Kitchen pendant lights

As some of you may already know, we are on the hunt for some new kitchen lights to replace some rather impractical ones we installed when we first renovated the kitchen. Read about it here.

The brief for the lights is: it must not harbour any possible creepy crawly...the lights must allow the bugs to free-fall on to our kitchen bench instead. The fun of living in sub-tropical Queensland without fly screens!

I saw a couple of lights at the Woolloongabba Antique Centre on the weekend, which would fit the brief well. Both are vintage and very attractive.

Anodised tubular lights from 1960s?

Scandinavian style brass lights which I completely adore...it may not actually suit our more traditional style kitchen in the Sow's Ear...it's still a contender though because they're just so damn attractive to me.

 I have also been browsing online to see what is available.

Artek hand grenade light

The Alvar Aalto designed A110 hand grenade light is modelled on the German grenades which were used during WWII and military-mad Jason has a very soft spot for them. He might want to throw them at me, I suspect, in his moments of frustration...Ha!

copper Utzon lamp
image from here

I have previously featured the Jorn Utzon light on the blog. They now come in copper...which is very on trend. I do prefer the more plain, less glitzy style.

Image from here

And I have always wanted a Nelson Bubble lamp. I may be able to get away with the small cigar lamps (first designed in 1952) suspended over our kitchen island.

I'm going to bite the bullet this week and finally settle on new kitchen lights. Have you got any other suggestions?

Planet lamp

The Studio K Planet lamp is a highly desirable piece of Australian industrial design. Its simplistic shape and bold colours captured the imagination of post-war Australia and it is still being produced (although in limited quantities) today by Planet Lighting.

Designed in 1962 by Bill Iggulden, the Studio K lamp was the 'it' item among the general public and  many architects and designers. Strong and durable with an industrial edge, the lamp won many awards such as the Australian Design Award and the Prince Philip Design Prize: not bad for a task lamp produced by an Australian family business.

Orange Studio K Planet lamp

Last month an original Studio K Planet lamp took up residence at the Sow's Ear in Son #1's room. The new orange lamp replaces an old ikea one which lacked personality.

It makes a fabulous desk and reading light as it can be adjusted and angled to suit the task you are completing. It also has a decent length cord that reaches the only powerepoint in the room. Son #1 likes the new lamp too, thankfully!

Planet lamp

We feel cool owning one of these iconic lamps. 

Lost in translation

For a design to succeed, it must be functional and suited to our lifestyles. And sometimes overseas designer items do not translate well in an Australian context, particularly in a sub-tropical Queensland context. 

For example:

Our kitchen pendant lights, suspended over the island bench, are apparently 'inspired' by the Poul Christiansen designed Le Klint 172 - originally designed in Denmark in 1971. I actually did not know that when I bought our pendants from a stock standard lighting retailer - it was a quick, cheap and cheerful purchase when we were renovating the kitchen.  I just liked the look of them. It was not long after they were installed that I realised they were a knock-off of Le Klint.

The one and only original
Image from here

Thankfully it was a cheap purchase, because the lights are a magnet for the multitude of flying bugs which invade the fly screen poor Sow's Ear during the warmer months. It never really occurred to me that the crevices and folds which constitutes the light's design would fill with little moths, mozzies and other unidentified flying objects! 

Would they fill up with bugs in Denmark too?

Clearly, I do not vacuum my light fittings as frequently as I should. There must be a year's worth in there. Shudder. I might clean them tomorrow...Please don't judge me...

I still think they are a gorgeous light, but they're also highly impractical for a kitchen. We will definitely replace the pendants lights sometime down the track, preferably with pendants which don't trap our friends from the insect world.

Has something like this happened to you? 

Dragon's tears

I'm partial to a dragon's tear or two, as regular readers would know...

Today, I blinged up the little light fitting in the bathroom with the new Murano crystals that I had acquired last month (read here). 

It's only a very basic el cheapo fitting with acrylic drops but I added a tier of the crystal tear drops which makes it a little more interesting. I didn't dare put the whole lot on as the drops are so heavy and I didn't want it to fall..

One crystal was broken in the process but I guess one casualty is not too bad. 

A bit of bling brightens up the day.

