no it gets better…they have a built in track and clips for the drapery fabric. That means the entire back is open to run wire and whatever else I can come up with! And ON SALE! I kept my little pirate laugh to myself and scarfed them up.

A quick stop in the paint section for a can of ‘dark steel’ universal spray paint (cause I have no idea what these pieces are made of). But wait – we started out here looking at lamp guts. Don’t get so excited. Over in lighting there’s a whole rack of miscellaneous bits n’ pieces to fix lamps, ceiling fans and whatever. I love that junk! Knowing that I’d return whatever I didn’t need, I picked up wired assemblies, and brackets to hold up ceiling fan sconces, and anything else I thought could be bodged together and away I went.

Now, I might add that I’m someone who needs an electrician and plumber on retainer like a bar owner keeps a lawyer! Which is why I’m soooo glad to be married to one who plays both. Poor Jon. There I am with my bags of junk wide eyed explaining my purchases. “You know, it goes like this, and then this piece, and the wire here and…..” Yes, I’ve seen that look before, but he did like the mirror idea, so he gave me the benefit of the doubt. This is the part where I tell you that there’s a reason I’m not an electrician. I’m just not wired for it – lucky for me he is. This is what he and I came up with.

Pretty simple and easy to hide behind the smaller shades. Speaking of shades, in the ‘parts’ photo there are those shade from Lowes in cream, which turned out to be pretty bright. That’s when I read the product description of the Resto lights as being ‘gilded’ on the inside. I tried my hand at it with my mirror paint. It reflected the light alright, but made it look like some old thing that the American Pickers would’ve bypassed. I had to toss them 🙁 That’s when my friends at Target came to my rescue with a set of shades, the same size in linen – I know, I couldn’t believe it either!

They’re perfect. Now, you may notice the interesting brackets that hold them out from the wall. Yes, they’re oval – no they don’t match. Remember hearing somewhere, someone mentioning that I can’t throw anything away. Anyway, I have extra curtain brackets from another project. They come in 2 pieces, and are hollow for wire. The ‘knuckle’ of the mounting piece fits in the open back section of the curtain rod. A little spray paint to make everybody the same shade of grey and we’re set. So here they are. Oh, wait, what was the bill? A whopping $54 each., and half of it was the cost of the rod. This weekend my electrician hardwired my lovely, Non–UL tested, fixtures to the switched plug on the wall. Beautiful, functional, and efficient (thanks Hon).

As a side note: Can you see the plugs in the wall? No? That’s because I painted the box covers and then bought ‘kid covers’ for the outlets and painted them to match. I thought I’d throw that in in case you’ve not seen that done.