Looks like I’ve once again been wrangled into one of Sherry’s schemes. This time it’s her “Dude, Get On That Already” challenge (apparently the “dude” applies to me also) where she’s trying to actually do something with some of the items that we’ve been collecting hoarding in our spare room. It’s a use it or lose it challenge if you will (well, more like a use it or donate/craigslist it challenge). This week’s victim: the light fixture that we rescued from a thrift store in Delaware nearly an entire year ago for a mere $19. That guy just sat on the floor of the playroom since then, and it was high time we actually allowed him to do the whole illumination thing again.
He’s made of some sort of resin and basically looks like a big glowing ball of clear spaghetti… but in a cool, kinda ’70s way. Update: we’ve learned form a savvy reader that it’s actually called a spaghetti lamp and it’s made out of spun lucite. Our plans back in Feb 2011 were to ORB the gold finish and hang it in our master bathroom nook. Fast-forward to now and the plan has shifted slightly. Instead, we’ve given him a new home in our closet.
The closet seemed to be the better choice because (1) the bathroom nook is visible from the bedroom and we figured this big round fixture might compete visually with the other big round fixture in the room. And (2) the bare bulb in the closet was Yawn City.
Ahh, much better:
We got on that! Oh happy day! Gotta love using what you have and upgrading a naked old ceiling bulb. We’ll dive into more light-related details in a second, but there were some other closet happenings that went on as well…
When you last saw our closet a few months after we moved in April, it was looking mighty clean and organized.
These days, well, let’s just say it had gotten a bit derailed thanks to a certain chihuahua we all know and love.
It’s actually unfair to place the blame solely on Burger. Sure moving his crate into our closet from the playroom closet meant our laundry basket got displaced from it’s nice little nook. But Clara was actually the main reason for the move. We too often found her playing with Burger’s food, water, and crate – much to Burger’s dismay – so we decided to tuck it away in our room where she doesn’t go that often. For some reason Burger enjoys small spaces, so he feels most comfortable with his crate and even his food/water tucked away in a closet or nook (it’s just dry food, so there’s not any odor and we thankfully don’t have any ants/pests that bother it). So after a year of nook deliberating we declared our closet: The Best Nook For The Job.
To make a long story long, even though this project started because of a light – we couldn’t ignore the other less-than-satisfactory situations going on in here too. And fortunately there was an easy answer. See how much spare room I’ve got on my side of the closet?
Unlike the lady wife, I don’t use my entire shoe rack left here by the previous owners. Yes, I know, I’m such a typical guy – I have one pair of brown shoes and one pair of black shoes and my flip flops and sneakers live in our shoe bins by the door. Meanwhile, on the other side of the closet, Sherry has enough shoes for the both of us. Not that I wear hers. I actually don’t think I could walk in any of them.
So after a bit of couple’s brainstorming (aka: Sherry encouraging me to allow Burger’s crate to pilfer some floor space from my side), I plucked out my shoe rack. And after completing the exhausting task of removing both pairs of shoes from it (sheesh, talk about backbreaking DIY) we got down to business.
Sherry pried it apart and I cut down the two long shelves by about 14 inches and…
…we nailed it back together, thereby creating a John-shoe-collection-sized rack.
And the smaller rack made space for Burger’s crate in the corner. So we’re glad we got on that. Why it took us 13 months of living here, I’m not sure.
But you know what, I really should let Burger give you the tour – since it’s kinda his domain. And yes, this means this post is about to be pretend narrated by a dog.
“Welcome to my bedroom people of the Internet!”
“Here you will find that my crate has been replaced by a clothing receptacle. Apparently my family finds it more important to have their dirty clothes closer to them than their beloved canine.”
“But that’s okay, because now I get more privacy back here in my master suite. Hello? Do you see me here in the back giving you the peeper?”
“Conveniently located next to my sleeping chambers are the dining facilities. Why thank you for asking – yes, I do live the life.”
