Modern Lighting – DIY
A couple years ago, Alex and I were sitting on the couch, having a glass of wine while we chatted with my brother-in-law who was visiting from Brazil. We started talking about our house projects when we were faced with our super-traditional-beautiful-not-my-style-chandelier in our hallway. We knew that grand chandelier would have to go one day, but we always felt guilty about removing it. The chandelier did seem a little out of place in this traditional house that was slowly changing its mood to a more modern vibe. As we talked about all the reasons why the traditional chandelier should stay and all the reasons why it should go, the glass of wine spoke louder and we decided that we had just found our next house project. So that night we brainstormed some design ideas. Secretly, Bruno and I were hoping that nothing would happen the next day and that in two years we would say: “- oh, remember when we talked about taking down that oh, so grand chandelier?” But Alex crushed our lazy hope and the guys both went to the home improvement store in search of some wood the very next morning.
The idea for the new chandelier was to create something modern and big, but something that was not too overwhelming. We thought geometric shapes, industrial-looking, clean lines. How about a big cube? Yeah, that will do it. A hollow one that is. So construction started in the garage. It was summer time and Bruno was in vacation mode while visiting us. There were probably three hundred and one more interesting things to do than to squat down and clamp wood. But at least, the boys were in good company.
Once we built the hollow cube, the guys walked it over through the side yard to the front door to find out the cube DIDN’T fit through the front door. We pointed fingers at each other trying to find a soul to blame for horrible measuring skills. We had to take all the pieces apart and then rebuild the cube in the hallway. After we hung it up, we realized it was too big. No wonder it didn’t fit through the front door. We had failed on the “not overwhelming” request. Again, Bruno and I were secretly hoping we could leave the gigantic cube as is and pretend this oversize modern lighting was working. But Alex crushed our lazy hope once more. So down comes the big cube. We took it all apart again, cut every single piece to the new desired length and then put everything back together. The second time around, the cube felt more balanced with the space. It was finally working.
This modern lighting creates a lot of impact in this hallway. Overwhelming? Maybe for some people’s taste. But for us, it is just our-kind-of-lightning. We are so proud of this DIY project. When the kids go to college and we decide to downsize, that big cube is sure coming with us. We will then have to get a house that is big enough for THE cube. We will completely lose track of the whole point of downsizing and will start filling those glasses with more wine so we can keep the projects coming. Have I told you I am not really a big fan of wine? It’s true!
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