Style Lush

Currently Coveting: Edison Lights

By Jessica

 

I'm in the midst of project fever at my house and my most recent (failed. FAILED) project lead me to the lighting section at Lowe's were I stumbled across and fell in love with their Edison Lights.

Now, I know CFL's are the future and are more energy efficient and all that but they are also UGLY. 

This Allen + Roth Bronze Edison Pendant Light  however is gorgeous

and for my imaginary house in Portland or Sedona? This Mission Aztec Bronze Edison Pendant

or this Mission Aztec Bronze 3 Light Island Fixture are equally perfect

Someday, my pretties, someday.

 

{Photos: Lowe's}

My Living Room Has Needs

by Christina

These two items are not on my Christmas list because they would be a waste of ink as my individual budget is less than one of them. But, if I could have anything I wanted, after I unwrap the giant red bow from my brand new cream Lexus, I'd want these two babies for my living room. It needs a clock and a floor lamp, and, it has really good taste. See?

I'd trade my bed for this clock. (It's old and hard and I spend more time in my kids room, anyway.) I love it so. It's big, too. 32 inches high, 17 across. It would be amazing next to my fireplace.

This wants to live next to my couch. It's so cool, and bottom heavy (like me) And it's tall! 5 foot 6. Awesome. My room has so much color in it that adding these all white pieces would be a nice relief. If only that Lexus came with them both in the trunk.

(images via pinterest- via west elm and country living magazine)

DIY Light Fixtures

by Christina

My neighbor is a genius. She and her husband recently gutted and redid their kitchen and she came up with two of the best lighting ideas in the history of lighting! She started with an old water bottle from her father in-law, from what she calls the floor of treasures (the upper level of the building where his company is run).  With a little bit of vision, she took one of these:

And turned it into this!

She had someone cut the bottom of the bottle for her and then her husband wired and hung it. Amazing! Then, THEN! She found an old industrial whisk at The Country Living Fair and again, a literal light bulb went off and her husband did this!

I mean really, I consider myself to have fairly decent vision but a light out of a whisk and then to have it turn out this good? Please! Incredible, right? This is upcycling at its absolute best! (check out that old school scale on the counter holding her bananas. COVET!)

I am just so moved by how amazing these both turned out. Aren't you?

{Photo credits: pinterest.com and the last is of her actual kitchen}

Reader Question: What To Do With This Hideous Light Fixture/Chandelier/Monstrosity?

By Jessica

 

That's quite the title, no? Let me just clarify that those are her words, not mine but let's see what the exact problem is, shall we?

Jennifer writes:

Hi! Y'all have helped me in the past coming up with a solution to cover a giant window-door in our rental house, but alas, we have moved again. This time, to on-post housing. Where the light fixtures from the 80s have taken over our house. I've been in other houses on post, and (I think clearly for entertainment value), all of the light fixtures are different. Equally AWFUL, but different. Since there is no option to physically change it, I would really love to cover this up somehow as I'm not into brassy things and wanna-be chandeliers, but can't figure out what to do with it...

 

So of course my first inclination was to take that thing down! TAKE IT DOWN but alas we can't do that, even if it's put back if/when they move, so the next idea is COVER IT.

Idea #1 via Pinterest

These are tiered atlas pages clipped on with binder clips. Cute when the light is off, would provide a lovely glow through the pages when the light is on and can be tailored to locations y'all have been for a personal touch. This is a DIY'd project although she doesn't mention how she did it, I'd bet it could be done with a trip through the hardware store, some round objects and bits of chain supporting the differently sized tiers.

Idea #1 via DesignSponge (also our very own Elizabeth)

The wax paper faux capiz shell chandelier. It's a gorgeous effect. Of course, if you wanted to spare yourself the time and effort you could just buy a capiz pendant and figure out how to hang it around your existing chandelier. If it's got a wide enough opening, it'd just be a matter of supporting it with chain and S-hooks right from the existing chain to the ceiling. It might be easier to work with the curtain variety however and stringing that onto a similar round object like from the above atlas situation.

Idea #3 Also from Pinterest

You could hang various chinese lanterns, paper flowers and decorations to obscure it altogether. The example I've shown is a bit over the top, obviously, but you get the general idea. Chinese lanterns pretty much weigh nothing and can be supported with thumbtacks or even tape and ribbons. No muss, no fuss.

