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Project: Kitchen Refresh | Lighting Option #3

If I’m honest, I’m rather giddy to be so close to a decision on the new pendants over the island. A change in lighting can truly transform a space, and given the broken and dysfunctional pendant that reminds me daily of its need to be replaced, I am starting to dance from one foot to the other in anticipation.

Even MORE exciting is that Lamps Plus has offered to sponsor my new pendants!!! So generous!!! Having been in business for over 30 years, Lamps Plus is the largest specialty lighting retailer in the US. They also offer accessories, furniture and home décor and even have American Lighting Association certified designers available in all their stores, by phone or online to offer product recommendations and advice on all of your lighting projects. I am so grateful to be partnering with such an amazing sponsor!

So, with all of that good news out of the way, I have another option to explore with you today. I must admit that I have a penchant for simple, graphic and modern spaces like this one.

{image via Pinterest}

All that white is the perfect canvas for the elegantly designed light fixtures and chairs to take their rightful pride of place. Simple, modern elegance. So, I found myself musing over the possibility of a pair of pendants such as this lovely modern, graphic punch of black from Lamps Plus:

I love the punctuated simplicity of its slim and unobtrusive profile, and the price is fantastic. I do, however, worry {like I did about the beautiful brass option} that perhaps the length of the shaft of the pendant itself would emphasize my less than dramatically high ceilings. Hmmm…

I would certainly LOVE to style my kitchen with a tidy row of gorgeous and dramatic glass jars of salts and spices from MARCH Pantry. Fine salts and spices in gorgeous black glass cannisters? Yes please.

Perhaps also a fresh and simple collection of coral from Layla Grace to nestle in with all of my cookbooks and some antique books in the bookcase.

{image via Pinterest}

And maybe a change to the counter stereo with this gorgeousness from Uncrate?

I like the mix of vintage and modern for sure. But for now, the decision is all about the light fixture. What do you think of Option #3?

xo
s.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|January 31st, 2013|2 Comments

Project: Kitchen Refresh | Lighting Option #2

Thanks so much for your feedback last week on Lighting Option #1 for my little kitchen refresh project! I’ve decided I want to nail down the lighting first before I move on to any of the other details. I really think the lighting will have a lot to say about the final direction of all of the rest of these little updates and help set the direction for the details.

OK, so I’m guessing you’ve all picked up on the memo that brass continues to be HOTTER THAN HOT in design this year. There’s something sexy and glamorous about the use of it, even in the humblest of spaces. Just take this charming butler’s pantry below:

{image via Pinterest}

I’m totally in L O V E with the sophistication of the brass fittings and light fixture added to the mix of finishes in this clean and elegant kitchen below:

{image via Pinterest}

Fierce + fabulous, isn’t it? I could move into that kitchen tomorrow.

So my heart stopped momentarily when I came across this simple and modern pendant at Lamps Plus. I’m so in love with its warm and vintage antiqued brass patina that I want to bite it like its made of maple candy.

Seriously sexy, right? This fixture is totally a modern classic. Love at first sight. I would choose to pair it with accessories like this whimsical hand from Black Rooster Decor:

And this pair of Swedish 1930’s Bjork vases from 1st Dibs for a regular rotation of fresh flowers:

My dilemmas are two-fold.

ONE: I don’t want to change my cabinetry hardware. I like it a lot, and while I do believe it is possible to mix white and yellow metals successfully, I have a definite white-metal-dominance in my kitchen right now {for example, check out my Emeco counter stools below}.

TWO: I only have 8 foot ceilings. One of the things I l-o-v-e about this particular pendant is its long and lanky elegance. Unlike many pendants where the downrods make up most of the length, the shaft of this fixture is itself quite long. I don’t want to have a stubby little bit of downrod emphasizing my less-than-extravagantly-high ceilings. I worry that my ceilings and these pendants would each fail to do each other justice.

The thing is, I’m utterly smitten with this fixture! What do you think? Too many changes required? Too long for my rather pedestrian-height ceilings? Too much contrast with my cabinetry hardware, counter stools and statement of a stainless steel apron-front sink?

Can’t wait for your feedback!

xo
s.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|January 24th, 2013|0 Comments

Project: Kitchen Refresh | Lighting Option #1

OK, so I’ve started sourcing for my little Kitchen Refresh project and have the first lighting option for us to mull over together today. It is truly classic – a bit formal, sophisticated and more than a little bit glamorous in a refined and restrained sort of way.

I found the Cole Polished Nickel + Glass Rod Pendant at LampsPlus for less than I could find it anywhere else. A good place to start. I even found an image of it installed in a creamy kitchen so you could get an idea of how it might look!

{source}

I love the jewelry-like quality of the chain links and the warmth of the polished nickel. It really does feel like the kind of light fixture that cries out for a pair topiaries flanking the sink, doesn’t it? Perhaps also an “upgraded” tea + coffee service to something like this dashing duo:

{spheres tea pot}

{tintin coffee pot}

And maybe a canister or two like this one from One King’s Lane?

I’m thinking this fixture might point things in a direction that is a bit formal for me. I love the sophistication but am wavering on scale and price point {my kitchen is not as large nor as glamorous as the one above}, so I’m going to follow up with another option next week. I must admit that I’m already dreaming up other applications for this Cole Pendant if I don’t choose it for the kitchen. It is a whole lot of pretty in one little pendant… Decisions, decisions.

xo
s.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|January 16th, 2013|1 Comment