Looks like I’ve once again been roped into one of Sherry’s plans — this time her “Dude, Get On That Already” challenge — where she’s determined to actually do something with items we’ve been hoarding in our spare room. It’s basically a use-it-or-donate-it mission. This week’s subject: a light fixture we rescued from a thrift store in Delaware nearly a year ago for $19. It had been sitting on the playroom floor since then, so it was high time it fulfilled its intended purpose.
The fixture is made of a spun, translucent material that looks like a glowing ball of clear spaghetti — in a cool, somewhat ’70s way. Update: a reader pointed out it’s called a spaghetti lamp and is made from spun lucite. Our original plan months ago was to strip the gold finish and hang it in the master bathroom nook, but the plan evolved. Instead, we gave it a new home in our closet.
The closet made more sense for a couple of reasons: (1) the bathroom nook is visible from the bedroom and the round fixture might compete with another big round fixture in that room, and (2) the closet previously had a bare bulb that was, frankly, Yawn City.
Ahh, much better:
We finally got on that — hooray! It feels great to use what you already own and upgrade an old naked ceiling bulb. There were a few other closet updates too, so here’s the rest of the story.
When you last saw our closet a few months after we moved in, it looked really organized. These days it had gotten a bit derailed — largely because of our chihuahua, Burger.
It’s a bit unfair to blame Burger entirely. Moving his crate into our closet displaced the laundry basket that once fit neatly in its nook. The main reason for the move was Clara, who kept getting into Burger’s food, water, and crate — much to his dismay. So we tucked the crate away in our room where she doesn’t go as often. Burger prefers small spaces and seems happiest when his crate and bowls are tucked into a closet or nook. It’s just dry food, so there’s no odor, and thankfully we don’t have ant issues.
Since the light was the original catalyst for the project, we couldn’t ignore other annoyances in the closet. The solution turned out to be simple once we looked at the available space on my side of the closet.
I don’t use the full shoe rack the previous owners left — typical guy move: one pair of brown shoes, one pair of black shoes, plus flip-flops and sneakers by the door. Meanwhile, Sherry has enough shoes for both of us. After a little couple’s brainstorming (mostly Sherry encouraging me), I pulled out my shoe rack, removed my two pairs of shoes, and we got to work.
Sherry pried the rack apart and I shortened the two long shelves by about 14 inches. We reassembled it and nailed it back together, creating a smaller rack that fits my modest shoe collection perfectly.
The smaller rack made room for Burger’s crate in the corner. So we’re glad we finally did it — even if it took 13 months to get around to it.
To keep things fun, here’s a pretend tour narrated by Burger himself.
“Welcome to my bedroom, people of the Internet!”
“My crate has been replaced by a clothing receptacle. Apparently my family prefers their dirty clothes closer than their beloved canine.”
“That’s okay — I get more privacy now. Hello? See me here in the back giving you the peeper?”
“Conveniently located next to my sleeping chambers are the dining facilities. Yes, I live the life.”
“Speaking of delicious cuisine, allow me a moment.”
“Actually, I’d prefer my culinary assistant to hand-feed me right now. Oh tiny human! Come hither!”
Back to John here — Burger’s quite the character. You can see why Clara likes getting into his food (and sometimes feeding it to him piece by piece — after swirling each piece in his water bowl first). We suspect she gets her odd habits from her mother.
Installation of the lamp was straightforward. We cut the cord, exposed the wires to hardwire it, and bought a kit that allowed us to attach the chain to a crossbar. We had to hunt down a canopy at a specialty lighting store to get the right fit. We left the gold finish as-is since it’s in the closet and the retro gold vibe works there; we can always paint it later if we change our minds.
The photos don’t fully capture how cool it looks when it’s on — the camera exposure was lowered so you can better see the texture. Sherry thinks it’s even more impressive in person and wants to make a video to show it better.
One of the best features is the streaks of light it casts across the walls and ceiling, like tiny party streamers. For a moment we joked about adding a rotation mechanism like a disco ball — not really practical, but fun to imagine.
It’s a little sad the light spent nearly 12 months in a pile, but at least it’s hanging now. To choose the right height, I stood underneath while Sherry adjusted it; we settled on a height of about 6’4″ from the floor (our ceilings are 8′ high).
If you’re curious what happened to the extra chain we didn’t use, you can see Clara wearing it like a jersey in a short video over at Young House Life — accompanied by some enthusiastic fist pumping, to my embarrassment and Sherry’s delight.
So — did you cross anything off your “Dude, Get On That Already” list this week? Reorganize a closet, rope your partner into a project, or ghost-write a blog post from the perspective of a chihuahua? Just us?