using vintage chandeliers in the kitchen

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First off, I should clarify something.

I'm definitely not a purist when it comes to using authentic vintage lighting in a kitchen. 

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There are just so many wonderful reproductions out there but I do notice how my eye is always drawn to the real thing.

That certain worn patina that can't be faked. The weightiness and look of real crystals.

I guess I admire the effort it takes to locate that special "find,'  and the patience of having it re-wired so that it can have a whole new life again. And even though using authentic lighting fixtures do involve more work I like the instant warmth and sense of history they inject into a kitchen,

especially a white kitchen which depends on a mix of materials to keep it from being too 'cold' or modern for my taste.

In my last house I had an old crystal chandelier that broke during our relocation. Even though it wasn't large enough for our high ceilings it sealed my love for sparkling chandeliers in the kitchen.

I especially love them paired with rustic wood.

The only problem was I hadn't been able to find a replacement for my broken one. 

I  even thought about giving up and buying this classic version,

but in the end, it seemed a bit too restrained for me.

I needed more bling.

Or did I?

I started considering old, oversized lanterns like this one which I think looks gorgeous surrounded by marble countertops.

 

 This kitchen was designed with the classic French bakery as inspiration and you can see more of this swoon-worthy house HERE.

Where ever I'd go I'd keep my eye open for the right chandelier...

 but I soon realized something.

( love this home in Sonoma, CA)

I realized that even though I have an affinity for quirky, eclectic pieces when it comes to my kitchen chandelier I kept coming back to classic choices.

And teardrop crystals.

And what is it about authentic looking brass right now?

I have no idea if it's "In" or "Out" of style these days---(and I don't really care)

 but it's been calling my name lately. So I decided to keep an open mind when Mr. Moss and I went shopping for my Christmas gift last weekend.

I'm not sure if this is a sign of a 27 year-old-marriage, but my favorite Christmas present was a handmade gift certificate for a afternoon of antique store shopping and lunch  from none other than my Honey.  

I know!  How did he know (I believe in hints) that  making goo-goo eyes at lots of old chandeliers followed by a glass of wine and lunch next to the pier was my version of a dream date?!

Also we found this chandelier at the first place we went.

Should I  be suspicious that he liked it so much?

(He hates shopping)

As you can see we bought an old, oversized brass fixture with crystals and lots of engraved detailing which you can't see in the photo. It was pretty close to an impulse buy and afterwards I had to check my IPhone picture to learn that it has ten lights... yes ten!!

Which kinda made me worry about it's size.

But now that it's home sitting on the table I'm feeling excited.

We both agreed we selected it for our future kitchen which I'm slowly designing in my head.

It goes up on Monday and of course it means re-working my gallery wall--probably removing it

(paired with this chandy, it might be too much of a good thing if-you-know-what-I-mean) 

but I'll have some pictures I'll share with you soon

How about you?

What do you think about using vintage lighting fixtures in your house?

xo

Leslie

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the lesson I learned in 2015

If I asked you to name one eye-opening experience you had in 2015 what would you say?

I'm not talking about anything big and mind-blowing or profoundly wise.

I'm just asking for one of those tiny, slivers of light. One of those moments when you're in the middle of putting your groceries away or driving alone in the car, and you tilt you head, blink and think,

"Oh yeah. That's it,"

Oprah calls this the "aha moment."

A light-bulb moment when suddenly those messy pieces of your life coalesce into something solid and meaningful. So that later after the dust settles you think of it as a little burst of truth falling into your path.

I don't know what your aha moment ended up being about this past year---but I bet it involved some kind of struggle or discomfort because I’ve discovered that we tend to earn these aha moments.

I sure feel like I earned mine.

This past September I embarked on a 10 week personal challenge which I shared on my blog. Believe me; I never planned on learning any life lesson, at the time I had simply said yes to an idea that seemed utterly fascinating to me.

I never realized how much I would struggle my way through the next several weeks. And I mean really struggle as I reacquainted myself with some old insecurities that suddenly popped up again. Yes, right when you think you’re so together—Life serves you a chunky slice of humble pie.