And my final suggestion, one which I have no picture for, is to purchase (if you can find it or maybe make it if you can't) a velcro on chain cover for the brass chain in whatever color you'd like (or can find). Then I would get some frosting film and frost those individual panes of glass. They have a kind that is removeable so it wouldn't damage the glass and if you change the bulbs to a low wattage CFL there wouldn't even be a worry about heat making them peel. Between the frosted glass and the chain cover, you wouldn't see much of the brass at all.

I hope these ideas help, or at least give you some inspiration!

How would you solve this problem?

Arhaus warehouse sale

By Katie G.

Arhaus is a FABULOUS furniture store. It is so eclectic with fun finds from all over the world. I absolutely love this store, but it tends to be on the more expensive side. I had wanted to get pendants for over our island in the kitchen, and when I told my husband how much they were, he wasn't exactly thrilled with the price. They were $250 for one pendant and I knew that was too much for us to spend on something that wasn't a "must have" for the house. But, I did love them.

Recently during their warehouse sale, my hubby and I decided to walk through. I mostly just like to walk through to get creative ideas for my own home. When we walked in, it was a Friday night, and they had just started their warehouse sale for the whole weekend. And there I saw my pendants hanging, with a much cheaper price tag. The pendants were the last two and since they were floor models, they needed to get rid of them. I was so excited.

Sign up to get their flyers and they will send you a post card for when they have their warehouse sale. During the sale, they have all sorts of floor models for really great prices. Also, I have learned, get to the sale the moment it opens. All the good stuff is gone within a few hours.

 

Reader Help: Bedroom Light Fixture

By Hillary

My husband and I recently moved into a new-to-us condo. The previous owners had a very distinct style that in many ways aligns with ours (bright magenta accent wall in the bedroom, yes please!) As we settle into the space, however, we've started discovering a few quirks. Like the master bedroom light fixture. Behold the giant, paper, boob light in all its glory:

It's hideous. I hate it. It has to go. (My husband? Does not understand what all the fuss is about. "Just don't look at it!" he says, as if that's a reasonable solution.)

The problem is that I don't know what to replace it with. The bedroom is fairly large and has 9-foot ceilings and an entire wall of windows, so I feel like a large or dramatic fixture won't overpower the room. That being said, I'm not really a chandelier type person, and I hate to dust, so anything too elaborate is out. I don't want a boring boob fixture, I don't want anything too fancy, and I'm paralyzed by all the choices in between. Any and all light fixture suggestions are welcome!

Here's a (crappy iPhone) picture of the room to give you an idea what I'm working with (and so you can see how giant the paper boob really is!) I should have pulled up the blackout blind but just imagine a wall of glass there, okay?

{Photo credit: me and my trusty iPhone}

Summer Outdoor Lighting

By Leah

Cheap twinkle lights have been a staple inside and outside everywhere I've lived for the last decade, but since becoming a homeowner and then a parent/old married person, I've stepped it up a bit and explored what lies beyond the your basic plain white string Christmas lights. Here are my current haves and wants: 

3" multicolored paper lanterns. We hang these over the backyard deck every summer, and it makes every night feel like a party. (A fresh mojito helps too.)

 

These clear globe string lights are out of stock online, but we found them last weekend at our local Target. (You can still order the frosted ones online if you like that look.) They make me think of old-timey small-town street fairs--I can almost smell the popcorn and underlying scandal--and I'm crossing my fingers that they perform better for us than they did for the disgruntled online reviewers. 

 

You can't go wrong with a classic bamboo tiki torch, now available in both fuel- or solar-powered styles, depending on if you need the citronella protection of the former or kid-proof flamelessness of the latter. I also just discovered these colored fuels, which would be really fun to get in red and blue for a Fourth of July party. 

 

We saw some basic solar path lights--not the one pictured above, but close--on sale for $1 at our brick-and-mortar Target, but our neighborhood is a little too "thefty" for us to dare put them out front. Darn. 

 

I read this tutorial for homemade solar sun jars on Not Martha about four years ago, and I can't seem to forget it. Maybe this year's the year! (Using those $1 solar path lights!)

 

 
If you have, and love, your plain white string lights, here's a quick tutorial from Martha Stewart about how to fancy them up with silk flowers. I saw this on someone's personal blog years ago, but darn it if all the good ideas don't end up at Martha's eventually, right?  

 

A recent Pinterest find: glow paint speckled in mason jars! Worth it for the photo ops alone. (I tried and failed to trace this back to the original source/instructions.)

