Light it Up

We tend to move our light fixtures around a lot! We had two other modern chandeliers that we had installed in the dining room for a period of time before settling on an antique one. The chandelier that we now have in the dining room was originally in living room, as I had mentioned in a previous post. David thought this chandelier was too fancy for our living room, but felt it would be better suited in our more formal dining room.

Modern Chandelier we had up in the Dining Room for a while.

The biggest lighting challenge has not been finding antique chandeliers (as we found several cool ones) but has been finding glass shades for our chandeliers. We went everywhere in pursuit of shades. We checked out antique stores, Wilson's Lighting in Towson and looked on eBay as recommended by Jill from the HouseLove blog. The problem with antique stores, is that they don't usually have a set of four matching shades. Wilson's Lighting and eBay did not have what we were looking for. We wanted ones with some color in them and that were unique looking.

Chandelier without any shades.

David purchased some basic shades from Lowe's to try out on the chandelier. Not long after he put these shades on, I was sitting at the dining room table, when all of the sudden I noticed a string coming down from the ceiling. I thought for sure it was a spider web and went to investigate! Then I saw this liquid oozing from the chandelier. I realized it was hot glue! David had used hot glue to attached the glass shade to the chandelier and the heat from the bulbs was melting the glue. #Handymanhubbyproblems. Those shades weren't going to work! But the good thing is that I didn't like those glass shades anyway.



We eventally found permanent shades just a couple of weeks ago. We ended up buying two brass sconces from Second Chance just for the glass shades. This was probably cheaper than buying glass shades alone at most stores. The sconces each came with three shades, so now we have 2 extras in case any break.  Although these don't have any color to them, we liked the rippled style.

Sconces from Second Chance.

Shades installed.

  
We had to put up the chandelier and take it down a few times because David decided to rewire it. He used his new electrician skills to replace the ratty old wires with new ones. We installed a medallion so that it would match the living room chandelier. Reminder: put the medallion on first! We accidentally installed the chandelier without the medallion and then had to take it down and do it all over again. I usually hold up the chandelier while David connects the wires, and my arms get tired, so it's best to do it right the first time!

Glass shades and medallion installed.

David also installed a motion sensor light switch for our dining room. This allows us to not have to worry about turning the light on or off when we walked in and out of our dining room. We had been using it without issues with one of the modern chandeliers, but when the antique chandelier was installed, it was not working. We thought that maybe the old chandelier just wouldn't be able to handle it, but after some troubleshooting, David finally got it working! The chandelier has a light switch for each light bulb, so we had to make sure each one was switched on and had a bulb in it for the motion sensor to work. We got some low wattage bulbs so it wouldn't be too bright.

So now we have our chandelier and glass shades installed and working properly. I'm thinking we will keep this in place for many years to come, but I guess you never know...

Repurposing Furniture

Currently, some of our projects in the dining room still need some finishing touches, so today, I am going to talk about furnishing the room with all secondhand items. We lucked out and had some good craigslist finds and even got a few pieces for free. I tend to prefer new things over used things, but when it comes to furniture, I do like older pieces.

We bought a french dresser from craigslist for only $75 and the person even delivered it to us. Now we use it as a buffet to store some kitchen appliances. It has that antique look to it, although I'm not sure how old it actually is. I wouldn't have thought to put a dresser in a dining room, but essentially, it's not that different from a buffet or credenza, and this way it was a lot cheaper! We had to change the hardware in the smaller middle drawers because it had porcelain knobs that did not go. Our plan is to stain or paint it so that it blends better with the other furniture in the dining room, but we haven't decided on a color yet. I think it's a beautiful piece and it's a shame to paint over the wood, but in its current state, it does not go.  It also came with a matching mirror but we have not decided where to put it.

Buffet

David got a faux fireplace before I moved in. My mom was getting rid of it so he decided to take it. One thing our old home is lacking is a real fireplace, but this piece at least gives the look. You can even burn gel fuel to create a fire. We actually used it when our heat went out and it provided a little warmth. David painted the fireplace white so that it would stand out nicely from the wall.

Faux fireplace

We bought this gilded mirror from craigslist to add some decoration. This is a throw back to the Victorian style and kicks our formal dining room up a notch.

Gilded mirror.

This Secretary Desk we found on the curb outside for free. We call this "The Vortex" when items are placed outside in the city because they disappear very quickly. We decline most vortex finds, but this was a nice score. The desk was a cherry red, but David stained it so that it would match with our dining room table.

Vortex secretary desk.

Our Dining Room table we bought off of a friend of David's that was moving out of the country. We were able to get this Crate and Barrel table with four chairs for a fraction of the price. We also bought the area rug from the same friend. The rug matched well in the dining room when the walls were red, but now that they are blue, we are not sure we will keep the rug in this room. These two pieces are the only modern furniture in the room.

