a chandelier obsession

i'm not sure when it started.  i've always loved them.  my parents brought back a beautiful waterford chandelier when they went to ireland in 1972, which has hung in their dining room wherever they lived.  we bought a chandelier for our dining room when we bought our house in 1990.  it was a traditional brass number & very unexciting.  my eye was always drawn to chandeliers in decorating magazines & such- huge, glittering chandeliers with dancing prisms of light from the crystal.

in the early-ish nineties, i wandered into anthill antiques in carytown.  kay, the owner, is also chandelier obsessed.  she purchases chandeliers & adds to them.  i purchased my first real chandelier from her.  i'd always wanted a chandelier for my kitchen.  i thought i'd start with kitsch & this is what i got.  when i bought it, there was a crystal prism every other hole- i purchased more prisms & filled them in.  the first customization....  i just loved the idea of a chandelier in the kitchen- many people thought totally impractical - what about the grease from cooking?  chandeliers are not for kitchens.  (don't forget - this was 1993 or so).  i loved my chandelier in my kitchen.  & that was the beginning.

kay told me "i measure my happiness by the number of chandeliers in my house."  her chandeliers were often reasonably priced & lots of fun.  i began to purchase them & then add stuff on my own.  the kitchen acquired two more chandeliers- one from anthill; the other from ebay.  one of my favorites is in the powder room- a diminutive 3-arm sweetie. the problem with a chandelier collection is that you run out of space. they aren't practical for upstairs because we use the ceiling fans in the summer.  although, when i turned a bedroom into a closet for me, i made my own chandelier.  i bought the basics from kay & then selected my crystals.  the color i chose for my closet room was the tiffany robin egg blue & i created my chandelier to go with that.  

with all the beautiful chandeliers, the traditional brass chandelier was looking sooo drab.  so i had kay to my house & she used her handy-dandy tool to punch holes in my chandelier so i could hang some crystals.  i wanted to "tart it up."  what ended up being really cool was that my mother gave to me a box she had of chandelier crystals from grandma's house in portsmouth, ohio.  i couldn't believe these crystals hadn't come up before with all the chandelier hanging around my house!  & the chandelier is quite tarted up- i love that it has the history of grandma.

part of the motivation to finally tart up the dining room chandelier was that my friend, suzi, had asked if i would be willing to allow my house to be on tour.  st. gertrude's high school does a house tour every year, in a different neighborhood in the city.  that year it was in ginter park- it was 1997.  i was more than happy to oblige.  i think it's the best my house has ever looked!









about a month later, i was at tinker's.  i was at the register & there was a woman there purchasing a..... chandelier!  she was telling the sales associate that she had been on a house tour the previous month & the house had chandeliers in the kitchen.  she was buying one for her house- she loved the idea so much!  how cool was that??!!  here are my two of my kitchen chandeliers.



part of the reason for the timing of this post is that i have inherited the waterford.  there was no question between tommy & kathy where the waterford would land.  luckily, we have room for it- it will go in the entrance hall & the one in the entry now will go upstairs.  i know that danny will get them hung before too long...

here are some interesting chandeliers i have come across in my cyber-travels.  can you make out the shoes in this one?  rather sporting, don't you think?













                             this is kind of a fun one, too, don't you think?  the picture is smaller, so it's hard to see- i think they are little shopping bag replicas......

have a princess in your life?  then she must have this for her room......

all of the above chandeliers are available from www.etsy.com/shop/whimsicalcollections.  they run in the 325. - 375.

here is the perfect chandelier for the kitchen.  this puppy can be found at www.etsy.com/shop/malindadickens & is priced at 148.

finally, for your consideration is a way to add color to any room-  what do you think?

this is available at www.etsy.com/shop/sheriscrystals & is 289.95.

is red ever wrong?  this is murano, by the way.  

now some more exotic chandeliers.  this one is by stuart .  apparently he is an early pioneer in the repurposing movement (used to be called recycling).  this chandelier is made from 1020 pairs of prescription sunglasses.  kind of cool, huh?

sometimes there just isn't enough room for more chandeliers &
then it's time to get creative & incorporate them in other ways.  here are a few possibilities.
who doesn't love chandelier earrings?  nothing like mixing two passions- jewelry & chandeliers! there are so many different types of chandelier earrings.  no reason for the passion to go unfulfilled!  however, i must confess i don't own a pair of chandelier earrings.  go figure...

is there an easier way to put some chandelier energy into your life?  i don't think so.  a couple of screws are all that's needed...       

i can't hang a chandelier at my office- acoustical tile ceilings.  these can help to take the bite out of such deprivation.

& finally, here are two classics.  the first one is 14kt gold. 

  

  now, those are chandeliers!!!!!

some rants

it is rare that i rant.  it is even rarer that i rant out loud.  i believe myself to be a fairly patient, accepting individual.  one of my favorite quotes (& i have a lot!) is "there is no one you couldn't love once you know their story."  i work hard to appreciate the buddhist philosophy of impermanence- even if something does bother me, it won't be around forever- it will shortly move on & be gone.  practicing some of the above helps to decrease rants for me.  every so often, though, something will hit my radar screen & a rant seed is planted.  i found myself thinking today- if i were to rant, about what would i rant?......  & with super rapid speed a good number of things came flying into my head.  here is a brief list, not in any particular order.

1.  sex in the media.  i'm not completely sure exactly when this started bothering me. i've never considered myself prudish & have always experienced a healthy dose of liberalism.  i recall hearing snippets about censorship around the smothers brothers & their irreverent & biting sense of humor (that was actually a trick statement- if you remember that show, you are in my generation).  for the uninitiated, they were censored for statements & stances against the vietnam war & the johnson administration.  i was not one to believe in censorship. if you didn't want to watch it, turn it off.  no one is forcing you to watch it.  well- these days i am stunned at what i find on TV.  i accept that part of this is a sign of aging (as if i needed any more of those!).  when i look at soap operas these days, though- OMG.  & "real sex" on HBO.  i can't believe that's not on an adult channel- it's on a TV channel many many homes subscribe to today.  it still stuns me that you can hear the C word on TV (not an adult channel).

2.  cell phones.  oh, big surprise there!!! who doesn't rant about cell phones?  what i wonder is if everyone rants about cell phones (& they do), who is providing the behavior that initiates the rants?  i confess to using my cell phone in the car (truly on a very rare occasion- i'm not a good enough driver to use a cell phone in my car).  if i can't talk, i don't answer.  anyway, this is not an original rant & i don't know anyone who wouldn't rant about cell phones.  yawn, yawn...

3.  how low can pants go?  (see #1).  i swear i'm not a prude!!

4.  does anyone know how to count change back?  without a computer?

5.  sometimes it is the kids & not the teacher-  sometimes your kid is misbehaving & the teacher is not out to get your child.

as i look this short list over, i am left with the thought that perhaps this is about aging?  that's kind of bummer-  welcome to geezerdom!  i've definitely crossed over.