“Speaking of my delicious cuisine, allow me to indulge myself for a moment.”
“Actually, I’d much prefer my culinary assistant to hand feed me right now. Oh tiny human! Come hither!”
Okay, tour’s over. It’s John again. That Burger’s feisty, isn’t he? Anyways, you can see above what we mean when we say that Clara likes to get into his food (don’t mind the sticker covered monkey/sock/floor). It’s not the worst thing that she likes to feed Burger his food piece by piece… if only she didn’t feel the need to swirl each piece around in his water dish first. She gets her strange-ness from her mother I think.
Anyways, this post was supposed to be about a light, right? Sidetracked much? Back to that…
Installation was pretty easy. We cut the plug/cord off and exposed the wires to make it hardwire-able. Then we picked up a kit at Home Depot that would allow us to attach the chain to a crossbar (though we had to hunt down a canopy at a specialty lighting store that would fit). We left everything gold because we figured since it was in the closet it didn’t have to match the other fixtures in the room, and we kinda dig the retro gold look for the closet. We can always paint it down the line if we get “the bug” but for now we like him just the way he is.
The room isn’t really this dark with the light on, I just turned down the exposure on the camera so you can see the texture of the light a bit better. And these pics don’t even do it justice. It’s super cool looking when it’s on. Sherry actually wants to make a video since she says it’s so much better in “real life” so you have that excitement to potentially look forward to…
One of the coolest parts are the little streaks of light it casts all over the wall and ceiling. Like little party streamers or something. We almost feel like we should have installed some mechanism to make it rotate like a disco ball. Okay, not really. But that could’ve been fun…
It’s kind of a shame that the light spent nearly 12 months in a pile in our playroom. But at least it’s hanging up in all of its glory now! Oh and as for how we figured out the right height for it, I just stood under it as Sherry hung it at different heights and we picked one that gave me a little room – so it hangs around 6’4″ from the floor (our ceilings are 8′ high).
Oh, and if you’re at all curious as to what happened to all of the excess chain that we didn’t use (it had like 8 feet for swagging) – you can see Clara get her Jersey on with it over at Young House Life today. And yes there’s a video. And fist pumping. Predictably, I’m mortified and Sherry’s elated.
So did any of you guys cross something off your “Dude, Get On That Already” list this week? Did you reorganize a closet or otherwise rope your husband into a challenge? How about ghost writing a blog post for a chihuahua? Just me?
Jenny A. says
Ha ha – for some reason when I was reading Burger’s narration, I gave him a posh British accent in my head.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- I totally do that! He either has a Queen Of England accent or a bored teenager voice in my head.
xo,
s
Leigh Anne says
Like Stewie Griffin on Family Guy!!
YoungHouseLove says
Hahaha.
xo,
s
Lakshmi says
Sue the napkin was on Rachel Ray this morning! I almost jumped up like I’d just seen my favorite celebrity. What an exciting day off for me haha.
YoungHouseLove says
Wahooooo! Go Sue!
xo,
s
Pamela @ Pink Hammers & Sippy Cups says
That light fixture looks super cool! I love the squiggles! And omg I love your burger blogging hahaha.
Liz F. says
I nearly spit-took my coffee at “She gets her strangeness from her mother, I think.” On a more serious note, love that fixture and LOVE jazzed-up closets. Only question: while the fixture is high enough for you (John) not to hit your head on it, what about lifting items onto the high shelves? Do you feel like you have sufficient room for that?
YoungHouseLove says
Since it’s in the middle of the closet and we don’t stand under it to lift things up and down from shelves (we’d be too far away from them if we were standing in the middle of the room, so we stand to the side of it to do that) it’s all good!
