Lights and Closet

 This weekend I worked on the lights again, I need three lamps, one for the living room, one for the desk and one for the bedroom. And I wanted one to have the look of a Mid Century Modern lamp. 

I've never done a Mid Century Modery inspired lamp before so of course that was the one I started with. Figuring out the logistics of making it took me a while. But I finally figured it out.

I started with two little plastic cups (the kind you put ketchup in at Braums) and cut out the bottoms.  Then I punched holes in the middles.

I got an aluminum tube, a little round woodsie and three dark brown wooden beads.  And I had a plastic tube about the diameter of a pencil. With that and the plastic part snapped off this earring back, I had a good start to my lamp.

It's not easy to see the little tube and the earring back but it's to the left of the brown beads.  So the plastic lids are going to serve as the holders for the shades. And the tube will go through them to hold the light bulb.  The beads, woodsie and aluminum tube are the lamp base. 

The shades were not easy... I had to find something the right diameter to wrap them around, cardstock with scrapbook paper over it, with glue to hold them in place. Eventually I found things that were the right size and got the shades shaped and glued.

Slowly but surely I got it put together. A lot of waiting around for glue to dry on Saturday. Which was okay because I worked on other things. I just had to be careful to not knock anything over. This was difficult for me.  I'm a klutz. 

But the end result was worth it I think.

It's a tall lamp but I plan to have the bed a bit lower so things will even out I think. 

But I wanted a smaller lamp for the desk. So I got a wooden filial and drilled a hole down the middle.  Another woodsie, earring back plastic and the leftover plastic tube and all I needed was a shade.  So I went with one of the little plastic bowls I'd ordered thinking they could be light fixtures.  

I painted the base black metallic and the woodsie silver. and for the shade I went with my bright blue nail polish. It's a nice bold pop of color.

I liked the color so much I decided to do my barstools the same color. A couple of layers of nail polish and they have a nice plasticy gleam to them.

I cut the legs for the bar stools but I haven't painted or attached them yet. 

I'll need to add something to hold them to the chair besides glue.  But I'm thinking I'll paint them a nice black. They'll contrast with the penisula cabinets that way.

And then I began to work on the closet. I needed to add a shelf, add supports for the clothes rod and also add a false ceiling. Plus glue the 'built ins' together and to the closet wall. 

And I painted everything a warm white. I thought about painting the drawer handles black or silver but the gesso just came right off. I'll give it another try later. Maybe.

But that's pretty much it for me. Though I did get the container corners spray painted. I just forgot to take a picture.

For the living room lamp I ordered Jodi's Moonbeam Lamp.  I'm not sure how I'll paint it yet. 

The bathroom is continuing... I'll show you. 

The washer and dryer used to live in the place where the toilet is now sitting. Right now they live at the foot of the bed. 

The new toilet will go where the closet used to be. You can see the outline of the old closet walls on the ceiling. The new closet will be where the desk/vanity and toilet are now. The window is going to be smaller to accomodate it.

The shower is partially framed in as you can see. The new double vanity will go right next to it, to the left of where I'm standing to take the picture.

The shower will have a bench in it too. That's another big deal for us.

The water heater is to the right of the door where I'm standing to take the pictures. It's going to go away and be reincarnated as a tankless on the side of the house. The washer and dryer will live there. 

Our contractor is specifically arranging everything so that as much as possible we don't have pipes in exterior walls.

So all in all, another week and a half and he thinks we'll be all done. The last couple days of November he says should just be cleanup. This is all very exciting.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend!

A few things crossed off the list though.

1. Support beams for the ceilings of the upper and lower level.
2. Build the corners of the containers 
3. Paint the corners of the containers
4. Glue corners to the long walls.
5. Glue in flooring for the upper level, stain and sand it.
1. Figure out bathroom flooring & put it in.
6. Build the bathroom wall
7. Build the closet
8. Build transom windows for upper level
9. Fold & prime the corner lift pieces
10. Make the four handles for the container doors
11. Stain closet & Bathroom doors - convert to barn doors
12. Cut the roof
13. Prime the walls, roof & stairs
14. Paint the walls & roof
15. Make supports for the overhang/carport
16. Base & steps for house (cinderblocks? or skip this)
17. Landscaping
18. Posts & railings for roof patio
1. Roof patio decking? Tongue depressors?
19. Prime & paint posts & railings of roof patio
20. Make bifold doors for upper level
21. Make floor to ceiling windows for upper level
22. Make frames for all floor to ceiling windows
23. Make sink cabinet for bathroom
24. Towel rack/shelves for bathroom
25. Make 'glass' door for shower
26. Tile shower walls & soap niche (revise soap niche)
1. Grout shower walls
27. Lighting.
1. Bathroom overhead (chains & bulb)
2. Over front door
3. On either side of bifold for roof patio
4. Kitchen pendant lights
5. Living room lights
6. Light in upstairs office
7. Bedroom lights
8. Install lights
28. Furniture for bedroom 
29. Furniture for living room
30. Spider plants in macrame holders for kitchen window?
31. Install kitchen cabinets, faucet, appliances, backsplash & floating shelves
32. Install bathroom fixtures
33. Rugs & pillows
34. Books
35. Cats