17 August 2013

Let There Be Light



I apologize in advance for this DIY post.  I think the first post I tried to write that was a DIY, I called
a D Y I.  This blog, as it says in the intro, is about remodeling our beach cottage and has, as of now, mainly turned into a blog chronicling the Shenanigans of a family who lives at the beach.  But today, I am once again going to try to give you a DIY post.  So here we go!

I'm going to start off with the finished product so I don't lose you before I even start.  

This is son #1's bedroom.  Not #1 because I love him the most, (just a disclaimer) but, because he was born in said chronological order.  We spent an exorbitant amount of money for him to go to University and now like most University grads, he is back in his old bedroom while he ardently looks for a career job, doing odd jobs in the meanwhile.  I absolutely LOVE having him home though, and I know he longs for a real job in his chosen field but, he's so much fun and brings so much light and joy to the house that when he leaves for good I'll probably go live in a hole and cry myself to death.  I am not prone to exaggeration.  I am not prone to exaggeration.  I am not prone to exaggeration.  I am not prone to...


We went shopping one day recently, and found these beautiful retro sconces at "West Elm".  They were on back-order so it took a lot of growling, gnashing of teeth and pacing patience for me to wait for the tracking order to show up in my in-box to tell me they were on their way.

This is what the previous lamp looked like.  Pretty nifty.  Did I just say, nifty?  Why, yes I did and I do believe that shows my age.  Do the youth of today even know what nifty means?  I know they don't know what thrifty means.  Oh well, nobody under 50 reads this blog anyway.  So, as nifty as this was when I changed out the end tables to a more retro look, I was ecstatic to find the new sconces to go with the new look.  

 Of course we needed help to install the sconces when they arrived so we enlisted hubby #1 (yes, I had another one once but in this case I am putting them in order of whom I like best.)  The little doggy on the bed there helped too.  Moral support is the most important part of any project.

 Hubby #1, I guess I don't need to keep calling him that since the other one hasn't counted for the past 34 years.  Don't worry, he doesn't read my blog either. Well, he decided to make this a teaching moment for his son, adding to his list of talents - sconce installation.  Do you hear that potential employers!

Look at him wield that electrical tool like a pro.  Just like, "Tim the tool man Taylor."  Aging myself again?  My son can design anything as simply as Steve Jobs; is a brilliant culinary artist (makes dinner for the fam on Tuesday nights); and surfs like Kelly Slater.  I am not prone to exaggeration.  I am not prone to exaggeration.  I am not prone to exaggeration.  I am not prone to exaggeration.  I am not prone to...

This job entailed nuts, bolts, a pencil, a flashlight, an electric screwdriver and a level.  And that's about as technical as this DIY project is gonna get.  So if you want to bail now, do what you must.  But, you will lose out on more photos of my #1 son if you do so, and I wouldn't do that if I were you.  Just sayin'.


In between photos, I laid on my back on the bed and shot photos of the ceiling fan.  These projects while wildly fascinating, get tedious for people with ADD  a lot of other things to do.


Apparently I'm not taking this seriously enough.  Obviously, I'm more tongue in cheek about this than realistic.  Look how staid he is.  Do you see him with his very serious face on?  Electrical installation is much more serious than you think.  I'd say from the look on his face you could compare it a little bit with spinal surgery.

 Intense man, very intense.

How cool is this vintage light bulb?  Just a heads up, we had to buy this on the sly.  The one it comes with is the warm white 2700K lumens curly cued snobby rimmed shorty fob.  In other words, UGLY.  And we don't do ugly even if the estimated cost to run it is only $1.57 per year.  We were trying to amend ugly,  so we retrofitted for vintage and as you can see, it worked!

He even made his bed for our um, photo shoot.  Of course he's just like that.  "Practically perfect in every way."  Three points if you know what movie that's from.

Wallah!  Two beautiful retro sconces,  DIY'd by my #1 husband and my #1 son, with a lesson in electrical installation to boot.  You're welcome.

Now turn off the lights and let there be a beautiful sunset at the beach.  Have a blessed week, pets.

Love you more than how lucky I am that I can see the handiwork of God every single day!

Tia






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