Happy Little Finds

While we simmer here in the Mid-Atlantic's summer humidity, allow me to post a few little recent finds that have made me happy.

This oil painting just spoke to me. I don't know why. It's a painting of what appears to be the beginning of a walk or a driveway, and the home appears coastal... sandy terrain, a shabby beach fence behind the mailbox.

It's one of the few things that I have bought recently that break my new rule: know where you will put it before you buy it. I just liked it. I came home and tried it out in our entryway, our basement family room, and finally our master bedroom over the bed, where it now looks as if it was born there. The frames there before, photography, were not appropriately scaled. This feels much better to me.

This is the second (of only two!) rule breaker - this unique little lamp. It was difficult for no photography skills me to really capture all that's going on with this finish. It's brown, it's blue, it's iridescent, it's making me grin every time I see it.

Unlike the painting, I knew where it was going before I got all the way home, however. It's sitting in my soon to be little craft/project space. More to come on that later. And I think I'll be replacing the shade.

The rest are unique pillows. From Tommy Bahama:

Am I a message on the furniture type girl? Not usually, I thought this was not overbearing, and kind of fell into that casual elegance feeling I like.

The stitching on this one attracted me.

No one is going to lay down and snuggle this one, with it's stiff floral embellishment, but I liked it anyway. At any rate, people in my house tend to toss the throw pillows onto the floor, so comfort was not a deal breaker here.

Again, I couldn't capture the true beauty here. The wonderful top blends a suede like material with cotton, and reminds me of lace. A plain white band separates that from the corded bottom. And I love the colors.

Shopping is ridiculously fun.

Let There Be Light

With the exception of a few recessed can lights and my dining room chandy, every single ceiling light fixture in my house needs to be replaced.

The current fixtures are mostly some variation of this:

Lowe's is selling them for four dollars. That's if you buy them individually. I have a feeling the person who built/rehabbed our house got a bunch of them for a lot less, and he put them everywhere. The kitchen. The hallways. The bedrooms.  Where he didn't install a ceiling fan (of equal value, of course), he tossed up these lights.

I don't like them.

The good news is that they are so bland that they almost fade away. At least that's what I'm hoping. The bad news is, well, take a look at the four dollar bargain bin light again, and you won't have to be told what the bad news is.

So along with my other projects, I'm on the hunt for lighting. I want crisp pieces that compliment my decor while adding a soft punch. I don't want them to overwhelm, or necessarily be a full on focal point. I just want them to be another layer, a finishing touch on each room.

I love lighting, and my house is filled with lamps, lamps and more lamps. Those are so easy: buy, screw in bulb, walk away. Ceiling fixtures require a little more effort (mainly by my husband, aka our house electrician). They require scheduling and installation. Therefore, the time between this post and the final installation of all the lights will be lengthy... but more now, I am content to peruse the options.

Considering for the halls:

I think this light from Lamps Plus is a beautiful, beautiful neutral. My husband is less than sold on them. I either have to work on him, or fall equally in love with other options. I haven't gotten him to give me any options yet, but I suspect he wants something more utilitarian, like this:

Frankly, that's so similar to my current four dollar specials, I could just spray paint their casings and have the same thing. Which actually is an option... perhaps an oil rubbed bronze paint? I'm not sure that will satisfy me.

I'm scrolling through Lamps Plus as I write this post, and all the lights I'm attracted to are along the same lines as the first one I posted. Round, a hint of color, sort of mid-century in feel.

Yep. Gonna have to work on the husband.