-John
Nancy Powell says
Great light in the closet! Love Burger’s tour :)
Nancy
PowellBrower.com
Jimmy says
I got two things checked off my “Dude, Get On That Already” list: 1) Finally started the blog I’ve been plotting for a year or so (and I’m actually keeping up with it!), and 2) I finally finished building a closet in our tiny apartment’s front hallway (and then blogged about it). That also took about a year – the building part, not the blogging part. But it is done! Finally!
I’ve got a few light fixtures that need installing this weekend. One of them even has a chain involved. I’ve been balking at them mostly because I hadn’t figured out exactly how I wanted to cover the surrounding hole in the ceiling. Thanks for this – I’m feeling inspired to tackle it this weekend!
YoungHouseLove says
Wahoo- congrats!
xo,
s
Debby says
I’m almost positive that we owned a light like that in the 70’s. I would have never thought of putting it in a closet, but I love the idea. I guess I always would have thought of it as a swag (which I don’t like anymore at all). Love the way you made the chain shorter. Turns out really cool. Sure wish I remembered what we paid for it back in the 70’s. Course ours is long gone now — who knows — maybe you found our old light fixture. LOL
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- it was in a thrift store in Rehoboth Delaware, so ya never know!
xo,
s
Marla says
Fun light!
At least Clara isn’t eating Burger’s food, or does she? Yup, I was that kid. Gross!
YoungHouseLove says
Hah- thank goodness she doesn’t!
xo,
s
Jessica F. says
It wasn’t this week but last week during Seattle’s mini snow storm, I finally went through my collection of recipes. The stack of “done” was about 1/16th size of the “to make” stack. And some of the recipes in the “to make” stack, I have no idea why I saved! How I would ever think a recipe with chicken, red onion, 4 tablespoons of cinnamon and tomatoes taste good I have no idea. Needless to say I feel 1,000 times better it’s done now! Dude!!! I finally got it done! :D
YoungHouseLove says
Yesssss!
xo,
s
SherriEakin says
And now in my mind Burger has a foreign accent and he acts as your personal stylist. “Oh John, you simply MUST update your shoe collection!”
YoungHouseLove says
Bwaahahaha.
xo,
s
Randa says
Favorite lines of this post:
“Oh tiny human! Come hither!”
and
“She gets her strange-ness from her mother I think.”
That Burger must get his feistiness from his father. :)
Joy says
Love this post! We are in the process of completely renovating our master suite and I was like “get on that already” – check! We finally painted the master bath last night. “reorganize closet” – check! Today my husband and I are going to get our new closet from Ikea. I think that also qualifies for “rope your husband into a challenge”. :) I am so excited to finally organize my clothes… piles on the floor/dresser/desk/chair are really getting old. Tell Burger I loved his tour.
Katy @ The Non-Consumer Advocate says
I know the project is finished, but I *totally* am on Team Spinning Disco Ball.
That would so funny in a closet!
Katy
Jessi says
Not sure why, but I totally gave Burger a British accent for his part of the tour. Guess I was still thinking about Becky from last week’s Glee???
Anyway, lovin’ the closet. Little tweaks go a long way!
Tara says
Such a fun light! You guys find the coolest stuff at thrift stores. I’m excited to see what else is hiding in the play room!
My husband and I finally checked off “paint the whole house” yesterday! Amazing how your entire body hurts and your hand is stuck in a claw shape after painting! Next up is light fixtures!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man, I know that claw-hand feeling but don’t you feel awesome to be done? Congrats!
xo,
s
candace says
I *really* need to “Dude, get on that already” bandwagon! I have so many little To Dos that I need to start checking off. Thanks for the inspiration!
Catie says
Favorite part of this post? Burger’s segment.
Jessie H. says
We are currently stationed in Germany, which equals little to no storage space. When we moved in last August, I was super-dee-duper prego, so I don’t think my brain could compute how to properly use the cabinet space we had. I was more in a “must get these boxes unpacked before the baby gets here!” state of mind. This week, I have managed to reorganize our pantry, a couple of the kitchen cabinets, the linen cabinet, and packed away all of the baby clothes that no longer fit our little lady.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man that must feel awesome!
xo,
s
Kelly says
Burger’s tour = the highlight of my day!!
