Hanging Two Glass Kitchen Pendants: a house log

I like big globes and I cannot lie. You other brothers cannot deny. When a light walks in with an itty bitty waist…

… and a round thing in yo face you get sprung. At least I do. John simply gets all blown out and looks angelic.

The purpose of that photo was in fact simply to show you why we picked the height that we did. The common pendant light recommendation is to hang it 30″ above the top of the counter (from the top of the counter to the base of the pendant), but we went 31″ because my tall hubby did not want those round things in his face obstructing the view. It is so pleasant to have some proper lighting above the peninsula since that part of the room has been especially dark. As we mentioned yesterday, they were $60 each at a local lighting outlet, which made buying two of them cheaper than the actual retail price of one (they are $129 a pop here).

Of course we still have some holes to spackle (five to be exact), but things are certainly looking up!

As in, I cannot stop staring up at them. And John’s been ogling them too.

The lights, not the holes.

I have got holes. In distinct area codes… area codes. Remember that song anyone? Apparently I am in a singing mood today. I blame it on the eh-eh-eh-eh-electrical. Blame it on the eh-eh-eh-eh-electrical.

Ok, I am done now. Promise.

Anyway, this is a shot to show you that we still have a light over the fireplace to switch out. It is in fact perfectly centered on the fireplace as you face it, although the angle of this pic makes it look all sorts of wonky. This is a pendant that broke fairly soon after moving in so we have not used it for about half a year. Cannot wait to hang something better suited to the chill-zone by the fireplace. Perhaps a big ol’ drum pendant that is only dropped a few inches from the ceiling so it is high sufficient for anyone 6’4″ and under not to bump their heads (that is the tallest person we know, haha). So yeah, along with spackling holes and getting a pendant for over the sink, this guy’s on the lighting agenda too.

But back to the globes. We in fact installed a dimmer switch yesterday, which is excellent because we can blast them all the way up or lower them for we are-simply-eating-spaghetti-but-let us-fancy-things-up ambiance. We’d enjoy to get LED bulbs for our pendants (they are compatible with CFLs, halogens, incandescents, and LEDs, which is pleasant) but since we have a dimmer switch, we have to find special LEDs that work with a dimmer. We will keep you posted.

Update: we are getting plenty o’ comments asking if we will be ORBing the stools – we are in fact going to wait for the dark cork floors to go in before making any decisions on them either way since that could be a game changer. Oooh cliffhanger…

Here is how things look in the other direction. See how a big drum shade might be pleasant for that cozy corner by the fire?

Mmm, let us get a little closer, shall we?

Update: We gave edison bulbs a try and they were reallllly yellow in our room (perhaps with white counters they are not the best idea since they left ours looking dirty?) – we also gave clear bulbs a try but they cast a bunch of harsh shadows on the ceiling, so we prefer the frosted folks we have here for now – although we are certainly still looking into dimmable LEDs!

In the words of sandwich-loving Joey Tribbiani: how you doin?

Oh and see that pleasant big chunk of sunny grellow wall between the fridge and the half wall into the dining room? We want to get a pleasant big piece of art for that spot. So we are on the prowl. Will keep ya posted on that too.

When we were reconfiguring the kitchen we talked about putting an upper cabinet there but knew that the peninsula would feel so much more open to those sitting there (especially the person on the end) if they were not staring at the side of a cabinet. It is in fact an area where we do a lot of prepping now, so we enjoy that it is open. It is hard to explain, but it feels more like a room and less kitchen-y, in a good way. Simply sort of casual and airy and not too wood-riddled.

Anyway, next on the ol’ kitchen list is patching those holes (we will share all the spackle-tastic details) and hanging (and building in) our craigslist range hood. Then we at last get to add the open shelves that I have been over the moon to “meet” since about four months ago when we chose to go for it. We have been keeping all of our dishes/plates/cups in a lazy susan cabinet in the corner by the stove, and while it works okay, open shelving will be approximately 957 times more convenient. Yes, I am a complainer about turning the lazy susan one way to get a dish and having to spin it the other way to get a cup. Plus after we get the shelves made and hung and painted I get to put fairly vases and containers and frames up there along with all of our everyday dishes. Perhaps even a ceramic animal or two if I am feeling crazy. And let us face it, I am fairly much consistently feeling crazy.

Speaking of which, remember my whole self-imposed “Dude, Get On That Already” challenge?

How is it already Wednesday and I have yet to tackle something? Come on $herdog, you said once a week you’d get on that. So GET ON THAT, ALREADY! Hopefully I will have a little update for ya tomorrow. Anyone care to join me and share what you’ve done tomorrow morning?

So in summary: work continues and we are all over the place as usual. Hah. What are you folks up to today?