 

And finally, if you missed them the first time around, here are two great DIY projects from the Style Lush archives: recycled bottle torches and a tabletop fire bowl.

What are you doing for outdoor lighting? Is your Target wishlist full of things from their outdoor lighting page, or are you working on some DIY ideas we should know about?  

Girly Lighting

By Megan

So, for the 900th time, I'm moving, which means new stuff. The house we're buying is brand new which is awesome in most ways, except for the fact that it needs EVERYTHING.

No matter, I'm filling my days pricing things and deciding what we have to have and what can probably wait. This item probably could wait, but it won't because I love it so much. I mean, if I need a light in my girl's room anyway, why not make it something fabulous like this:

Mia Chandelier - Pottery Barn Kids

I think the picture makes it look overpowering, but the dimensions and the reviews suggest otherwise. I think it will be the perfect bit of whimsy in her room and so much more appealing than a ceiling fan.

{Photo Credit: potterybarnkids.com}

DIY: Under-cabinet Lighting

By Jessica

My kitchen has been featured here before, but what we didn't discuss in that post is one of the things that bugs me about actually cooking in my kitchen: lighting. Rather, a lack of functional lighting. The main lighting in the kitchen comes from a center mounted florescent fixture so when you are doing anything on the counters, your body serves to block that light and cast shadows, not to mention the natural shadows that occur in the corners where that one fixture is too dim to reach.

The obvious solution is under-cabinet lighting, but have you ever taken a look at the options that are out there? It's rather daunting. I don't know about y'all but sometimes, even for a couple of out of their mind DIY-ers (did you see our bathroom reno?) daunting=doing nothing. My usual solution to get out of that rut is just leap and buy something. Even if it turns out later to be a mistake, it's not like I will spend mad cash on most things and since we do installs ourselves (soon Pergo floors, eep) I figure it's worth the experience regardless.

Here are some pics of my kitchen after installing the under-cabinet lighting we selected. The pic on the far right is with all other lighting turned off, and our kit came with a dimmer so it's fantastic for early morning light while bumbling around the kitchen for the Keurig without blinding oneself.

Now, I have a friend that was going all out in really planning what sort of light she was interested in: florescent, LED, incandescent, etc...but I just bought a set that we found wandering around Home Depot.

Here are some options if you are interested in doing the same thing.

(Top Row L-R)

RiteLite LPL704 Wireless 12-LED Under Cabinet Light via Amazon (battery powered)

Hampton Bay 6-Light Black Under-Cabinet Xenon Puck Light Kit  via Home Depot (plug-in)

GE Black and Stainless Steel Under-Cabinet LED Linkable Light Fixture  via Home Depot (plug-in)

(Bottom Row L-R)

Utilitech 13-7/8" Utility Fluorescent Undercabinet Light via Lowe's (plug-in)

DIODER Light strip via Ikea (plug-in)

INREDA Spotlight via Ikea (plug-in)

 

I'm Still Hung-up On London

By Jessica

 

So I know it's been since Valentine's Day and yet I'm still hung up on London. I desperately want to go back and spend a longer amount of time. When I lament about how hell and gone we live from any decent pub or that NOTHING is within walking distance, I always refer back to how much easier it was in London. When I can't find the cider I fell in love with ANYWHERE here because apparently it's not exported, well, let's just say I'm ridiculous. I get it. That doesn't mean it shows any signs of letting up.

Further evidence? The above round-up.

(Clockwise From Top L)

Bloody Hell We're Buggered Now Print via Scream Printing on Etsy. My perfect version of the classic "Keep Calm and Carry On"

London Underground Tube Stations Mini Print via Scarlet Beautiful on Etsy.

British Patriotic Union Jack Flag Cuff via Jezebel Charms on Etsy. I DIE for this cuff. DIE.

Personlised London Underground Eco Cushion via Gabbea on Etsy. I would totally pick Charing Cross since that's right where we stayed in London.

Vintage Map Cufflinks via Kalika Designs on Etsy. I figure the hubs has to get something, right?

Jeeves Pendant Light via Hidden Art (See that larger photo? The one in the bottom left? SAME LIGHTS! That's a pic of my fave pub during our trip)

Handprinted Rustic Hessian Union Jack Cushion via Helkat Design on Etsy. I love the muted colors and the vintage feel.

And finally ...

This is The Clarence a pub that was right round the corner from our hotel in London and I miss it! I miss sitting with my husband in a cozy wingback chair and having a pint at the end of the day.

{Photo credit: Etsy and Hidden Art}