Murano crystal dragon's tears added to a basic light fitting. 

It's a bit 70s retro in a traditional Queenslander bathroom

Light news

For the past couple of years we've had a light bulb as our light fitting in the study...Sad how that happens.

The bayonet fitting was actually broken and we finally had that attended to on the weekend.

study while it was being renovated last year

Because the ceiling in this room is quite low we are limited in what we can have as a light fitting.

Rather than buy a new one, we just re-used an old Art Deco glass shade that used to be in the bathroom. It's a bit paint splattered, but it's just going to have to do for now until we are motivated to strip it back.

And in more exciting news, I found some new Murano crystals to replace the broken ones in the great chandelier fall of 2011. I've been told by some readers, they remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they first found out about our chandelier fall...it was big news.

pink Murano dragon tears

There are about 70 'new' dragon's tears which were part of another chandelier I had picked up.

I'm debating whether to keep the chandelier for the master bedroom though...or just use the tears in our dining room chandelier, as well as replace the drops in our new bathroom light fitting...

Decisions, decisions. (and be kind Anon Natalie! xx)

Anyway, we are just dripping in Murano crystal tears at the moment.

Power switches

And no, this is not about the latest Australian leadership spill as I type this blog post. I swear this country has had more leadership spills than is really necessary...

The power switch I'm referring to is the one that flicks the lights on. If you own an older home you are able to buy traditional or Bakelite style electrical light switches or power points  They look quite lovely and are a nice finishing touch for a house restoration or renovation.

Image from Here

I'm not too sure what type of switches would've existed in the Sow's Ear when the original lighting was installed. My parents have a house which is a similar era to ours (late 1920s) and they still have the original Bakelite fittings in their lounge room. I'm going to take some photographs of theirs and investigate whether I can obtain the same style.

image from here

I'd like it to be as authentic as possible if we go to the effort of changing them.

Same mother, same father and The Australian article

The other week in my travels I found a sweet light fitting that would work in the Sow's Ear's bathroom. It was also remarkably similar to the vintage Murano chandelier that we have in the sunroom/dining room...hence the same mother, same father analogy...

It wasn't terribly expensive and was a  DIY light that would slip onto the existing bayonet fitting.  A full blown chandelier in there wouldn't have suited the space as the ceiling is not high enough. This compact chandy works well and is just a bit of fun bling.

DIY chandelier fitting means no electrician needed. Yay.

Bling in the bathroom

Also, thanks so much for the nice comments from my last post. That article in The Australian was published yesterday and thankfully I don't sound like a complete idiot! There is a link here but unfortunately only subscribers can access the full article...

Screen shot image. Link to article from here

Although when I searched for the article on Google, I could access the full article...and I'm too much of a cheap-arse to subscribe. Go figure. I typed in Fun and VJs and scrolled down to the second page where I found the article link called Before and after: a digital journey. You might be lucky too.

Happy Little Queenslander which was also featured in the article wrote a blog post which contains the article Here. Just click on her article images to read the article. It's very small type though.

Anyway, we're chuffed. It's really cool to be in The Australian. Who'd have thought?

Vellum light and gingerbread house

We had a little pre-Christmas celebration with our very good friends on the weekend. Over to their place we went to have a delicious baked ham with roasted vegetables which were cooked to perfection. Yum!

Check out N's new light fitting. She plans to suspend it in their stairwell but it is temporarily parked in the dining area. I thought it was made from feathers when I first saw it from afar but it is actually made from vellum. 

Yes, tracing paper! N and her youngest daughter made it themselves. Clever. 

Vellum pendant light

 It reminds me of the Jeremy Cole Aloe light which is just fabulous. The one above is a creative alternative.

N's daughters also made a gingerbread (it was chocolate rather than ginger) house. They are such clever girls. It tasted as good as it looked.

Homemade is always so much better.

In direct contrast, the boys and I assembled a BigW kit-home gingerbread house a few weeks ago. It looked like a ghetto house rather than a gingerbread house. It tasted as meh! as it looked. No photos were taken; some things are best forgotten.

Look at these cute homemade vanilla-bread people. Just adorable.

That Christmassy feeling is definitely creeping up on us.