Vanessa says
I grew up with one of those lights (in a super cool 70s avocado-ish green) hanging over our kitchen table! What a blast! I would love to have another one those. Thanks for the blast from the past!
Lauren says
Wonderful ideas! I’m addicted to this website :)
KC says
Great project!! And it looks like Clara has more than just Jersey blood in her…that is a total Sherry expression in the last pic!
liz says
I finally got it together to post three shelves worth (for real) of my old college books for sale on half.com earlier this month. I’ve already made $75! My goal is to have them all gone by May.
YoungHouseLove says
Woah that’s awesome!
xo,
s
heather says
My get it done happened at 2am last night, when I woke up with a million things I needed to get done and decided I might as well write my update post.
To the crocheted rug I said I would make for the pinterest challenge.
In July.
Yikes.
http://www.likeacupoftea.com/pinterest-challenge-crochet-rug-update/
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- I love it! Slowly but surely girl!
xo,
s
Wrenaria says
Looks like its orb week in the YHL household – and not in the usual ORB (color) way. Fun closet addition.
Loved the Burger bit. Such a charming little host.
Krystal says
Love the light, but mostly enjoyed Burger’s commentary. I should not have been drinking water when I read that…especially when I’m in a computer lab that prohibits food & drink (I’m such a rebel).
As for my own “Dude, Get On That Already” challenge, I decided to finally get to work on my kitchen wall art project, for which I have had the supplies sitting around since early December. Out of the 4 pieces of art, I’ve managed to complete one…which was slapping a piece of cork in a frame and calling it a day. Yes, I’m failing at this challenge, but should hopefully have kitchen art sometime by February 2013 if you consider the pace I’m taking.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, you’re closer than you were last week! That’s progress to me! Hehe.
xo,
s
Wom-mom Ethne says
No awesome project completion, but I think I will have to ghost write something for my cat. Good stuff.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, get ‘er done!
xo,
s
Ashley Jensen says
$herdog’s word of the day is Wahoo! You used it in 5 comments so far! I have done a couple lighting projects this week too! First I made a ribbon chandelier for my daughters closet (with a link to Clara’s) here:
http://joyfullyjensen.blogspot.com/2012/01/ribbon-chandelier.html
and a fabric chandelier for our tiny hall way here:
http://joyfullyjensen.blogspot.com/2012/01/fabic-chandelier.html
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- can you feel the enthusiasm? Wahoo! Love your projects, one and all.
xo,
s
Séri @ translatory motion says
I love this post, it is so cute!! Really fun to read, just delightful all around–great job, guys. But why didn’t you ORB it? Do you like the gold or just don’t care since it’s in the closet?
YoungHouseLove says
I think we grew to love it as-is. Lately I’ve actually been into the whole gold finish thing, so in the closet he looks right at home.
xo,
s
Nicole says
That light is so neat, I love the texture of it! TEAM THRIFT STORE!
Devonna Garcia says
Ha! Ha! You totally got me – I caught myself reading Burger’s tour in a deep Spanish voice!
YoungHouseLove says
Ooh a spanish voice! I love it. Like Antonio Banderas in chihuahua form.
xo,
s
Larissa says
That’s definitely how I hear Burger. Kind of like Pepe the King Prawn from the muppets, mmm-kay?
YoungHouseLove says
Haha.
xo,
s
Emily Z says
Oh, my chihuahua totally has a Mexican accent! I’m glad I’m not the only one who imagines what their animal would sound like if they spoke!
heather says
I read Burger with an Antonio accent too.
