Selecting The Perfect Light Fixture….

The kind folks over at Graphic Language, one of the top interactive agencies in San Francisco specializing in the constructing and building sector, thought it was a wise idea to let me take over their blog last week so I could spend the day discussing lighting.  When will people learn that when I am given the floor, I am going to run with it, so head over and see my top tips for selecting the perfect lighting fixture.  I hold nothing back and give the 411 on everything on how to select the perfect chandelier to the basics of creating a lighting plan…..

Today I head down to NYC to begin leg two of my East coast trip and the jet lag has officially caught up with me!  I am hoping to call it an early day and catch up on some sleep – otherwise, I am going to be face first at my meetings (never a good first impression…)!

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Weekend Find: Drexel Heritage Blue Glass Lamps…..

This always happens to me…..

You are out shopping for one thing and you stumble upon something totally different.  This weekend I was looking for a bathroom bench for a client and thought that maybe I could swing a deal by hitting up TJ Maxx.  Well I struck out on finding a bench and as I was walking towards the exit, a flash of Tiffany’s Blue caught my eye.  As I turned my head, I was greeted by two amazing Drexel Heritage blue glass lamps haphazardly sitting on a shelf in the women’s intimate’s section.

Who knows why they were perched among the racks of bargain bras and control top girdles but fortunately for me, it meant that the normal TJ Maxx vultures missed these beauties.  So lickity split I snatched them up and ran to the register….

I have been looking for a pair of colorful lamps for the living room for some time now.  I love their shape, vibrant blue color and of course their price at $60 each.  However, what I love most about the lamps are their lucite bases……

I think the lucite adds just that bit of modernity that the piece needs to make sure it doesn’t go too traditional.  I may try to do something with the shades but for now, I am quite happy with my new lamps.

So tell me, did you snag a deal this weekend?  Leave a comment or a tweet and tell me about your amazing score.  Alrighty, I am off to sit at a client’s condo and wait for deliveries as I do work.  Glamorous huh?

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More Wood & Brass Lighting Awesomeness…..

If you have not guessed, I love wood and brass together.  If my last post regarding my new wood and brass chandelier did not affirm that notion, then maybe today’s will.  A few months ago, I found a killer brass and wood lamp at my favorite resale shop:

Unfortunately, it was missing a harp, needed some rewiring, new shade and the base had “lamp psoriasis”……

Or what I think everyone else would call rust.  However, none of those things deterred me because I saw how awesome this lamp could be with about an hour’s worth of effort.

Thanks to about 10 minutes of sanding of the base, 15 minutes of rewiring, 10 minutes of wood oiling and sealing and 20 minutes of spray painting, I was able to turn this puppy around…..

I was lucky enough to find the shade at Anthropology for $30 marked down from $129.  I love the fun pattern and colors of the shade……

To be perfectly honest, I am still on the fence regarding the shade.  Part of me feels that it may be too busy considering the lamp base already has a pattern.  However,  part of me loves the craziness of it.  It strikes me as very 70s chic – the brass, wood and ikat pattern.

So if I was to rate my newest brass and wood light it would rank around the level of 70s awesomeness…..well if awesome was Charlie’s Angels + Bionic Woman combined with spending the day on Fantasy Island before heading out to Studio 54 in a custom Halston leisure suit.

Yeah, I think the lamp is just that kind of awesome.

Happy Monday!!!!

Update 8/24/11: Submitted this project to the CSI Lamp Challenge