Closet Lighting

Last week, I posted about Corey installing our closet doors.  Today, I'm sharing the second part of the project, which was installing lighting in out closet.

Remember, Corey and I still need to drywall over the frame... and now, we'll also have some holes to patch from the electrical work, but we're always a work in progress.

Here's the back of the closet frame, this is where Corey attached the fluorescent lighting.

I tried to get some decent pictures...

We seriously needed extra light in the room, and it would have been impossible to see our clothes without this update.  Here's our closet pre-doors.

 

... And here it is now!  The closet lighting actually works well as ambient light for our bedroom!

 

 

LET THERE BE LIGHT!  We're not getting too excited though.  There's still plenty of work to do, including this patching from running the wires.

 

In case you're wondering, that coiled wire is for Corey to run to the overhead light.  We thought we'd update everything at once.

Patching aside, we also now have a double switch!  When combined with the bedside lights that Corey installed in the summer, we'll finally have a bright bedroom with switches for the overhead light and closet beside the door, and separate switches and lights over each nightstand.  Woo hoo!

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Fracken Lamps

Before I launch into today's post, I want to say that it was great to see so many members of my Crestwood family last night.  There wasn't much time to visit but perhaps we'll get a proper reunion soon. 

I also hope everyone managed to get home safely and stay dry from the flooding in Toronto last night.  We discovered that we may need to re-shingle our roof soon... oh joy!  We had some minor water coming through the ceiling upstairs but our basement was (thankfully) dry!  How did you fare?  Better than this guy, I hope!  (I'm sort of waiting for someone to make this a meme.)  Did any of you find that the harsh and prolonged rain exposed weaknesses in your house?

So, let's move on to today's post:  I am obsessed with scissor or accordion wall mounted lights.  I just love them!  I see vintage models on Etsy and eBay (like the lamp above) all the time, but a pair is rare to find.  The pair below had me swooning but $795 for a pair of bedside lamps is too rich for my blood!

Corey hated our bulky bedside lamps at the condo, (shown below) which were the wrong scale for the space.  I promised him that I would get rid of the bulky lamps in our new house so he could have wall mounted lamps.  You'll notice that, while I like decor and visually pleasing pieces, Corey prefers streamlined and practical.  We often compromise and meet in the middle.

For a long time, I was convinced we would make our own accordion style lamps like this one (below) from Ikea Hackers:

 

I had even planned our little DIY by choosing to make it by combining the Ikea Hektar Lamp and the Ikea Frack Mirror:  Hence the title of this post, which I began composing when this was still my plan.

  

There are great examples of similar projects all over the internet.  If you're interested, here's a good one.

We were 90% sure we were going to make these Ikea hack lamps (Okay, I was actually 99% certain.) ... until one day in May, when we stepped into Lowes and I took a quick trip down the lamp aisle.  We found these babies for $25 each and we both fell in love (or in serious like) instantly!

While I love a good DIY project, I am not a glutton for punishment.  (Corey says that's debatable...)A DIY only makes sense if it's actually cheaper or better than buying the real deal. 

In this case, we sacrificed my scissor arms for these fabulous wannabe Restoration Hardware lamps.  Honestly, can you see a big difference between our lamps and these Atelier Sconces (below) from Restoration Hardware? 

 

 ... Meh, the shape is slightly different but they're the same style and the price difference is about $175 each!

Anyway, I was excited not to have to DIY the lamps but, as I thought more and more about wall colour, I decided that the antique nickle finish wouldn't "pop" against the walls I had in mind.

I have something special in mind for our bedroom walls (Something fun!) and, by now you're probably noticing that I like gold and brass accents...

So I busted out my spray paint and painted both lights gold:

I love them!  What do you think?  I can't wait to paint the walls now.  It's funny how so many of our projects end up so different from my initial vision but I actually think these are perfect.

But, like everything in our house, we needed to wait until we actually had the time to complete the project.  While Corey and I tried to complete our living room bookshelves amidst our busy work schedules, these babies sat in a box at the back of the closet for weeks.

Well last night, like many Torontonians, I spent hours trying to find my way home through half flooded streets.  Imagine my surprise to find that Corey had installed my bedside light, a switch and a new outlet below my nightstand!  Now I can read in bed without waking him!  He even took a "during picture" for me to post:  (Cue the "awww" sounds!)

We need to touch up the hole around the switch with a little plaster and Corey still needs to finish his own side but here's a peek at my new light:

It's not my accordion lamp but I think I like it just as much.  The head pivots so I can still adjust the light and I think I love that it's pretty compact.  I think it's finally time for me to start really unpacking my books.  I've been missing them!  What are you reading this summer?

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We Survived Ikea Midnight Madness!

... And all we got was this lousy t-shirt... Just kidding... Although it would be awesome if they made t-shirts with the "Midnight Madness" logo and some tears in the sleeves and scratches from all the people shoving you in the store.

Remember this post where I hypothesize that people probably break up in Ikea?  Well, imagine how surprised I was to find us there at 8:00 on a Friday night surrounded by CROWDS of zombies frenzied shoppers. 

Luckily, we escaped nearly as happy as the couple in the above photo but I was still shocked at the phenomenon that is Midnight Madness.  Let me tell you about it:

They offer a very few items on sale (and the sales are GOOD) but the rest of the stock is regular price.  They keep their doors open until midnight and basically watch the people scurry around like rats in a maze.  You see, it's impossible to walk through Ikea and not buy something.... Impossible!  It's almost as if the you feel like you deserve some sort of consolation prize for finding your way out of the store!  Honestly, the marketing genius who came up with the concept of "Midnight Madness" deserves a raise: shopping late at night is like shopping drunk.  Most of the people at the checkout were swaying on their sore feet and, like last call at the bar, they were pretty much ready to take anything home!