Sigh. This is what’s so interesting about life’s little lessons; it's all so damn personal. What might be a source of incredible struggle for me might be a piece of cake for you and vice versa, because we all operate from our own unique comfort zone.

Anyway.

After it was all over we each stood in front of  a room of family and friends that had gathered for our graduation and we got to share a few words. Only I didn't plan my words beforehand, otherwise I might have shared what it felt like to be the oldest person in my class ---with the least amount of knowledge and experience in the subject. As you can imagine, feeling old and ignorant is not a combo that fuels one's confidence.

But that's not my point.

The reason I wish I had shared how absolutely overwhelmed I felt at various points in my training was because of the crowd. When I looked around the room I saw so many middle aged faces. Faces of mothers and grandmothers with crinkly smile lines and men with gray speckled hairlines who were cheering on their daughters or grandson without considering that it could be them standing next to all of us.

I wanted them to know the same euphoric relief and happiness I had at having accomplished something I didn’t know I could do.

And that's really the purpose of sharing my vulnerable parts with you; after something good gets accomplished it feels important to remind you that,

"Hey, if I can do it, believe me, you can do it too."

And I'm so serious about that.

I'm not talking about yoga right now. The teacher training was my thing. I'm talking about that something in your life that you've been thinking about doing.  Maybe a new endeavor, only you don't know how it might turn out. It feels like a risk and maybe you'll fail. So instead you stay right there, inside your comfort zone waiting.

I actually remember having my little aha moment while I was sitting next to all my fellow classmates in front of the long, mirrored wall of our yoga studio waiting to receive my certificate.

See what I mean? This is so simple I’m almost embarrassed that it seemed like such an epiphany.

But in the end, this is what my experience had felt like. There had been so many moments when I honestly didn’t” know” if I was going to be able to complete my requirements ---and for a classic Type A personality in my old college classroom --THIS acknowledgement alone was stunning to admit. But truly, it always felt like I was barely hanging in there until… well, (drum roll please)  until The Very Last Day.

 Honestly?


I’m not sure why it feels so comforting to view a difficult challenge this way. But it does. I seriously want to walk around and grab strangers by their shoulders and while they stammer and try to pull away I want to blurt out:

Look. You don’t have to be perfectly sure. About anything. You don’t need to ‘know’ 100 percent of the time that it will work out. You just have to believe it more times than you doubt it. Work hard no matter how discouraged you might get.  And really. Just keep moving forward one teetering baby step at a time.

 And you’ll get there. I swear. Because this actually worked for me.

So my dear, smart, talented friend, (if you’re a reader of this blog these are your unquestionable qualities) this year I hope you find something that truly challenges you. I encourage you really think about. Try something new and maybe even a little scary.

 Yes, something you’re not even sure you can do.

Because you deserve to feel proud of yourself.

 

 

the light in me sees the light in you,

Namaste

xo

Leslie

 

I'm sharing this post with these friends:

Sundays at Home

eclectic cottage Christmas tour 2015

I want to begin this post by thanking all of you for being so incredibly supportive.

I haven’t been able to keep up my blogging schedule lately and still, you bless me with your visits. I just want you to know how much I appreciate YOU—and how much it means to me that I keep this little place in the blog world so we can keep connecting.

For those of you who are wondering about that fixer upper we bought last year, well…today I thought I’d share a few Christmas photos. 

I really pared my decorating down this year…honestly, I was just too tired to go scour through Christmas decorations after all that work moving everything around for our new floors. And things are still not put away.

But at least you can see that our TV wall is finally done... along with some simple decorations. 

I hope you enjoyed some of our recent changes. A cheerful blue and white rug I found at a Newport Beach consignment shop. Two white slipcovered chairs bought from an estate sale.

The hardware that finally got put on our living room cabinets.

And of course, the big dramatic change from the new wood floors. We still have to get baseboards installed. And for those of you who asked, we chose engineered wood because apparently being close to the ocean means lots of moisture.  


I plan on sharing some Before and After pictures--especially of our TV wall.

But for now I’m off to finish my shopping because yep, I'm one of those still wrapping presents to the very end.