Danlamp: my dirty secret

It's kind of ironic that I'm writing about an incandescent light bulb I've just purchased because for the past few months I've been working for an organisation which encourages energy efficient lighting upgrades. 

Ssh! Don't tell.

I really am eco...truly. But there is something about the forbidden fruit of an incandescent which makes this light bulb so attractive to me. Clearly, I thought to hell with increased carbon emissions when I ordered it online.

Danlamp light bulb

It is purely a decorative light bulb which emits a nice warm glow - lovely ambient lighting which you just can't achieve with compact fluorescent or halogen energy saver bulbs. It is definitely not a bulb for task lighting if you need to read or sew.

Anyway, I will have to hide it when the Carbon Police raid the house.

For Anonymous Natalie

Anonymous Natalie is wavering about her dislike for our chandelier...so this post is for her.

Our chandelier is not classically beautiful like many other chandeliers - it is very much a light of its era which is from the late 60s to early 80s. Obviously, I picked our chandelier up on the cheap because someone decided it was no longer to their taste...which is very understandable as mid-century Italian is not everyone's thing.

After I bought our chandelier from eBay, I began noticing them in salubrious settings such as advertisements for Designers Guild. They are quite pretty and make a striking statement in the right setting.

Above images from Designers Guild

There is a sophisticated contemporary take on the same theme from Ochre

image from Here

Even the Lindt Cafe in Martin Place, Sydney is on board.

Image by Nat Duncan

I also have a reader from the Mornington Peninsula who sent me a photo of her chandelier which she bought for a mere $5. Jealous.

Then I stumbled on a website from the US and saw a similar chandelier to my ugly one.

Image from here

I nearly choked when I saw how much they're selling this chandelier. Click on here so you can choke too.

Woo hoo! Yep, my ugly chandy makes me very happy. Let's hope it doesn't fall...

mid-century Italian Murano tear drop chandelier

Murano chandelier...third time lucky?

Okay, deep breath. Typing this blog post has probably just jinxed the newly installed Murano chandelier in the dining room...

You see, this chandelier installation caper has been plagued with issues for the past 12 months. If you are new to this blog, you may not know that the first attempt was aborted because Carlo the electrician said there were no earth wires and the metal chandelier could become live if it was installed. Read about it here. I suppose, it was probably a good thing to find out.

The second attempt was a few months later after we had the lights earthed (this was a biggish job which meant taking the flat roof off the sunroom). Wazza the electrician, Carlo's colleague, was in charge that day and he installed the chandelier. It was just gorgeous. However, within 36 hours the chandelier crashed down with spectacular effect while I was seated at the dining table. WAZZA!!

You can read about it here. It is actually one of the funniest posts with the funniest comments. Fortunately I have a sense of humour. Jason, not so much.

Carlo and Wazza were utterly mortified when they heard what had happened and were extremely apologetic, offering to reinstall the light and pay for the broken crystals. I really didn't have the heart to be a bitch about the whole thing - it wasn't like they wanted it to fall. They have always done a good job for us with all our other electrical jobs at the Sow's Ear too. All I can say is accidents do happen.

Anyway, the chandelier had me completely spooked and I was debating (with my inner self) to abandon the whole chandelier business and find a less complicated light or something Danish. I let it rest for a few months until my courage returned.

And return it did (sorry to Anonymous Natalie who thinks this light is fugly). Carlo came back yesterday to hook up the chandelier. He was determined to make this attempt a success. I asked him if he was sure it would definitely hold this time around.

 "She'll be right," Carlo said confidently.

I retorted: "That's what Wazza said!"

Retro chandelier with Murano dragon's tears crystals

Look at the lovely shadow it casts on the ceiling.

The chandelier has been up for over 24 hours and so far, so good, as I cross myself.  Every so often, I glance at it tentatively; it makes me so nervous. If it falls, there won't be a fourth attempt.

Birth experience or changing bulbs in a Coral light

A couple of months ago I got an email from a reader asking me how we change the light bulb on our David Trubridge designed Coral light. It was a strange request. I didn't want to write back, "umm..like, der", so I sent a nice reply telling him how to do it. 

