New Year, New Ideas

When we moved into our house, this 80's style "Hollywood" light fixture, was on the CEILING over the bar in our kitchen! It looked quite silly and out of place. Since our renovations are being done on a shoestring, I had Jeff move the fixture to the main bath. It had a fluorescent light strip that was no longer working. It's not a light I would pick out, it will have to do for now.

In the kitchen, he hung track lighting that we had bought for the kitchen in the log cabin. It was a big improvement.

Of course one thing always leads to another. Once the track light was up, we started talking about pendant lights. Jeff knew right away he could make shades from porcelain.

Here is his first prototype:

On the next round he plans to have the carving consistently thinner, so that it is more translucent from top to bottom. This style pendant can hang from our track. We will just remove the small spot lights, and hang three pendants. Ideally, I would like them hard wired individually, but this works for us right now, and it's affordable.
These would look great glazed in celadon, but that might clash with our aqua wall. I think we might stick with the white.

Jeff's plan is to add these shades to his line of work and be ready to offer them at the League of NH Craftsmen's Fair in August. It won't be long before we will be doing the home show circuit with vessel sinks and lighting, and foregoing the craft shows!

Flashback to the 60's!

 Lot's of my friends have been asking when they will see interior photos of our new home. First of all, it's been empty for 2+ years, and prior to that was a rental. It needs a thorough scrubbing from top to bottom, along with some new paint. I didn't want anyone to see photos until some of that work was completed.

 This is our main bath... don't you love that retro green?! The porcelain and tile cleaned up pretty well and we will live with it until we can get new vanities. I think I know someone who can make me a vessel sink. The master bath is a lovely pink, or perhaps we will call it salmon.

Can you believe the original cooktop is still there... and it works?! Today I scrubbed most of the grub off of it. A little polish, new drip pans, knobs, and we are good to go. The wall oven is not original. It's a newer model with a black front. While searching for cooktop parts online, I became engrossed with all the websites devoted to retro kitchens and baths. Around the time this house was built (1961) pink kitchens were very trendy. I like to think it explains why the interior of our cabinets are painted pink. Perhaps the Mrs. wanted a pink kitchen but the Mr. said no. I like to imagine that the pink interiors were a compromise!

The dining room needed the least amount of work. I cleaned the wood work, shampooed the carpet, and already moved some pottery into the china cabinet. Luckily, both Jeff and I think that the cherry blossom wallpaper mural is pretty cool. We are going to leave it for awhile. Jeff is going to make stoneware knobs and pulls for both the china cabinet and the kitchen. The kitchen cabinets need to be stripped and painted. When it's done I'll post a before and after photo. The before photo on it's own is too scary.

***Celebration of Spring Studio Tour Update***
Day two of the studio tour was very rainy, but the people still came and bought pottery. It was the best Spring studio tour yet. Even though we sold LOTS of pots, we still have some nice ones left. We plan to stay open throughout our move. Come to Seagrove, buy some pots, and we will have less to move. If you can't come to Seagrove, our Etsy shops are open 24-7. The goal is for our new gallery will be ready by mid-June.