Kitchen lighting

So, ever since our kitchen was largely completed (trim, touchups, etc, still waiting my tender ministrations, but otherwise); the one thing that’s remained a bit of a… well… it’s just untouched, really, is the ceiling lights.

Two bare compact fluorescents dangle down from our ceiling, hanging on bare pendant lamp holders. Above the table a rather nice 1940′s enamel shade shines light upon our table, but at the end of the room we use the most, it’s somewhat utilitarian. Not for want of looking nor hoping, but this vague notion of some sort of multi-light – hanging on bare wood – using fabric covered cable kind of affair had stuck in my head. I had an idea about what I wanted, but wasn’t able to find anything that particularly fitted the bill. I looked around our local wood recycling place, and still wasn’t able to come up with the things I wanted.

Finally, whilst we were in camping on the shore of a (man made) lake in France, on the beach was a ton of drift wood. Literally, you couldn’t walk on the beach itself by our tent because it was covered in such a depth of drift wood.

After poking around in the piles for a while I came away with two chunks that I felt could hang happily from our ceiling and the idea resolved itself further. Discussing it more with Kathryn it was refined, and refined, and now we’re accruing the bits to make it. I’ve just ordered a small pile of lamp holders (chrome) and cord grips (black) because our local electrical store doesn’t stock chrome BC lamp holders.

I ordered several metres of orange triple core fabric covered cable, it’s sat on the bench with the wood now. I also ordered 50m of ultra thin stainless steel wire. Not because I need 50m, but because that’s what it comes in. I’ve got a length of chrome pole, and chrome fixings to go with it. The whole thing is really quite exiting. The idea of finally having the kitchen finished is also quite exciting, but there’s stil the trim to deal with in here, and a couple of patches of filler on the wall.

Anyhow, when the bits are all here, I’ll pop it together and then you can see the atrocity that leaps from my imagination. Until then, you’ll just have to wait :)

Originally published at Kates Journal. You can comment here or there.

Jobs (aka ‘the list’)

Seeing as Sarah has posted her jobs list, and I was looking at it and thinking, that might be useful for me to do; here’s the jobs, by room:

Bedroom 1:
Done

Bedroom 2 (AKA Library / AKA my office):
Empty out boxes
Finish mosaic / faux encaustic tiles on walls by radiator
Repaint area where roof leaked
Panel missing section on front of bookcase
Make bedframe look a bit nicer (somehow)

Bedroom 3
Fill/cover artex
Repair loose plaster
Do ‘something’ with the ventilation grille
Screw sockets to the wall (buy screws as they seem to have gone missing)
Fill/prep walls
Prep & paint walls
Prep & paint trim

Bathroom
Prep/paint door and door surround

Stairs/Hall
Sand/fill/Sand/seal hardboard covering under stairs
Attach trim to doorframe.
Prep/paint trim
Plane door so that it fits properly
Fix ‘phone to wall
Mount hanging rail under stairs
Try and come up with more storage in the cupboard under the stairs – Caulk under new shelves
Box in electricity meter and fuse box
Put coat hook tree on the wall and work out what we’re doing with it (paint/varnish/something)

Lounge
Finish last 6″ of sealant by door

Kitchen
Lighting
Touch up walls
Fix bench together
Prep/paint trim
Correct sink position (slightly too low one end) and finish mortar off at top level of pillar
Paint sink pillars (white)
Make tile wall panels to go between sink and cabinets and fix
Clean window frame (plaster on frame)
Replace three broken tiles on kitchen floor (after *)
Come up with some cunning solution to cover the wire running to the wall sockets.

Garden
Lay paths
Finish building pond
Build deck – surface completed as of October ’13
Lots and lots of planting / weeding
Put door-stop strip on gate post to stop it swinging so wildly

Laundry / Store
Tile floor
Paint wall
Stop door from leaking

Entryway
Build shelves for recycling boxes so they’re not just in a heap on the floor
Added 10/9/13 – Install lampshade

Garage
Security Lighting
Some more shelving
And more shelving
Wire car-charger to only charge on cheap rate

Other:
Reupholster chaise
* Get under the floor and fix the tiny bit of movement between the hall and kitchen floors which has caused the tiles to break
Insulate under the house
Replace broken chimney pot
Repair render / paint back wall

Oh lord… There I was thinking I was nearly done.

Originally published at Mostly lemon based. You can comment here or there.