My reply was totally theoretical by the way, as the bulb in our light hadn't blown at that stage.

And then our light bulb blew and I appreciated fully what that reader was on about. The bulb that goes with the light is ginormous! Think childbirth thoughts. 

The light is constructed from about 60 pieces of very thin bamboo pieces which plug together to form a sphere - you need to unplug some of the connectors to make an opening wide enough to squeeze the old bulb out and the new bulb in. 

The thin bamboo pieces are liable to split if you are too heavy-handed when unplugging a section. If you don't have spare pieces, you could run into a spot of trouble. 

This is lighting obstetrics 101 and was to be handled very delicately. We photographed our lighting (reverse) birth to show you how it was done:

Fully dilated Coral Light
I unplugged the pieces in three places to make an opening large enough to squeeze the light bulb out.

Jason was the midwife (or husband?) in charge of the reverse birth of the light bulb.
There was a bit of manoeuvring to get the bulb in without damaging the pieces.

Nearly there. A few more deep breaths and a big push, Jason! You can do it!
The light bulb is an energy saving  Philips Ambiance Globe

It's a...it's a...
working light! Aw...Congratulations! 

There you have it. If we can change a light bulb, anybody can. 

Vintage desk light

I find some cool stuff in my Mum's back room. The room is like the tardis, deceivingly small until you open the door and enter into a hoarding time warp.

Every visit to that back room uncovers a different 'treasure'. I've said it before, but I consider it my mission to declutter that room. The stuff in there may as well get used somewhere because as it is, it's just collecting dust.

It truly is a bonus when I discover something I actually love, such as my eldest brother's old desk light which he used when he was studying architecture in the early 80s. 

I'm hoping he's completely forgotten about it and won't go looking for it. Silly him for leaving it behind, I say! Anyway, Mum said he had more than one (hoarding is genetic, you know), so there is bound to be another one lying around if he goes searching nostalgically.

Vintage Freedom Furniture desk light

My brother's old lamp is clamped to our desk, lighting the way for my tapping fingers as I type. We lacked a desk light in the study and have been relying on the overhead light which is just a bare naked Edison bulb at this stage (it's an unintentional industrial look until we find a suitable fitting).

The lamp, to my great surprise, is vintage Freedom Furniture but made in Denmark. What the? Freedom Furniture made in Denmark? Clearly that was a very long time ago because the last time I looked there were no Danish goods to be seen!

Vintage Freedom Furniture light label.

It's a cool light (from my perspective), regardless of where it is made, and is very useful too.

1950s Tulip standard lamp: part two

Remember that 1950s floor lamp I bought from the very spooky Ghost Tours operator Jack Sim? You know, the one that shattered into a million pieces due to some super-natural forces soon after it came home? (as opposed to blaming myself for a rather dodgy repair job...)

Well, I found a replacement for it, thanks to the eagle eyes of a prominent Brisbane purveyor of used goods (well done Kristen!). I was actually looking for a replacement glass shade but they are impossible to find (drop me a line if you have one). So I just bought another lamp.

Australian 1950s tulip standard lamp in black

A black one this time.

It is in the most immaculate condition and I can't believe I found one in Brisbane so soon after breaking that first light shade.

It looks great in our sunroom

And best of all, it means there is a spare light shade should something happen to the second lamp. You know, like something super-natural...Boo!

Now I have a 60-year-old completely shadeless gold and chrome standard lamp under the house which is gathering dust. What do you reckon I should do with it (and be nice Anonymous Natalie)?

1950s gold standard lamp

Bulb pendant lighting

Single bulb pendant lights look great in my humble opinion.

I like the colourful versions produced by N.U.D Collection in Sweden; such a simple, yet groovy way to shed light.

The pendant cord is three metres long, which means you can suspend the light off to one side if your light fixture is located in the centre of the ceiling.

image from here

Muuto a Scandinavian group also produce a series of bulb pendants in just single colours. They are called E27 pendant lights.

And Australian design firm Lightly do a very funky version of the single bulb pendant. These are woven 14mm  rope lights which lend themselves to macrame like creations. It gets the thumbs up for being Australian made and owned.

image from here

Or there is the budget variety from Andrews Light Up which is only one metre long and comes in plain white, black or chrome. They have the advantage of clipping to a standard batten fitting, so you don't need an electrician to fit them.

