I'm seeing RED!

Do you ever do a project you end up loving, but it takes about fifteen mistakes to get there?  I never do.  Every project I undertake is meticulous planned and perfectly executed.

 

Why are you moving away?  What lightning?

 

When we first looked at the house, this was the eat-in kitchen area, though it's really a part of the living room.  It was the perfect space for the piano, however, and we have tables in the sunroom and the dining room, so we really didn't need one here, too.

 

I knew I wanted a bright chandelier over the piano to keep the living room from being too formal, because a black grand piano is nothing if not formal.

 

 Nice tan trim and wallpaper, along with brown mini-blinds and a very rustic chandelier.

 

I found a chandelier at ReStore that had a really nice chunkiness to it.  What I didn't realize was how heavy it was.  This baby is real, genu-ine, hefty BRASS.  It weighed a TON.  Well, it weighed at least forty pounds, and Handsome Hero had to rig a support for it because I couldn't hold it while he was connecting the wires.

 

 

I am a big fan of the round bulbs over the candle-flame style.  Last time I painted a chandelier, I used the opaque bulbs, but I thought the white with the red would look a little childish, says the woman who is trying to convince her husband to go without kids to Disney for their tenth anniversary.

I had always planned on covering the chain with a cord cover, but life happened.  It does that sometimes.  It sat like this for a bit, waiting for me to put clothes on it.  I had the material and some velcro, but then inspiration struck!  I could use hymnal pages to make a cord cover!  It would be novel!  It would be new!  It would be something no one had ever seen!  It would be PINNABLE!

I started in on the coolest chandelier cord cover ever created.

After I finished, I stepped back.  I looked at it.  I gazed at it.  I pondered what was wrong. 

And then it came to me.

My chain was fat.  Fat is not lovely on my thighs, and it is not lovely in chandelier chains.

No problem!  I just scrunched the paper close to the chain.  It was going to be awesome.  I then put gray ribbon at the top and bottom for added interest.

And...it looked like garbage.  Literal garbage.  Worse, it looked like garbage with duct tape holding it in place.

Hmmmm.  Maybe the ribbon was a good idea.  Not as original, perhaps, but it couldn't look worse.  Unfortunately, I didn't have enough of any one color, so I decided to do stripes with what I had.  I wound the ribbon over the garbage hymnal pages so that it wouldn't go from too fat to too skinny.

I told myself that this was "ombre," but even in my mind I put quotes around it. 

Even though this didn't work, I thought I might be on to something with the ribbon.  The next time I was at Joann's, I got a pretty gray ribbon.  This time I took the paper off, too. 

I love it.  It's subtle, but has a sheen, and I actually really like how the chain's shape shows through underneath.  Who knew form-fitting was the way to go?

Now, you all know I stink at taking pictures.  I took these this morning.  It was light outside! 

See?  I don't like using flash much, but when I didn't, everything got lost.  Someone want to teach me about this stuff?  Anyone?  Are you still reading?

And another shot all lit up.  Hopefully you can see past my bad photography to the cool chain cover.

Whoa!  I might need to straighten those....

I still think I might replace the white tubes  - they are "singed" at the top to look like candles and I think bright white would look better.  I also need to touch up the paint in several places.  It took a beating when Handsome Hero was hanging it.


Update on Nate: 

1. Nate caught an ear infection last week and lost about eight ounces.  He hasn't gained it back, but he hasn't lost more, either. 
2. We have sought a second opinion through another GI doctor, and will see him again soon after he has a chance to check Nate's records and investigate some. 
3. We were hoping to potentially place a N.G. tube {runs through the nose to the stomach} and see if there is a difference in Gater's desire to eat if his stomach receives the food and he learns to recognize the "full" feeling, but this new doctor thinks we need to wait.  He says that it is more important to investigate how a baby can be on a feeding tube, being fed for twelve hours a day for a month, and not gain weight. 
4. We agree.  It would be nice to find that out.  But can't we do both?
5. He still won't eat anything - only nurse.
6. For some reason, he does not like nursing right now.  It upsets him.  I had him checked to see if his ear infection had come back, but it hadn't and the pediatrician could find no reason for him to be suddenly fussy.  I'm nursing in a separate room, in as quiet and soothing an ambiance as I can create, but it is hard to get a full feeding out of him right now.
7. I had a dear friend write me after my last post, reminding me to find joy, not in spite of, but because of our circumstances.  I started to recognize the true blessing it is that I have a snuggly baby for far longer than most moms.  I have the opportunity to enjoy this usually-over-way-too-fast phase with the child that, unless the Lord intervenes, will be our last baby.  It is a treat that most moms would give their left pinky toe for.  There are other reasons to be joyful, wonderful reasons, but, oooh, the snuggliness.  I could snuggle that boy all day.  And I do.