Dining room table and area rug.

David topped the radiator with a piece of reclaimed wood. This hides the radiator a bit but is practical because it creates a shelf. 

Radiator made into a shelf.

Although we still may make some changes to our dining room furniture, it is coming together nicely. Our thrifty ways prove that old "antique" furniture does not have to be expensive, you just have to have patience to gather the pieces over time! Also, you may have to paint or stain them so you don't have too much of a mishmash of different color woods.

Replicating a Room from a Castle in Our Rowhouse

The inspiration for our dining room came from a room in the Edinburgh Castle that we visited during our honeymoon. Although this room is much more grand, we wanted to create our own formal dining room based on this design. We liked the elaborate ceiling with the paneling. Of course such an ornate ceiling would not fit in our rowhouse, but we decided that a detailed molding would achieve the look we wanted without going overboard. So the Handyman Hubby got to work!

Room in the Edinburgh Castle.

David picked out some dental molding from Lowe's. This molding has some grooves in it. It kind of looks like teeth, hence the name.

 

Before paneling, molding and painting.

Dental Molding

David cut the molding using a circular saw; he already had experience from putting up the crown molding in the living room, so now he was a pro at making the 45 degree cuts. He installed the molding over the panels before the walls were painted and attached it to the wall with a nail gun.

Molding went over the panels.

David painted the wall before painting the molding.

There were lots of issues with the crown molding looking crooked. David installed the molding straight on the wall, but had to fill gaps in with scrap wood and then plaster because the ceiling and wall aren't even all the way across. In some areas, the plaster is noticeable, but it is better for it to look straight on the wall. David painted the plaster and molding with ceiling paint to help blend it in. It is not perfect, but looks good considering how old our house is.

Wood scraps filling the gaps.

Gaps filled in with plaster.

David also removed the old base board and installed a 6 inch wide base board. Although I was concerned at first that this would make the room look smaller, it actually has the opposite effect and makes the room look taller.

To match the living room, David changed the window trim to the corner rosettes and fluted molding.

I like that the crown molding and base board is different from the living room. I don't think the dental molding would fit in every room, but it looks nice in the dining room. It complements the wood paneling and makes the room more elegant. And like that, we have our own formal room fit for the king and queen of the house...and the squire! Now if only we could add grand fireplace we'd be set.

Making Plywood into Wood Paneling

Our dining room has gone through a couple of different transformations. David always seems to be working on it around the holidays because he gets some time off of work.

Dining Room circa 2013.

I can barely remember it looking like this.

Last year, David painted the dining room a deep red. But after living with it for about a year, he decided he didn't really like it. He wanted to make the room more formal by adding some wood paneling to two of the walls. We agreed to paint it a shade of blue that was a Victorian color. So this year, between Christmas and New Years he was remodeling the dining room again. 

Dining Room circa 2014.

The first day David was supposed to work on it, I came home from work and hardly anything was done. Everything in the dining room was pushed to the side and cluttered with tools so we couldn't really use the room. This made me apprehensive because I didn't think we would have our dining room back for quite some time! Luckily, David picked up the pace it only took two days after that to put up the paneling and most of the crown molding and paint the room. Although there were more finishing touches that needed to be done, we were able to use the room again after that. 

Deciding on the color.

David added panels using plywood. He purchased a 1/4 inch thick piece of plywood that was 4' x 8' for $12. Home Depot cut it in 6 inches pieces but would not cut it any smaller than that. They said it was unsafe to cut it smaller with their saw, so David had to do the dangerous cutting at home. He cut the 6 inch pieces in half with a table saw to create the 3 inch wide paneling. You can purchase the paneling already pre-cut but it's much more expensive and the Handyman Hubby doesn't take short cuts.

Adding the bordering vertical panel.

Paneling goes to edge of door frame and wall..

Creating a box pattern.

He divided the width of the wall by four and the height by three and created a 4 x 3 box pattern on the longer wall. The boxes are not perfect squares, but it looks evenly spaced on the wall. He used a nail gun to secure the panels to the wall. David used a level to keep all of the panels straight, but sometimes when you make things level it looks crooked to the eye because our house isn't level. So David made some tweaks so that the boxes would look straight even though they might be slightly off.

4 x 3 boxes.

One of our walls in our dining room has a section of wall that sticks out in the middle because there are pipes behind it. We put a fake removable fireplace on this wall. David created one box on each side of the section by width and three boxes height.

For now the section of wall that sticks out has no paneling because we knew we wanted to added sconces and weren't sure what pattern we wanted. David may add a design later on. 

Finished Paneling

David used a brush rather than a roller to paint the walls and paneling so that the grain of the wood would be more apparent. He wanted a darker blue and I wanted a lighter blue, so we settled in the middle. The paneling adds more dimension to the dining room and makes it a little fancier. David added crown-molding before painting, but I will discuss that more in another post.