Image from here

Having done my research, I think single bulb pendant lighting will feature at the Sow's Ear in the near future. What do you think? (That question is directed mostly to Anonymous Louise who often laments my lighting choices)

The haunted lamp

Eerily, I disturbed someone or something with my post last night about the new funky lamp and its spooky connection.

One of the tall glass shades smashed into pieces earlier this morning.

Broken lamp shade: it had already had a past repair on it so it was never going to survive another accident.

Yesterday, I had been tinkering with the lamp socket because it was a bit wobbly. I tried to tighten the screw securing it in place but I think I inadvertently made it looser. When I put the glass shade back into the holder it seemed as secure as it ever was.

I was lulled into a false sense of security because this morning the entire lamp socket fell to one side and the shade slipped out of its holder. I was in the next room when it happened.

Boo!

How cross I am with myself! The thing is completely worthless, now it has a missing shade! It seems I have a vintage lighting curse on me after the chandelier fiasco.

shadeless standard lamp.
I was able to fix the holder which is now very secure on the stem. Too little, too late.

Then Katherine's comment on my last post about ghosts attaching themselves to the lamp and what Zoila thought of the lamp came back to haunt me.

Perhaps I should not mock or write tongue-in-cheek-posts about things I don't understand...like the super-natural.

Wooo...Woooo...

1950s Tulip standard lamp...spooky Brisbane!

The things you find when you are not really looking...like this 1950s standard lamp that was hanging around in someone's creepy old shed.

This is not mine. Mine is dirtier and missing a couple of bits and pieces.
image from here

A couple of weeks ago I made an ebay purchase - two bar stools for the deck. The seller was called Jack Sim. I thought, "Hang on, that name is really, really familiar."

When I called Jack to arrange a time to pick up my items, I asked if he was the Jack Sim who conducts Brisbane Ghost Tours and author of many true Brisbane crime titles such as Bloody Brisbane.

He said yes.

I exclaimed,"Oh, you're famous!"

He replied ever so creepily, "Yes; dead famous."

Jack Sim
image from here

I giggled nervously because Jack is indeed dead famous. He wears funereal black wherever he goes and delves into the history of Brisbane's most heinous crimes.  It was with great trepidation I agreed to meet up with him at his secluded shed to pick up my ebay items...

When I arrived at my destination, Jack gave me a tour of his dark and creepy shed. He showed me his collection of Australian poison bottles with original labels. Having the word "kill" or "dead" on the label tickled his fancy.

My favourite bottles were the empty bottles of DDT to control head lice on children and a lady's purse pack of DDT to ward of mosquitoes. It is just crazy to imagine that a generation or so ago people used to use  this stuff without question!

Jack also showed me an ornate coffin which he plans to use for his burial. He said someone was already occupying it and lifted the lid quickly.

I screamed.

"That's not a real person, is it?"

But Jack brushed over my question and didn't respond.

Just as I was taking my leave, Jack asked if I was interested in buying the tulip standard lamp which was hiding in a dark corner of the shed. He told me he was moving away from his mid-century phase and returning to his Art Deco roots. He's currently restoring a 1930s Hearse for personalised ghost tours and is embracing vintage funeral suits.

Anyway, these types of standard lamps don't crop up too often around suburban Brisbane, so I snapped it up. It's a fun piece which I can restore over time or pass on to my mid century friends if I tire of its atomic shape.

Tulip standard lamp at home. Sorry for the dodgy photo taken earlier this evening. It looks better  in person.

I don't know too much of the history of these lamps. They come in black as well, because I have friends who have the same lamp. It has an iconic 50s style. My lamp is gold and chrome. It needs a good clean to make it shine again though.

I think it is just hilarious that my new lamp came from Brisbane's leading ghost expert. He's such an interesting person who knows a lot about Brisbane's dark and bloody past. His theories debunking the Mayne Inheritance murders were also insightful.

You know the best thing about it all was that Jack said he had heard of Zoila Stables, the original owner of the Sow's Ear.

Woo...oooo.....Wooo....oooo!