Wishing you a safe and peaceful Christmas surrounded by those you love.

xo

Leslie

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Inspire Me Monday

A Stroll thru Life

Dwellings

*excuse the weird spaces and fonts. I'm missing my WLW and struggling to adapt to Blogger. Anyone having good luck with WLW these days?

I'm just happy to be here. (with a dining room update)

On a sun-drenched afternoon a few days ago I walked into our yoga studio and hugged my friend who proceeded to tell me why she's been missing from class lately. Turns out she's been caring for an elderly friend who is in the last days of her hospice care, and I listened to her describe her first experience bathing a frail body.

ding-ding.

Then on Saturday night, when I was a guest on a yacht draped in glittering white lights and floating in the middle of the annual Holiday Boat Parade in Long Beach, there was more. Against the backdrop of jolly Christmas music and flowing wine, I sat in a corner and spoke with a mother who was grieving the loss of her adult daughter during this holiday season.

ding-ding.

Wouldn't it be powerful if we could hear a faint bell each time we came in contact with love and compassion and tenderness?

Just to bring us back to what really matters?

I've been noticing these little heart-opening moments more lately, maybe because of my yoga practice or maybe because I'm trying to be more intentional about slowing down and observing myself.

I'm especially aware of my tendency to focus on all the things I'm not getting done and I can see how easy it is for me to get stressed and feel "behind" on my list of things to do.

 

And then suddenly

I find myself brushing shoulders with someone who is struggling with loss or sadness or sickness and boom.  And I'm instantly reminded of what's truly important. The love and the kindness...and the generosity that we share with each other.

And slowing down long enough to experience these moments when they happen.

These days this is my favorite mantra.

I don't know why, but I saw this little phrase somewhere and it resonated with me; I've found that when I take a deep breath and say these words, it really helps me come back to a grateful place. 


It's such a joyful little line.

.





(the floors aren't actually this dark)

Ok. Speaking of gratitude and moving on to a practical topic, I have to say that I'm really thrilled with our new wood floors. Even though they were installed some weeks back I'm just now getting our house put back together after being away for Thanksgiving, and then for our annual Christmas visit to Salt Lake City hosted by the hubby's bank.




And today I thought I’d share some pictures of our newly repainted dining room.  It's interesting how changing one thing leads to another.
.

You might remember how it looked before. Even though I loved the dark drama of BM's Kendall Charcoal, once I saw the wood floor in here I instantly craved a warm white and now I absolutely love it.


We also had French doors and beadboard installed in this room and although I still need to finish painting the doors, you can get an idea of the peaceful ambiance.

Ikea's Linen white curtains got hung today.

I hung my boxwood wreaths on the French doors. And I found three swags of glass crystals that I had bought at Pottery World years ago and hung them along with green garland to dress up the chandelier.

I plan on adding fresh garland and berries into the chandelier.

On this side of the room I decided to hang white plates and found all my plate hangers today at Wal-Mart. The plates are courtesy of the thrift store.

I was having a hard time getting the candles to stand straight in these brass candlesticks so I added moss to the bottoms and I really like the look.

I can't wait to add some flowers in here.

Here's a close up of the corbels we found when we picked up our reclaimed lumber for our living room bookshelves.

The lighting was poor when I snapped this photo but you can see how they frame the dining room.

(what you can't see: the paint cans and the roll of plastic near the bottom of the curtains)

Oh, here's another project I finished today, my fur-lined candle holders.

They're kinda funky, kinda chic, but these are so easy to make.

Are you in the mood for a quickie project?

Here's what I used:

Cylinder glass vases for candles

fur fabric cut in strips to fit around the vase

tape

bells

ribbon of choice

(I found my suede piece in the jewelry section of the crafts store).

• 
  

I added bells for a Christmasy touch.

While I had my hot glue gun out, I glued some starfish to ribbon and hung them on our tree to celebrate our beach location.

And voila! Here's my furry candle holders in our shelves

A close up view.

The lighting fixture is from Restoration Hardware.

Well that's it for now. Sorry I bombarded you with pictures but it's been awhile since I've been here. As always, I am so grateful for your visit and I'd love to hear how your December is going.

 

Have you been hearing the faint sound of bells lately?

 peace and love 

xo

Leslie


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