Bits and Pieces - SoMoToHo Stream of Consciousness on Lights and Fans

I was looking at this painting by Tate Hamilton that we picked up at Main Street this year and the headlights reflected in the New York City rain made me start thinking about light. Which made me think about light fixtures. Which led to thinking about ceiling fans. Hey – it’s Sunday afternoon as I write and what are Sundays for if not abandoning structure for awhile?

Lighting plays a big part in virtually every real estate transformation and the SoMoToHo is no exception. When we first bought the home, there was a dinky little brass fixture on the front of the house.We hadn’t really thought through the direction we wanted to go but we knew that this puny light had to go. So we got this one.Bigger, right? Better, right? Well, sort of. It didn’t take long until we realized that it just didn’t fit with our vision. It would have been fine, if we had decided to emphasize the traditional rather than the modern elements of the SoMoToHo. We thought about painting it black (it wasn’t exactly cheap, so we wanted to use it if we could) but you know what they say about putting lipstick on a pig. So we changed it for this one.Yes, indeed. Much more in keeping with the theme (try to ignore the tawdry little fake-brass fixture above the garage; it’s leaving as soon as we find a suitable replacement). And besides, it’s a really cool fixture. As you can see in the next pic, the shade is seeded glass.Thinking about this light fixture made me think about the one in the master down (remember – the SoMoToHo has 2 masters, one down, one up). We inherited this fan/light fixture:

While this thing might have been fashionable in 1985, now it’s just hideous. From the first, Debra had a boho-chic vision for the master down. So we axed the pink fan and installed a chandelier that fit the bill perfectly. Here are shots with the lights on and off:The beads hanging from the weathered zinc hoops are whitewashed wood – seriously funky and seriously cool. This room is nearly finished and I’ll probably dedicate a post to it soon.

Another fan that was dated and worn was in the family room. While we’re not shying away from mixed metals, shiny brass probably won’t be among the assortment. I found a sleek, modern fan (no light kit because there are plenty of pot lights in the ceiling of this room) online at Lamps Plus. While installing it, I encountered what turned out to be ubiquitous in this house – the electrician who wired this place used nails rather than screws to affix the boxes to the ceiling joists. Here is a shot of the box:Even the most expertly installed and balanced ceiling fan is going to wobble at least a little. Nails will eventually pull out. Screws don’t. Luckily, there was enough joist available for me to reinforce the box attachment with screws, as you can see. Here is a close-up showing how the nails had loosened over the years:And here is the new, satin-nickel fan in the family room:I don’t have a decent shot of the original fans in the office and boys’ room but I know that you’ve seen the type before – white blades with gold-stenciled curlicues on them and frilly shades on the bright brass light kit. Just cringe-worthy. Since the two rooms sit next to one another and will both fit into the category of “extra bedroom” when we get ready to sell, we decided to put the same fan and light in both. This is it: