Randy the Chandy

All of the lighting fixtures that I chose for the house came from one store or another. If you said to me, "love that light, where'd you get it?" I would be able to tell you exactly where ("Pottery Barn") and how much it cost ("originally $99 & 25% off"). Although, I am happy with all of my purchases that isn't a very exciting story. 

However, one of our light fixtures was a gift and it has a bit of a story to it.

Fun Fact:

Every time we visit H's parent's house his father, my FIL, tries to get us to take something (or a lot of things) from their basement AKA The Storage Hub. Sometimes we decline, other times we rummage around and take one or two items. For instance, the last time we visited The Hub, H ended up with two arms full of records. Yes, he is slowly migrating from preppy to hippie to hipster. It is a slight problem.  At least he is ahhh, well rounded?

Back when we were building the house I had asked my MIL if she had any chandeliers down in The Storage Hub. It's a little bit like asking, "What's in your bag Mary Poppins?". One coat rack and a hand mirror later and you're set. 

She walked me downstairs and pointed to a sealed box. H was anxious to head out, so we scooped it up and drove off, new treasure in tow. It wasn't until Mr. C asked me to rush over my light fixtures for the electrician to install that I finally un-boxed the chandelier. I don't know what I was expecting but, it wasn't exactly "me" nor did it mesh with this modern, city dwelling. It was also too small for the space it was about to be placed but, there was no time (or budget) to go out and find a new one. After all, we had an occupancy permit to obtain!

So, the too small, gold chandelier was hung. No one could deny it was just too teeny for our high vaulted ceilings and large upstairs landing. But, it would do for the time being.

It's a little dingy but, with a little sprucing up it would (will) be quite beautiful. I'd love it in a small bathroom with some new candle slips. 

Now, for the big rod iron twist, about a year ago my MIL went to Paris, as she does almost annually. It was there that she sent me a picture of this chandelier that she found for sale. 

It was hard to identify the size in the picture but, the structure and details were quite becoming. So, as a gift for our new home she purchased it and had it shipped to the good ol U.S. of A. (Note: this is a slowwwww, freight-liner kind of shipping.) So, out of my mind it went.

Long after H and I had moved in, my MIL called and said the French beauty had arrived. I originally thought it would work well in our dining room and would bring a nice casual, pub feel to the built in benches.

But, in person the French chandy is large. Way too large to hang above the dining room table. Plus, I had grown obsessively attached to this light fixture that had already claimed the space as home. 

I knew just where it had to go. 

Vuala!

Here are some pictures to show you the size differences. 

From below. 

 

From the stairs that access the RTD.

Now, we all know that size doesn't really matter (LIE! Sure it does.) but, the Devil is in the details & I love the details of this randy lil chandy: 

The scalloped bobeches. (Surely you know what a bobeche is.)

 

The green rod iron with shimmery gold highlights.

The leaf and floral design that mimic the beautiful outdoors. 

So there you have it. My little lighting story. Oh, and to the future owners of this little abode of ours... I am pretty sure Randy the Chandy is coming with us on our next adventure. #sorrynotsorry

Thank you MIL and FIL, we love our little (BIG) French treasure!

Blinded By The Light

We have lived in our humble abode for 4 months now. I can hardly believe it has been that long.

It took us about 3.5 months until we installed blinds throughout the house. 

It was a slow process. #poorkidproblems

The first (and only) window we covered was the lower level front window. We installed this the first weekend we lived here. Because this is the one that our darling neighbors stroll by and when they occasionally turn the door knob, you know, just to make sure we remembered to lock the door.

Once we heard we were going to have a guest or two coming to stay, we bought a few for the guest bedroom. 

Then recently, we got a wild hair and bought the remaining blinds for our office and our bedroom

Here H is, installing the blinds in our bedroom, the last room to get window coverings. Why wouldn't our room be the first room to get blinds you ponder? We just wanted to make sure we made a good impression on all of our neighbors I suppose. Yup, 3.5 months of unfiltered master bedroom viewing. Quite the impression I imagine. 

We decided to purchase Levolor "wood" blinds in white from Lowes. They had great reviews, seemed to be the most attractive, and fit into our budget. They also come in all different sizes which is lovely because all of our rooms have different sized windows. Why? HIIK

So, we went from showing off our goods to our neighbors. 

To adding a long overdue layer of privacy. Neighbors, you're welcome for both.

Now, we are no longer blinded by the liiighttt. 

"Cut loose like a deuce, another runner in the night..." 

1:19 / 7:18

Tying Up The Loose Ends

It's been a while since I've talked about the house so, you probably think that chapter of this book is closed. But, there are still some loose ends around here that need to be tied up before the house is 100% completed.

We're still having the issue with the power as you read about here. 

We currently have one out of two signatures needed in order for our neighbors to grant us an easement to run the power lines over their property. The problem being that none of the residents in the homes on our side of the street are the owners. So, getting ahold of the property owner is proving quite complicated. Getting them to sign this d*mn piece of paper is even harder. 

What is a priority to us is not to these people. 

Those wires hanging off of the side of our house...

... need to be hooked up to this utility pole.

Once that final signature has been obtained then the local power company, BGE, can come hook up our "for real" power. Currently, we are using some "not for real" power -huh? Yeah, I'm not sure either. All I know is that Mr. C suggested for us not to run every appliance at once while every light is on for an extended period of time.

Some of the other things that needed to be completed include:

• Install our address on the transom above the front door. (so, none of you get lost trying to find our house when you come visit) 

• Install the remaining light fixtures; the bathrooms have temporary lights. This is because our permanent fixtures weren't on site yet and we needed to pass an inspection to live here.

• Ensure Charm City converts our property from 2 to 1. (so we only pay taxes on ONE!)
• Appraisal
• Convert to our permanent loan

Things once happened so quickly around here, now they seem to be moving much slowwwer. We're hoping to be finished with this whole shebang by the end of the month. But, I am losing that faith as this month seems to be flying by. Maybe November will bring us a little luck. 

Regardless, my fingers are crossed that it's soon!


Despite this frustrating last leg of the project, we still love this sweet lil brick row house of ours.