Happy New Year!!! (that sentiment will make sense in a little while – hold tight)
The time had come to bid adieu to the fan in our bedroom so we could introduce a light fixture with a bit more interest.
Hold on fan lovers. Put the pitchforks (or fan blades?) down and let me explain. We also removed the ceiling fan in our first home’s bedroom and picked up a high-powered Hunter table fan that did the trick, which we plan to use regularly in the warmer months here as well. It’s not that we’re anti fan – my wife likes to make the beyond corny joke that we’re “fan fans” – but we just like them to be well placed so form and function collide into a big beautiful fan-tastic situation. Like the fan in our sunroom (and the one in our last house’s sunroom) which we’d never dream of removing. But when it came to the bedroom the our big old ceiling fan certainly wasn’t playing nice with Ed the Bed:
As for its replacement, on a recent trip to Ikea we picked up this guy: the Maskros pendant lamp (it comes in two sizes, but the bigger one would have practically been Sherry-sized, so we went for the smaller one that’s still 22 inches in diameter). It felt like a good “statement piece” for the bedroom (and only ran us 50 beans) so we were psyched that we finally pulled the trigger and made it ours after a few months of pining. We realize that this is one of those polarizing purchases, but it makes us smile like crazy so we said yes to something fun.
And although it was quite the statement piece when hanging in Ikea, when it arrived home with us, the only statement it was making was “put me together.”
But first the ol’ fan had to come down. So with the electricity to the entire house turned off (we’re safety freaks like that) I went to work disassembling it – a process that I’m pretty well versed at in at this point in my life. Though I have only recently discovered that it’s much easier to remove all of the blades first (so you don’t end up whacking yourself in the head while trying to disconnect the rest of it from the fixture box).
Unfortunately, removing the fan revealed some less than perfect ceiling behind it. Unfinished paint and what looked like a square patch panel that wasn’t sitting flush with the rest of the ceiling. Bummer.
So I decided to borrow a solution from Clara’s damaged ceiling dilemma and darted out to Home Depot to buy yet another ceiling medallion for $19. You can read more about the super-easy ceiling medallion installation process in this post.
Technically you’re not supposed to attach any of the “spokes” to the fixture until after it’s secured to the ceiling. But since we needed to strategically hang it low enough to sit under Ed’s top rail, but high enough to not look ridiculous, we used a couple of attached spokes to approximate its finished size and find the perfect hanging height.
Oh and Ikea suggests just coiling the extra wire inside of the cup at the top of the fixture, but I opted to cut the wire closer to our desired length by taking some scissors to the cord and then stripping the ends of the now-shortened wires.
So here it is completely hooked up with all of the spokes attached. We realized at this point that we were glad we used the ceiling medallion because it made the fixture look a bit more substantial and balanced, instead of hanging a giant ball from a little nub in the middle of the ceiling. Plus, if we ever paint the ceiling it’ll add even more detail and polish.
Of course we still had to attached the 82 (yep, 82) paper “flowers” that came in the set. They really are just paper asterisk-thingies that are pre-cut and pre-hole-punched to snap into place. So theoretically you could color them or replace them entirely with your own desired shape if you wanted to – and had the patience to make 82 of them. We briefly debated “going rogue” and spraying the back of them a color, but we liked the clean white look (crazy shape and size + classic color = love for us sometimes). Oh and you can also see how Ikea packaged them in small boxes to help curl the edges outward in this pic below:
Here’s the light with the first few rows of flowers attached, starting to look more like what we saw in the showroom…
After about 10 minutes we had all 82 attached and were left with this. Ta-dah! We were more than a little relieved that it didn’t take five hundred years to assemble (which was kind of the fear after we opened the box).
We’ll admit that at first it felt a bit bigger than we expected (it looked a lot smaller in the giant warehouse that is Ikea when we first laid eyes on it), but once we add things like a larger 8 x 10 rug under Ed (instead of three smaller they’re-there-because-we-have-them rugs) and some art on the walls, there will be more scale slash balance going on. And even without future items like a big cushy rug, it only took a few hours for it to totally grow on us. As in every time we walk into the room we grin. And about 50% of the time we actually high five. It’s just so much fun. And if you can’t have a little fun in the privacy of your own bedroom, where can you have it? Wait, that came out wrong.
