It's been a while since I've posted - time flies I guess, I've mostly been concentrating on getting money into the retirement accounts in preparation for that future date. In any case, here's a quick update on some changes in our house in regards to lighting.
Our home originally had three spheres that hung from a brass fixture in the kitchen - the spheres were about 6 inches in diameter and had this Asian raised motif of flowering branches - think that crafty puff-paint applied to a shirt with plastic crystal fruit. When we first moved in I was painting the kitchen walls and accidentally shattered one globe with the roller extension. Of course this was heartbreaking as a replacement was impossible to find, so we settled with some 10 inch plastic globes that I found at one of the box stores. We lived with this for some time and they worked okay, but we learned that the swags get really dusty and nasty looking - it's what happens when you cook without a stove vent. To compound things, at some point the previous owner cut the original power cord (which went across the roof under the roofing materials and had done this really ugly round conduit that ran up the wall from the stone planter and across the beam. I wanted to address that with the light replacement so it looked more finished.
I knew that at some point we would be replacing the entire fixture but I kept seeing fixtures that didn't quite fit into the overall design esthetic of the house. I was fairly resigned at buying Nelson Bubbles or similar but they seemed a bit over-the-top for the space - also, with cooking going on I thought they would become quite dirty and discolored over time - I've seen many examples of this and really wanted something simpler. While searching I got one of those Facebook notifications about some 10 inch glass globes being n sale for $15 with free shipping so I took a chance on the no-name company and was pleasantly surprised at receiving them - these came complete with white suspension cords. Initially I though to reuse the existing brass fixture, rewiring for the white cords but that didn't look quite right.
Luckily, Modernica and others who sell the Nelson bubbles solved my problem by reissuing the original light bracket (it's three rods with a ball fixed to each end) - and after discussing it with my wife that's what I ordered. I would use the three 10 inch glass globes with the Nelson bracket and move the power so it's less noticeable - this would require running new leads from the switch to the ceiling, buried in the wall - a bit more work than you would think. I used flat conduit along the short side of the beam and drilled to match up the holes to reuse the original position.
The hardest parts were fishing the 14-2 wire through the various routes to achieve the finish I wanted - but this shows that anything is possible once you set your mind to it. I think it turned out pretty groovy, do you?
-- John
Our home originally had three spheres that hung from a brass fixture in the kitchen - the spheres were about 6 inches in diameter and had this Asian raised motif of flowering branches - think that crafty puff-paint applied to a shirt with plastic crystal fruit. When we first moved in I was painting the kitchen walls and accidentally shattered one globe with the roller extension. Of course this was heartbreaking as a replacement was impossible to find, so we settled with some 10 inch plastic globes that I found at one of the box stores. We lived with this for some time and they worked okay, but we learned that the swags get really dusty and nasty looking - it's what happens when you cook without a stove vent. To compound things, at some point the previous owner cut the original power cord (which went across the roof under the roofing materials and had done this really ugly round conduit that ran up the wall from the stone planter and across the beam. I wanted to address that with the light replacement so it looked more finished.
I knew that at some point we would be replacing the entire fixture but I kept seeing fixtures that didn't quite fit into the overall design esthetic of the house. I was fairly resigned at buying Nelson Bubbles or similar but they seemed a bit over-the-top for the space - also, with cooking going on I thought they would become quite dirty and discolored over time - I've seen many examples of this and really wanted something simpler. While searching I got one of those Facebook notifications about some 10 inch glass globes being n sale for $15 with free shipping so I took a chance on the no-name company and was pleasantly surprised at receiving them - these came complete with white suspension cords. Initially I though to reuse the existing brass fixture, rewiring for the white cords but that didn't look quite right.
Luckily, Modernica and others who sell the Nelson bubbles solved my problem by reissuing the original light bracket (it's three rods with a ball fixed to each end) - and after discussing it with my wife that's what I ordered. I would use the three 10 inch glass globes with the Nelson bracket and move the power so it's less noticeable - this would require running new leads from the switch to the ceiling, buried in the wall - a bit more work than you would think. I used flat conduit along the short side of the beam and drilled to match up the holes to reuse the original position.
The hardest parts were fishing the 14-2 wire through the various routes to achieve the finish I wanted - but this shows that anything is possible once you set your mind to it. I think it turned out pretty groovy, do you?
-- John
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