I kind of want to jump on The Voice bandwagon. Not because I expect Adam Levine to turn his chair for me — though if he did I’d probably look him dead in the eye and say, “Keep your hands off my woman, Levine!” — but because shows like The Choice (spinny chairs meets dating), The Taste (cooking) and The Face (modeling) have spawned so many spin-offs.
Mine would be called The Shade: a tongue-in-cheek competition to find “the next great light for Clara’s big girl room.” It would probably be ridiculous, but we were serious about finding the right pendant shade for her space.
We’d already decided to replace the wood-toned ceiling fan with something more Clara-friendly. For nearly three years we’d used a tabletop fan in her room and never needed an overhead fan, so a shade pendant felt like the best option. A pendant offers lots of choices in texture and color, won’t hang too low like a chandelier might, and still lights the room well.
At first we looked at ones we already like, but many of those were patterned and the room already has plenty going on. So we checked other sources: Craigslist came up empty, but our local Decorating Outlet in Richmond had a great selection and good prices. We ended up finding four viable options, each in the $35–40 range.
Here’s what we found:
- Team Navy: A solid deep blue to tie in with her curtains, with no pattern
- Team Purple Damask: A subtle purple damask that sits between the blues and reds in the room
- Team Neutral: A natural, burlap-style shade to add organic texture
- Team Chevron: A bold navy-and-white chevron for a trendy, statement look
The Decorating Outlet gives you one business day to return items, so we hurried home for the audition. I held each shade up to the existing fan light to get an idea of how it would look. The fan light isn’t as bright as a pendant, but it was enough to help us decide. We reviewed them in reverse order.
Team Chevron was fun and confident, but adding another bold pattern to a room already full of prints felt risky. It could have worked, but we worried it would compete with future plans for the wall between the windows. Next up was Team Neutral.
The neutral shade was fine, but in person it felt too bland. That left Team Purple.
The purple damask looked promising with the lights off, but when lit the pattern and color softened to the point that it almost read neutral. I was disappointed because I wanted to like it.
That left our final contender.
Team Navy felt like the safest pick, but it was also our instinct from the start. Although the photo makes it look a bit dark, the new light kit will emit far more wattage than the old fan light. We liked that a plain navy shade wouldn’t compete with the wall art and would quietly tie together the room’s blue accents. In person it was an obvious winner, so we made the call quickly.
Next came the battle round: removing the heavy fan from the ceiling. I wrestled with it and came out victorious.
Choosing the navy shade also saved us money — it was the cheapest at $34. To cut costs further, the Decorating Outlet sells their “damaged” pendant hardware at half price. The “damage” was simply that the light kit had been shortened for a lower ceiling, which actually suited our needs. We bought the hardware for $25 and trimmed it slightly to fit Clara’s room.
Fast-forward to the finale: cue the theme song for The Shade. For just $60 total — the shade plus the light kit and canopy — we had a two-light pendant that looked great in the room. The dark navy balances all the pink without being overpowering and complements the other blue pieces subtly, so the fixture feels calm and grown-up.
Most importantly, Clara loved it. Her reaction was, “Is that mine? Can I touch it? Is that mine for my big girl room? I think it’s shiny and pretty like a pebble.” That’s endorsement enough.
We installed two 75-watt-equivalent CFL bulbs, so despite the dark shade the room is still bright enough for bedtime tea parties and stuffed-animal sleepovers. So does my concept for The Shade have legs? Maybe not as an actual show, but as a simple, budget-friendly update it was a win.
Note: Sherry is volunteering with East Coast Creative as one of their blog helpers. If you’re a blogger interested in entering their Creating With The Stars competition, check their submission details for a chance to be one of the final contestants.