It’s definitely the playful wow kind of “statement piece” that we were looking for. And although from the angle above it looks like it’s snuggled right up in Ed’s business, you can see from the pic above that they aren’t actually touching at all. And even though it hangs low in the room (the bulb sits just above my eye level), we love that we can get away with that because it’s an area that we’ll never walk through (because of Ed and the bench at his footboard). Take that 8 foot ceilings! We defy you.
As much as we love how crisp and soft it looks during the daylight, it looks like our own little Times Square New Year’s Eve ball at night. Sherry loves to walk into the room at night and say “3… 2… 1” and flick on the light while squealing “Happy New Year!”
It only accepts a 40 watt bulb, so it’s definitely not something that’ll flood your room with light, but for us it’s the perfect addition to the soft and moody lighting that we’ve already got going on thanks to our recently added side table lamps and the light over the vanity in our bedroom’s sink nook.
Plus, it is soooo cool to look at from bed. We didn’t even consider this POV when picking it, but when our heads hit the pillow it’s perfectly reflected in our bathroom mirror. How’s that for a nice added bonus? Oh, and I’m sorry ladies, but me and my sexy socked feet are taken (Sherry’s a lucky lady).
Oh and the light is centered in the room (and on that doorway and the bed) so the slight left-ish shift that you see above is just thanks to the angle of the shot that I snapped.
So there you have it. The little big slice of “hey now” that we added to our bedroom. It certainly doesn’t make us miss the old fan (which we’re donating to the ReStore) and it never fails to make us giddy. What can I say? Warning: pun coming. It lights my fire. Oh, and we should mention that Clara is crazy fascinated by the flowers themselves. We’d let her get near them if we could trust her not to put one of the paper flowers in a death grip and tear it off towards her mouth. So for now it’s just for looking.
Do any of you own Mr Maskros yourselves? Or are there any other dramatic and large-scaled light fixtures that you’re into lately?
Psst- There have been a few requests for more photos from other angles, so here they are:
Clara likey.
Update: Things definitely take some time to shake out around here. So if you wanna see how Ed the Bed and our new light evolved, click here and here. Ah tweaks. Gotta love ’em!
I love that lamp! We also went to IKEA for a statement lamp for our dining (we went with a wicker domed pendant) and we love it! When we get around to replacing the light in our bedroom, we might be looking at the one you guys got! :)
Your room looks awesome guys.
Ha! This post made me LOL. you sure have patience to put 82 pieces in there. Graet job!
Was just at Ikea this weekend and saw this guy and I am in love with it, too! It really looks great in your room!! I may have to go back and get it.
40 watts total? With an energy saver you can get more light while still staying in the watt limitation. I highly suggest getting white point balanced energy savers with a warmer white, some of them are way too cold.
John and I were just talking about that the other day (getting a CFL that burns cooler but gives us more light with lower wattage)! We’ll just have to pick them up at Ikea since this is one of those pendants that doesn’t take normal bulbs and prefers Ikea ones.
xo,
s
I love it! We saw this light at Ikea and loved it :) Good job!
I can’t believe how quickly y’all’s (I’m southern, can you tell?) new house is coming together. It’s inspiring!
I love it! We just moved in to our first house and there are fans in the living room, office, guest room and master bedroom (prior owners really loved fans). I can’t wait to start replacing them with cute fixtures like yours! Thanks for the primer — you guys always make my morning. :)
Long time lurker – first time commenter. I kid you not, I searched high and low for a light fixture for my bedroom remodel all day yesterday. I finally decided this was the one – the same exact one you posted today! Go figure! Also, your guest room is totally my inspiration for my bedroom makeover. Walls are painted, floors are going in soon and I’m bargain hunting rugs, art, decor. Love it, thank you so much!
You guys are so amazing. LOVE the bedroom. My friend has the BIG version of that light, hanging in her huge family room. I love it. Great job guys!!
This pendant is amazing! I love how light and airy it is while still making a large statement. GREAT PRICE too! I saw on Ikea that they offered a much larger pendant as well… I am definitely interested in purchasing one of these after seeing how great it looks in your abode!
abodelove.blogspot.com
We have a big and medium Fillsta hanging in the corner of our living room and they’re fantastic, though my husband initially thought I was completely mad.
