Looks like I’ve been roped into another one of Sherry’s schemes: her “Dude, Get On That Already” challenge, where we’re finally doing something with the items we’ve been hoarding in our spare room. It’s basically a use-it-or-donate-it mission. This week’s candidate was the light fixture we rescued from a thrift store in Delaware nearly a year ago for $19. It had been sitting on the playroom floor since then, and it was definitely time to let it do what it was built to do: provide light.
The fixture is made from a spun-plastic material and looks like a large glowing ball of clear spaghetti — in a cool, vintage way. Back in February 2011 we planned to ORB the gold finish and hang it in our master bathroom nook, but the plan evolved. Instead, we found a new home for it in our closet.
The closet turned out to be the better option for two reasons: first, the bathroom nook is visible from the bedroom and we didn’t want this bold, round fixture competing with the other big round light in the room. Second, the closet’s bare bulb was boring and needed some personality.
Much better: the new fixture gives the closet some texture and character. It’s always satisfying to use what you already own and upgrade an old, naked ceiling bulb. We’ll share a few lighting details shortly, but a few other closet changes happened while we were at it.
When you last saw our closet a few months after we moved in, it was looking tidy and organized. Over time, though, it lost its tidy status — thanks in large part to our chihuahua, Burger.
It’s a little unfair to blame Burger alone. Moving his crate into our closet from the playroom displaced our laundry basket, and although Burger enjoys small spaces, the move mostly happened because Clara kept getting into his food and water when his crate was in the playroom. She’d play with his food and even swirl the kibble in his water dish, which didn’t sit well with him, so we tucked Burger’s crate away in our master closet where Clara doesn’t go as often. Since his food is dry and sealed, it hasn’t caused any pest issues, and the closet felt like the best nook for the job.
Since we were tackling the light, we couldn’t ignore the other issues the closet had developed. There was actually plenty of spare room on my side: I don’t use the full shoe rack left by the previous owners. I stick to a few pairs — a typical guy’s setup — while Sherry’s side contained a shoe collection for two. After a brief bout of convincing (Sherry gently encouraged me to give up some floor space), I pulled out the rack and, after the grueling effort of removing my two pairs of shoes, we modified it.
Sherry pried the rack apart; I shortened the two long shelves by about 14 inches and we reassembled it. That created a compact rack that fit my small shoe collection and freed up enough corner space for Burger’s crate. It’s a simple solution, and we’re happy we finally did it — no idea why it took us over a year to get around to it.
For a touch of fun, here’s Burger giving his own tour — in spirit. “Welcome to my bedroom, humans of the internet! My crate has been replaced by a clothing receptacle, apparently because my family prioritizes proximity to laundry over canine comfort. That’s fine — I still get privacy in my corner of the master suite. Right next to my sleeping chamber are my dining facilities. Life is good.”
Back to reality: you can see why we moved Burger’s things into the closet. Clara does like to get into his food, and while she often feeds Burger piece by piece, she also has the annoying habit of swirling each kibble in his water dish before handing it over. We suspect she gets that odd behavior from her mother.
Installation of the light itself was straightforward. We cut the original plug off, exposed the wires, and made the fixture hardwire-compatible. We bought a kit that allowed us to attach the chain to a crossbar and tracked down a canopy that fit at a specialty lighting shop. We left the existing gold finish intact — since the fixture is in the closet it doesn’t have to match the rest of the room, and we like the retro gold look. If we change our minds later, we can always paint it.
The photos don’t quite capture how striking the fixture is in person. I reduced the camera exposure so the texture shows up better, but in real life the light is even more impressive. Sherry wants to make a short video because it creates dynamic streaks of light across the walls and ceiling — like party streamers — and it’s almost tempting to imagine adding a rotating mechanism like a miniature disco ball, though that was more of a joke than a plan.
It’s a small relief that this lamp, which spent almost a year in a playroom pile, is finally hanging in all its glory. We picked the hanging height by standing beneath it and adjusting until it felt right — it sits around 6’4″ from the floor in our eight-foot-ceiling closet, giving enough clearance while still showing off the fixture.
So, did any of you tackle something from your “Dude, Get On That Already” list this week? Reorganized a closet or convinced your partner to help with a project? Or perhaps ghostwrote a dog’s tour of the master suite? We’d love to hear what you finally got on that you’d been putting off.