Dogs definitely have accents. Winnie has a good old New England accent because if you know her, you know there is literally no other accent possible. Rosie is the one who gets an Italian (or weird general indistinguishable European) accent about 50% of the time. It just works. Haha.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- it totally works!
xo,
s
Donna says
Miss Clara and her gold chain/fist pumpin’/raise da roof is too cute! I have always gotten a kick out of the fact that John is this Southern gentleman, while his ” lady wife ” is a slightly-wilder Italian gal from Joisy. I bet you could make a whole post out of that! But, as an outsider, you seem to balance each other out beautifully!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Donna. You’re sweet.
xo,
s
Kelly says
We have a third bedroom that is just like your playroom. It gets all the junk – it’s our dumping ground when we get home from shopping, and we have piles of garage sale items. But, we can’t just shut the door, because we also have all our books in there, some of my clothes, and a desk. This weekend, we finally took out all the pictures/decor that had to be hung in other rooms and put that up, then I cleaned out the desk completely. It’s nice to get that room clean!
Meg@ Green Motherhood says
Ha! I love all that you fit into this post. Helpful DIY, get on that success, burger talking and Clara being totally cute.
In terms of my get on that, I finally renamed the blog and made a new banner for it(although it’s stil a work in progress). Whew! Glad I finally stopped talking about and and got it done.
Congrats on another success!
YoungHouseLove says
Yay for blog progress!
xo,
s
Krystle @ Color Transformed Family says
I love the ligtht and how it turned out looking so contemporary looking in your closet. Ours have the same one lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. Maybe I should think about updating them.
Rachel @ The Peach & The Pit says
I got on finally organizing under my bathroom sink. It was quite an {embarrassing} disaster under there, but I tackled it in less than an hour this past weekend!
http://thepeachandthepit.com/home/2012/1/23/bathroom-reading.html
YoungHouseLove says
I love reading all the posts you guys are linking to. We’re quite the accomplished bunch, aren’t we? Haha.
xo,
s
Bethany says
John, a girls gotta have her shoes. It comes with the territory!!!
Annie Swift says
This week we’ve gotten to finally painting the ghastly MDF radiator cover in our living room (unpainted and on display for a year!), painted our converted-ottoman-come-tv-stand that also has been neglected for at least 6months, bought a new lamp and plan to paint the living room walls after (you guessed it) almost 6 months of having exposed plastery/peely/goodness. Getting busay! I was actually debating DIYing something similar to a spaghetti lamp but decided against it now. We have two super snazzy paper lampshades in our living/dining room. Yours is looking very glitz and Burger seems to be enjoying his new nook! Thanks for sharing
YoungHouseLove says
Woah- you’ve been busy! Thanks for sharing all of your accomplishments guys!
xo
s
Libby says
I think that back wall of the closet needs some art for Burger’s apartment…http://pinterest.com/pin/34762228343541780/
YoungHouseLove says
Hilarious. I love it.
xo,
s
Madeline Solien says
Seriously love the monkey obsession going on with Clara right now (full disclosure, I’ve got a tattoo of the symbol for the year of the monkey on my back..might be biased)…but my question is about Burger! I know you said in one of the comments above that he hangs out in his crate when you guys run errands but do you have to put him in there or does he just seem to be there when you come home? I’ve been trying to make my dog comfortable with being out of her crate when I leave but she finds something rascal-ly to get into every time and then puts herself in her crate…I’m just so sick of looking at the stupid crate!
YoungHouseLove says
We actually just put him in there and close the door since he likes it and we figure it might keep him safe (we often run out to do errands with a half-installed toilet or a tool somewhere so we don’t want him to get hurt). At this point it’s such a habit for him that he’ll run in there to await the treat (we give him one to get him in there on our way out the door) so he’s happy when we’re leaving because he gets something to snack on. Haha.
xo,
s
Sarah says
Burger returns for a blog post, best day ever! Our chihuahua Mr. Big is also extremely concerned over crate placement, so I can totally appreciate the thought going into this. Like Burger, he sleeps with us at night, but stays in his crate during the day while we’re gone. We keep his crate just inside our bedroom door, in a little nook. This position has a prime view of the back door so he can see if it’s us coming home. Glad Burger’s happy with the new set-up. Tell him Mr. Big says hi! HA!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- will do!