Corey and I had never heard about Midnight Madness, but my mom called me on her way home from work to give me a heads up.  There are a couple of big ticket items that I casually have my eyes open for and one of them happened to be discontinued and offered at more than 50% off.  So, with the promise of $2 plates of meatballs, I convinced Corey to join me at Ikea on a Friday night.

The masses were filing into the upper-level parking lot when we arrived (We didn't even know there was an upper-level lot) and we were a little surprised to discover that we weren't the only people who had heard about the sale... Silly, in hindsight but we hadn't given it much thought.  Anyway, we decided quickly that there would be no dilly-dallying in the kitchen section (this is our weakness) since we were in competition.  We had our eyes on the prize!

So we zoomed through Ikea at record speed.  I may have stopped once to admire a bathroom sink cabinet but a firm "Focus, Taylor!" from Corey kept me on track.  When we arrived at the product we wanted, there were already several other people buzzing around, but some teamwork assured that we found a sales associate and were served quickly... Without throwing a single elbow!

And what did we buy?  Well, remember our major lack of closet space and subsequent ClosetMaid system installation?  Here are a couple of pictures to refresh your memory:

 

Well, you know what's an awesome feature to add to a closet?  Doors!  We had been thinking about sliding doors for a while and I know Ikea makes doors in a large enough size (we have high ceilings) but they were nearly $800 before tax.   Enter "Midnight Madness" and we were able to get the discontinued Pax Tonnes doors for $300!  This is how we felt standing in line:

So, what exactly did we buy?  Here's a picture of the HUGE doors (below) ... And by the way, you should be proud of me because I haven't made one bad pun about how much they weigh even though the product name is Pax Tonnes.

The branches weren't exactly our style but it wasn't worth the price to buy another set just so we could have 6 plain white panels.  I think we can make it work in the room though, so we're not going to worry about it for now.  We had assumed we would make our own sliding closet doors but Corey estimates that we would have paid almost as much in materials... and spend hours more in labour so we think we made the right choice!

 

I'll post some pictures when we finally get around to installing these but it's looking like the first two rooms we seem to be focusing on are the living room and the master bedroom so look for some updates soon.

 

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For Whom the Bird Chirps

How do you wake up in the morning?  Do you use a traditional alarm or just your own internal clock?  While I always set an alarm, I find that the sun and my own internal clock usually do the trick. 

Many people with pets find that they wake to their pet reminding them that it's breakfast time.  Barkley is pretty good about not reminding us (we've forgotten to feed him before because he's just sooo laid back) but he will play with "Moose" if he wakes before us and is bored.  Moose is his favourite toy (really the only one he consistently plays with) and I believe we're on the fifth or sixth generation.  The most recent version was covered in construction dust and his seams were starting to open so we chucked him.  Of course, my mom (and aunts) showed up with a brand new Moose (what are grandmas for?) and now we'll have to endure non-stop squeaking for a few weeks until Barkley breaks the squeaker and we can get some peace and quiet.  Until then, Moose is our morning alarm.  Here's a picture of him:

Weird looking, right?  It's the only toy Barkley really plays with and we let him choose it at Petsmart and he chooses the same toy every time so we've kind of embraced this ugly, squeaky, weirdly arachnid-looking moose toy. 

Anyway, what was my point?  Alarm clocks.  Right!  We'll, it's no secret that we've been burning the candle at both ends and Corey especially finds it challenging to wake in the morning.  We've both grown to hate the sound of our phone alarms so it made me think that it may be time for a change.

In the past, I had an old-timey alarm clock... You know, the kind you have to wind.  It was really elegant on my nightstand but it was also so annoying!  I kept reading articles preaching how unhealthy is it to wake with such a jolt so I've looked into other options:

The dawn simulator sounds really cool and it's also supposed to help prevent SAD.  I like that you can use light to simulate both sunrise and sunset.  It seems like a lovely way to wake up... but perhaps a bit pricey.

The Tocky  cracks me up.  I read about it years ago and a part of me would pay to watch Corey have to chase this thing around the room to shut it off!  Am I right???  Although, I'm pretty sure he'd find a way to even the score so no, I will pass on the Tocky.

There's a new-ish app for the iPhone called Wake, which allows you to snooze or dismiss your alarm by tapping, flipping and shaking your phone.  The video is worth watching.  The actor looks like Jeff Holm from Bachelorette fame and he cuddles a stuffed kitty while he sleeps.

And finally, my favourite is the Bird Alarm Clock.  Despite the unimaginative name, this clock will allow us to wake up to bird songs.  That seems much more gentle and natural than our current alarms.  Also, it can tell you the time and date in English or Japanese!  Obviously this one's the winner!  When I ordered this, I sort of threatened Corey by telling him that if he doesn't wake to the bird songs, it will yell at him in Japanese.  I think it actually only tells you the time and date in Japanese but I'm going to go ahead and hope that it does this in a "yelly" voice...  because it would be hilarious!

And here is it in our room:

Note: The clock doesn't so much yell in Japanese as it just tells you the time in a calm, feminine voice.  There is also an option which allows it to speak English... with a Japanese accent, of course.  In my opinion, this is equally awesome!

Are you happy with your alarm clock?  How do you wake up in the morning?

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