Conjuring Home: July 2012

Seeing the house take on the hues we've envisioned is a thrill! Painting is going slower than I had expected but should be done early next week. Then in goes the floor!

We have purchased several of our lighting fixtures but need to move fast for the rest. In keeping our feet grounded in the reality that we have a Cape and not a Craftsman home, our trim is all white, and our hardware (door hinges and knobs) will be brushed nickel. So that's the finish we've chosen for the three overhead lights we've purchased. The natural maple kitchen will have a medium green ("Green Mountain") Richlite counter. I am looking for some pretty art glass pendants for over the island, and we're unsure about the chandelier over the dining table.

The kitchen hardware (knobs and pulls) are not yet determined. If we go with metal (rather than recycled glass, which I'd love to get from Seattle-based woman-owned business Spectra if it weren't made-for-you expensive), it, too will be brushed nickel.

That means we can't pull off bronze in the sconces, which will be at either end of the back wall and also next to the piano and on the mini wall behind the kitchen. But bronze are the ones we like the best, the Kara from Quoizel. We're having a hard time picking something that is not too traditional, not too contemporary, not too detailed with stuff we don't like, and not too small for a tall room. Here are two of our top contenders for shape, if not for them being bronze and bordeaux finish