Perch!

Perch! is a company based in Brooklyn whose products are all handmade and environmentally friendly, and available through 2Modern. They have the cutest bird feeders and lighting, and I am officially smitten. Take note that they have a variety of colour options for most of their products. I found a great branch on the tree in front of my house that would be perfect for a feeder to keep my cats entertained, but alas, I live in the hood, and I don't think a feeder this cute would last. But perhaps one of these wall sconces or lamps...

Lighting

This blog chronicles my entire kitchen renovation from start to finish. Greentea Design has provided me with their kitchen cabinets, and I'm taking care of the rest.

If you'd like to be brought up to date, check out my kitchen remodel blog for an archive of previous posts. I’ve described my cabinets in detail, so now I thought I’d start in on all the fun purchases that goes along with a kitchen renovation. These next few posts I will cover things like the appliances, sink, faucet, countertop, backsplash and lighting.

I thought I’d start with lighting, one of my favourite items to dress up a space. I have always been drawn to lamps and pendant lights, so when I was planning the lighting for the kitchen, I wanted to make it a focal point. But once I decided on making lighting a feature, I started to panic a bit. There aren’t many decent lighting stores in this city, but I did check out a few. I started looking online as well but got a bit concerned about some of the shipping prices. One online store was quoting 20% of the purchase for shipping and other related costs. This renovation is going to have me in debt as it is, and my house needs a TON of other work, so I have a really hard time spending my hard earned money on high shipping costs. So I really wanted to try and find items locally.

Since my kitchen will be long and narrow, I will need a long and narrow dining table to be placed down the center of it (I have no dining room). I made a pretty simple decision to hang pendants over it. My first thought was a Nelson bubble lamp. I’ve always wanted one. But I really like the look of the saucer lamp, and I think that one would work better over a round table. I started looking locally and found something at a large lighting store called Multi Luminaire:

I liked the industrial look of it and it was similar to ones I had considered ordering online. They had 2 sizes, one for $80 and one for $120, and I figured I would get maybe 3 to hang in a row over the table. But then....

More of this post HERE

How delightfull

We received an email from the folks behind Delightfull, a lighting company based in Portugal. In their first collection of 25 pieces, called 'Heritage', they were inspired by design trends of the 50s and 60s. The design and production of their products - totally handcrafted - all happens in Portugal but I checked with them and they do ship internationally. This is how they define Delightfull: "A secret is only fascinating if it can be shared through a flow of words that are capable of shaping something that is nothing but a feeling. Sometimes it feels like a paradox, as the bigger the secret is, the louder you feel like revealing it, so that all may share the rare pleasure of grasping something that is unique and almost untouchable". So totally fabulous...

They also have another line of furniture, lighting and mirrors called Boca Do Lobo and I had to post about this as well because WOW, there are some beautiful pieces that I'd die for.

News from Swank Lighting

Ed from Swank, one of our sponsors, emailed us with the following exciting news:
"In the short three years we have been in business we have sold hundreds of Vintage Murano Lamps from the finest glass houses in Venice. These lamps were imported by BALBOA in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. The response to our re-introduction of the remaining inventory of BALBOA has been phenomenal. One thing we have heard over and over from Designers and Collectors is that the look is fantastic and although our prices are lower than the high-end showrooms in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, etc. they still require an investment out of reach of many people. To address these concerns we set out to create a line of blown glass lamps with the same hot mid-century look, in a price range within reach of many more admirers. We first looked into having the glass components blown in Italy and importing them. Although there remains many wonderful glass artisans on the island of Murano, the cost to have the glass blown there and shipped to the U.S. was still too high to fit our model. Further much of what is being blown in Murano today is not the same high quality it was in the 20th Century and is more geared to the tourist "souvenir" market. So, we decided that we should really focus our efforts on promoting the beautiful work done by American glass artisans. In our search for the best America has to offer we found Joe Cariati. Joe's work is absolutely incredible. He sells his decorative pieces at some of the finest store including Barneys, Gumps, Belvedere, and Haven. You can see his collection online at www.joecariati.com. We contracted with Joe to blow the inaugural offerings in the new American Blown Glass Lamps from www.swanklighting.com. We are calling this line Hard Candy. The full line will be launched in September and priced around $800 per lamp. Unlike with our vintage line, we will sell singles as well as pairs of Hard Candy."

All I can say is STUNNING.

Chandeliers to inspire

Emily of New York City wrote us looking for chandelier inspiration:"I was wondering if you had a collection of chandelier photos, specifically funky, alternative or painted. I may be moving to an apartment with boring, gold chandeliers and fancied painting them, but need some inspiration!". My first thought is if you don't like the light fixtures, then replace them (either with cheap ones you don't mind leaving there when you move out, or save the existing ones in the back of a closet to put back up). But if you're serious about going the DIY route, then hopefully the following photos will get your creative juices flowing. It's got me thinking of what to do with the 3 ceiling fans (gross!!) in my house (although 2 of them aren't wired to a switch in the wall so I need fixtures that turn on and off from the light itself - UGH).

Living Etc.	Jay Jeffers
Gaelle Le Boulicaut	Tsao & McKown
Jeff Andrews	Michael Graydon
Selldorf Architects	Alex Papachristidis
Beau Monde Villas	Living Etc.
Light Locations	Frank Roop
House of Pictures	Rees Roberts
Ghislaine Viñas	Wallpaper
Shamir Shah	Shoot Factory

Marie Claire Maison