light fixture Archives

Scribble a note, write a love letter, paint a picture, create a poem, compose the lyrics, save a memory...

Ahh… the note chandelier. Anyone else good at skipping the thinking-through part before making a selection and purchase? You know the step where you consider the assembly. Even after all these years of design work, yep, I’m still guilty. Of course, I’ve done this many times with Ikea purchases. And, I think this chandelier deserves to be placed in the same category as Ikea furniture!

Thanks to Pinterest inspiration (see below), the note chandelier has been calling my name for years. With our new house, I finally answered the call. I excitedly clicked the purchase button, never, not even once, giving any thought to the installation part. I never considered all of the small pieces, and there are many… the 50+ steel arms, the same number of clips that all require adjustment. Oh, and all of the pieces of paper have to be attached to all of those clips. I would say I thought it might arrive as pictured, completely put together, but honestly, I didn’t think about anything but how cool the light fixture looks… sigh.

As I’m putting this sucker together, I’m also now wondering how I will change the light bulb and dust the fixture. Hmmmm… the light bulb is now blocked by all of the steel arms. I’m sure dust will collect on all of these notes too. Oh well! Let this be problem solving and trouble shooting for another day. First, I have to complete the tedious process of getting this fixture together! If and when I finish, I’m sure I’m going to love it! And, I’m definitely looking forward to checking this one off of my to-do list!

P.S.

If you’re interested in other projects we’ve been working on lately in our new house, check out DIY: HOW TO PAINT LEATHER + VINYL WITH STUNNING RESULTS.

How It's Going

My Note Chandelier Inspiration

I will forever love lanterns, especially the dramatic, oversized variety. Illuminated, they cast the most perfect soft, amber glow over the space they grace, reminiscent of the full moon. They come in different shapes, sizes and price ranges. I think the lantern is a pretty impactful, dynamic light fixture for the money. It provides a lot of design bang for your buck! My absolute favorite lantern is made by Noguchi, albeit on the higher end in terms of pricing. They call theirs “light sculptures,” and they are pretty magical! For the most part though, there’s an abundant, reasonably priced selection of lanterns online, just a google search away. One resource I like is Hay. Their rice paper shades range from $25-$65 (you’ll need to add a light cord set). IKEA has a super cheap version.

I actually purchased a gigantic lantern for our new house from the Finnish Design Shop, spec’d for our pool house. I received it before I realized the garage door would open over where the lantern would hang… sigh and ugh on this design mishap. So I still have a lantern with no home. I paid almost the cost of the lantern in shipping so returning it wouldn’t have been the most cost effective. I actually still have it and am hanging onto it with hopes of finding a spot for it. Or perhaps it’ll find a home in my next house! While I’m working on that, here are some of my favorite spaces with Japenese-inspired lantern lights.