Whilst fulfilling our financial and bureaucratic obligations, we’ve also been trying to enjoy the pleasanter side of life, playing with our daughter and looking for things to make our house feel more like a home.
An important part of this has been the quest for lighting. We still have multiple bare fittings in the house, with the ground floor being particularly poorly illuminated. Most of the lighting shops we’ve visited have carried lighting that is much too strikingly modern. Our house is about ninety years old and has its own distinct character. We have our own character, too, of course, and we obviously have to remain faithful to that also, or our surroundings won’t feel warm to us.
For that reason, we’re furnishing the house with a mixture of modern and old items. I like modern things for the practical comfort-based items, like the dining table and the sofa, but less tactile items like cabinets and such can be old and as ornamental as they are purposeful.
Lighting has been particularly hard to find, as taste plays a huge role in the decision. Dedicated trips to lighting shops have been frustrated and fruitless. Occasionally, one of us would find something we liked, but it has basically not been the case that we were ever both wild about the same item.
Happily, that changed this week, quite by chance, when we wandered past an antique shop whilst on the way to somewhere else. In fact, most of the things we have ended up purchasing were found by chance, rather than by hitting the home shopping centre and specifically looking for stuff.
Antiques are really quite frightening. First of all, they look stately and command respect, especially from one so ignorant as I. Much more problematic, though, is that they can also be very expensive. Developing a nasty coke habit would probably make more financial sense than acquiring a penchant for beautiful things from bygone eras. There’s a bloody good reason why many antique shops are only open a few days per week or by appointment only.
Anyway, this week, we’ve managed to find no fewer than three lights for the house. For the foyer, we’ve found a nice lantern from 1880, which must at one time have been an oil-lamp. It has a lot of charm and will set the mood for the house as guests enter inside and doff their coats and scarves.
For the bedroom, we picked out a lovely Art Deco light from 1920. I choked on the price of the thing, but the glasswork is beautiful and it will set the tone of the bedroom, providing a warm yet distinguished ambience. I’m looking forward to lying in bed, looking up at the light passing through its cut-glass bowl.
For the downstairs hallway, we’ve opted to have a light made for us by a specialist in Aalsmeer. It looks old, but is actually brand new, so will fit in perfectly and serve to warm the mood of the marble in the hallway.
None of these lights are actually in the house yet, but I’ll put up pictures once they’re in place. With a bit of luck, we’ll get them mounted before our friends Lauren, Brian and baby Max show up for a visit at the end of the month.
Finally, I picked up my painting from the auction house a few days ago and was saddened to find a small tear in the canvas that I hadn’t noticed when I viewed the item prior to bidding. It’s also quite loose in its frame, so I think I may need to get the thing restored before I hang it up. What I know about restoring paintings can be engraved on the head of a pin, so that’s another thing for me to look into.