xo,
s
Rachel says
We recently moved from a 1500sq ft. house in California to a 600sq. ft house in England.My spare bedroom was a 6 foot jungle of boxes and piles that would make the bravest adventurer turn pale with fear.lol So little by little we have been organizing things into neater piles.Can’t wait to see the progress shots of the spare room.
vicki says
love what you guys do, youve completely inspired me to “get on that”, im finally starting to decorate my apartment that ive been living in for almost a year. the other day i found some really cool dining chairs on craigslist that were blue but my bf wasnt sure if hed like them so i said whats the big deal we can always paint them… yeah he thinks ive officaially gone insane!
burger is adorable! i was wondering, do you crate him when your not home or do you let him have free reign or the house?
YoungHouseLove says
He actually prefers to be in his crate so we oblige. Haha. We figure it keeps him happy and safe (you know, in case we have a pile of tools or wood left out and have to run an errand).
xo,
s
Heidi says
I hope I am not the only one whose voice automatically switched to some weird Hispanic/English combo when I began to read Burger’s narration… weird :) Love the light!
Andrea @ the yellow cottage says
We totally do voices for our pets. You should do a video from Burger’s perspective and do a voiceover. My cat Pablo has a Spanish accent. I’m kinda getting a snooty British vibe from Burger here, a la Stewie from Family Guy.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- totally.
xo,
s
renee says
Two burning questions:
Did you ever flat-iron the ribbons on Miss Clara’s closet light?
And…
Do you fine folks watch “The Big C” with Laura Linney? If not, you must. She is divine – it is so very funny and delightful. I owe you guys big time for the Dexter recommendation so here’s an idea!
xox
Renee from Minneapolis
YoungHouseLove says
No and yes. Haha. Love that show!
xo,
s
Lorelei says
hey guys!
about your bare kitchen wall in search of art…I would be THRILLED to contribute some of my original art to your lovely home…I do pen and ink on photography and then it is printed on canvas or a glycee process…I have images of everything you can imagine …ferns and flowers, sea and sun, carnival rides, animals, raindrops, kumquats , fences, doors, buildings, you name it! I would be delighted to custom make an image that you love (since you are quite the photographers yourselves)and/or scan and send you some examples … I know your SWAG policy , this is not that, let’s call it G-WOO (Gift With Out Obligation)…I know “without” is one word but not as fun as getting to say ,”See our artwork…it’s G-WOOOOOO!”
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, you’re so sweet! We actually don’t accept freebies just because we like to keep it real and pay for the things in our house. But you’re sweet to try to bend the rules with your G-Wooooo. Haha. Thanks again so much for the thoughtful offer!
xo,
s
Tiffany says
I just caught my 17-month-old son eating dog food out of one of the bowls this week! Guess it tasted better than the Cheerios I had just given him!
Erika says
LOVE that lamp! What a fun little surprise for the closet :)
p.s. I think Burger should write more posts….
Erika says
Just realized I typed lamp and it’s not really a lamp….It may be Thursday but feels like Monday.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, I know what you mean!
xo,
s
RVA Born and Raised says
Dear Burger,
Thanks for the tour of your abode. Are you planning any DIY projects to give your pad a Young Crate Love treatment? I am also curious as to why, right next to your food, you have a scale. I wonder if your weight even registers. You couldn’t be more than 10lbs soaking wet. How do you keep so svelt? Inquiring minds would like to know!
YoungHouseLove says
Why yes, I do like to weigh myself from time to time- just to ensure I stay under 9 lbs (no one likes double digits). I would appreciate a little more swankiness when it comes to my crate so I agree that it needs a little more effort from the parental units. Will demand results the next time I see mom and dad.
-b