You can see the grain of the wood a bit.

And that's how you use a $12 piece of plywood to transform a room. Below is a time lapse video of some of the work. The paneling wasn't very difficult and changes the look of the room a lot!

Notice Stevie and I standing by while David does the work!

The Living Room Is Finished

The Living Room is finished! Well, for now...there are a few more things on our list for later down the road, but for the time being we are content with it.

To complete the look, David mounted our TV and got rid of the entertainment center that he had originally purchased in the as-is section at IKEA. This made the room look a lot more open and minimalistic. David put our cable box in the basement and drilled a hole through the floor so the HDMI cable can connect to it. He hid the wire behind wire covers so that we didn't have distracting cords hanging out everywhere. Then he painted the cover to match the wall and radiator so they blend in. This gives it a nice clean look.

TV mounted. Reclaimed wood shelf. Installed transom and crown molding.

We purchased a decent couch from Macy's and got canvas prints of some of our honeymoon pictures (and one from our trip to Ecuador). I still want to make some changes to the other posters we have up in the living room because I think they are a little masculine, but one step at a time.

Exposed brick wall. Antique chandelier installed.

Here are some pictures of our house before much work was done (and before I lived there).

Before brick wall was exposed.

Before crown molding, door trim and transom were completed.

Projects completed:

• Exposed brick wall
• Installed transom and upgraded door trim
• Installed crown molding, window trim and shutters
• Added storage drawers under stairs
• Created some handmade reclaimed wood furniture
• Added antique lamps and chandelier

Here are some more pictures of the room finished.

Storage under the stairs.

New door trim and window trim. See if you can spot the Handyman Hubby.

Possible future projects:

• Lower the door
• Replace transom with antique stain glass transom
• Restore original hardwood floor

It's nice to have one room in the house that is complete. Now on to the Dining Room...

Everything is Illuminated

After visiting several antique stores, David and I became a little obsessed with antique lights and chandeliers...

It started out because we needed a floor lamp for our living room. We couldn't find any modern ones we liked in the store. On David's birthday, we stopped by some antique shops in Cockeysville to browse. Unfortunately, a lot of the stores have gone out of business, but there are still a few that are operating. We found a brass floor lamp that we both liked as well as an old kerosene lamp at American Pastimes. The kerosene lamp had been rewired to be electric. We were able to bargain the price down since we were buying both.

Brass Floor Lamp.

Kerosene Lamp.

The kerosene lamp came with a clear glass chimney shade, but we changed it out for a frosted chimney shade to dim the light a bit.

Frosted glass chimney shade.

These first two lights, were the start of the obsession. The thing about antique shops is that they tend to have a lot of nicknacks that just clutter up your house. But it's fun when you can find something old and authentic that has practical use such as a light or furniture and be able to integrate into your home.


Originally David installed a ceiling fan in the living room, but then decided it wasn't practical downstairs and would be better used in our bedroom. So we though maybe we could find a cool antique chandelier to install to make the room look more elegant and vintage.

Ceiling Fan we had in the living room.

David texted me one day a picture of a chandelier from Second Chance. I like it and he was able to negotiate the price, so we purchased it.

Chandelier from Second Chance

David installed the chandelier in our living room. We needed to find some glass shades to add to it so the light wouldn't be so bright. I liked the chandelier just fine, but David felt it was too fancy for our more casual living room. He thought it would look better in the dining room, which he had plans to make more formal.

Chandelier Installed in Our House.

So then we went in search of a less formal chandelier to go in the living room. We decided to hit up Antique Row in Mount Vernon in pursuit of a vintage chandelier that was not too pricey.

We found one we liked in Connoisseur's Connection and it's price was not bad. It was not hooked up to electricity, so we weren't 100% sure it would work. Then we went next door to Weber's Antiques and found another chandelier that David really liked.  So we were torn between the two. After about two weeks of debating we went back and ended up buying both!

Chandelier we bought from Weber's Antiques.

Chandelier from Connoisseur's Connection installed in our living room.

David had no problem hooking up the chandelier from Connoisseur's Connection in the living room. This chandelier is my favorite because it has beautiful detail! It was actual the cheapest of all three and came with two glass shades. The owner of the shop said it was originally from 1875 and came from a house in Mount Vernon. My favorite feature is the gas keys at the bottom that were originally used to turn on the gas so the chandelier would illuminate. David installed a medallion on the top. Medallions were used to catch the smoke from the gas chandeliers back in the day. It was easier to repaint or replace the medallion rather than the ceiling.

Now every light on our first floor (except for the bathroom) is an antique. All of these light fixtures have unique detail and salute the turn of the century when the world was switching from gas to electricity, which happens to be the same time period when our house was built.