Added to the bucket list

 a few more little bucket lamps 

for the breakfast room

 these ice cream buckets are painted a wonderful aqua/teal green

 you may not remember my other bucket projects 

so here is one to take a peak at

 the custom shade I had made in fabric from those wonderful 

old drapery panels 

my new neighbor Ellie

so generously gave to me
you can read that post here and here

Ellie is hard at work renovating her home

 and I am hoping she will let me have a peek next time I see her!

 this is a small and sunny little space just off the kitchen 

and will change a bit when the kitchen is renovated

  there is not much room 

so every square foot matters

 I'm not sure how I will re-work the furniture 

but I like it in this cozy space and I think it is right for the age
and style of this ranch house in the country

 the roof line is really odd and low 

but can't be changed unless we pull the whole roof off

so that needs to be worked around

 I probably should have a table with leaves to extend the size of the dining area

but....just don't think I will do that either

 I'm sort of committed to the idea of small and tidy

which makes life pretty simple in this house

 there will be a window seat where the vintage planter is now 

so the lamps will need to be placed somewhere else

it's interesting how the vintage Ralph Lauren fabric on the shades

and the Benison fabric on the chair seats go so well together.

 I love these lamps in this room and will need to come up with some new ideas how I can work them into the new kitchen design

 do you have any creative ideas
or interesting spots for table lamps?

I'd love to hear your ideas

happy remodeling!

kelley

Vintage Toaster Lamps

You may recall a post I did a few weeks back about Barn Light Electric and my love of their industrial and fun lighting. 

 I love to mess around with different things to make unique light fixtures 

I also think I must have some sort of "handyman" gene because I also love to go to the hardware store...

my good friend Melaine from My Sweet Savannah does too, 

check out her latest lamp creation at here

So here are the elements I used:

Take a vintage stove top toaster....about 10-20 dollars from the flea market...

 Use a vintage colander, about 20 dollars, 

or something with a "lampshade" like shape and combine the two with the necessary parts to make a lamp...

These take two small 40 watt bulbs that spread horizontally at the top of the fixture,

 so this is soft diffused light.

Here they are sitting on a little dresser in a guest room.

 The toasters are really very sturdy and a great shape for the bases

 I really want to use these in my kitchen somewhere but I haven't found the right spot yet...

 I like these!

what do you think?

~kelley~

Vintage Water Bottle Lamps

Making lights out of jugs, baskets and buckets is really fun.  It's sort of that philosophy of:

 "re-think, re-use, re-cycle"

 I saw these old bottled water jugs in their original wood crates and knew they would work perfectly as an interesting lamp base.

Each bottle was different but both had great detail and a blueish green color to the glass. 

 I love the diamond pattern of pressed glass with the bottler's logo, Arrowhead and Bustanchury

The old crates were sturdy and only needed a good scrubbing to clean them up before I had them rewired.  This one has some great old green paint.

I have a small grouping of vintage seltzer bottles on that table too. 

 Probably about the same age (50's ?) 

which is why the glass seems so similar.

Recently I have collected some of this old Mexican tourist pottery.  It looks great filled with oranges and lemons from the orchard

No, I'm not collecting birds nests...... but this was abandoned with one perfect little cracked blue egg. 

 It was so interesting and simple that I couldn't throw it out!

Below is another lamp made from an old basket wrapped jug.  I used a rawhide shade on this one and the color of the light diffused by this type of shade is really nice.

Below is one of many ice cream bucket lamps I've had made.  You can still find them on Ebay or at flea markets with original paint.

The shades are covered in left over grass cloth wall paper.

These are some decorative jugs with really interesting wicker wrapping.  I got them from a local designers warehouse sale.  They were great just as a decorative item but now wired as lamps they are useful too.  The shades I had made from some vintage hemp fabric, run horizontally.

The shades for these little buckets are really fun.  I usually try to think of how the fabric will be best run on the particular shade shape that I choose.  I like the fact that these have very little in the way of detail.

I am working on a really unique ceiling fixture too and will be sure to share it with you when its all finished.


Have a wonderful weekend!!!!!
~kelley~

Jug in a crate: lamps to love

I have a serious love of light fixtures.  Pretty weird....but I really find them such a great part of the design of a homes interior.  Ambient lighting is much more gentle and easy to live with that harsh lighting from the ceiling.  I found these great vintage demijohn bottles in old crates and thought they would make great lamps.

You can buy a similar item right now at Napa Style.  These look amazing and are taller and more narrow than the two that I found.  My bottles were around $150 each but you could probably find them for less.

I cut the tops of the crates down so the lamps look less top heavy and lightly sanded and stained the wood.

I had the bottles wired though the bottom and secured with a large washer to prevent the jugs from moving around.  A local lighting store does custom work and these cost around $80 dollars each to rewire.

The shades are a very modern white linen with no trim and clean lines.

I've used these in a hallway near the dining room table on a large red chinoise chest.

A very interesting mix of styles but I think they look really interesting and were fun to do.  More light fixture posts to follow.....next:  feed sack lampshades!

Have a great weekend

kelley