Katie, I really like that fixture you linked too. Maybe it could replace the random paper lantern placeholder we have in the dining room. The room originally had a ceiling fan (in the dining room?) so we replaced it with a large (IKEA, of course) paper lantern until we could settle on something better – like the CB2 fixture. :)
I love it! I thought at first you guys would get to the end of this post and find out that it didn’t fit next to the canopy rail or something, but I think my perspective’s off a bit, because I used to wonder that about the fan! If you are using a compact fluorescent bulb, which technically uses about 11-15 watts, couldn’t you put in a brighter bulb? (Or are all the lamps in my house of similarly- recommended wattage going to burst into flames one day?)
Haha, John and I were just talking about upgrading to a CFL for more light without high wattage. Since this fixture is one of those that only takes Ikea lights (they’re shaped differently than standard ones, which is a huge pain by the way) we’re planning to pick up an Ikea CFL for it the next time we’re there.
xo,
s
yup, got it in the dining room and love it! You can see it on my blog, here http://loveyourspace.blogspot.com/2011/01/dining-room-curtains-after.html
someone should do a round up of all the bloggers using this pendant.
Looks great!
Love it! It’s awesome for a dining room.
xo,
s
A coffee shop here in town that I visit has this same lighting arrangement. I have been wondering where it came from, so thank you for posting this. It looks wonderful in your room. I’m not sure if yours does this, but the one at the coffee shop every now and then will catch the wind. It looks like it is dancing. So pretty.
We’re getting to warmer weather so maybe when we fling open our bedroom windows ours will do a little slow dance for us! Love it!
xo,
s
I remember when that light fixture showed up in everyone’s, “Ikea previews,” a year or two ago, and loved it at first sight! I agree that the ceiling medallion really adds balance and makes it look, “finished.” I love how it plays off the floral pattern of the duvet cover.
Love it! If it could take a brighter bulb I’d consider it for DD’s room…but I think we need more light in there.
I live in an old house that has pull string lights upstairs, does anyone have a solution to update them without an expensive wiring job.
Hmm, the only thing we can think of would involve hiring an electrician to convert them to a wall switch. Any ideas for Marilyn?
xo,
s
You can convert almost any fixture to a pull-string. But you’d have to fish a wire across the ceiling and down the wall to get a wall switch.
In an old apartment I used “raceway” (I think that’s what it was called), which sticks to the ceiling and conceals wires, to run a wire from the center pull switch area to three pendant lights hung above a sofa. So the pull chain was still in the center of the room, but the lights were 6 feet away.
Email me for photos and a better description, I don’t want to hog the comment area! :)
My brother-in-law had an interesting solution in his old apartment(an older house-turned-4plex). There was a battery operated switch (that he stuck by the door) that remotely controlled a light. I’m not sure where he found it but you could keep your eyes out for something similar.
Super cool light! I love it in the room! It looks fun and I say if it makes you smile it really doesn’t matter what anyone else things about it!
Love the new addition!
Where did you get the ottoman?
That’s from Target a while back. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Very interesting and a really cool piece. I am still trying to decide if i like it in the bedroom or not but as long as your happy :)
I was at Ikea a few weeks ago and fell IN LOVE with that light!!! I wanted it so badly but really have no where to put it. I was so happy to see that you adopted one and gave it a good home! Yaay for coolness from Ikea!
That is a crazy zany piece and so you two!!! Perfect.
I bought the Maskros for our bedroom too! I haven’t installed it yet.. and after seeing your pics, I’m glad I went with the small one also. I planned on installing it on my own, but when I unscrewed the old “nipple light” (flush mount fixture– I hate those things), I saw this weird set up with three light sockets attached to who knows what.. so I said ehhhh I screwed the nipple back on. I think I’m gonna need some assistance, but I can’t wait til I can get this baby up! I think it looks awesome in your room!
It’s too low, and a tad too big for the space.
Can you raise it up a bit?
It would look so much better…………
In person we played around with the height and this looks best to our eye (anything higher actually hits Ed’s top rail, which we think looks crazy) but to each his own! We know we’re taking more risks in this house with decor and choices that won’t necessarily please the masses, but we’re just having so much fun playing around with texture and color and pattern and making the house feel like a home to us. This light makes us more giddy than any other change that we’ve made so far. Well, maybe it’s tied with when we painted the backs of the bookcases in the dining room and the deep teal guest bedroom. But we’re learning that those risks are totally worth it to us- so hopefully even those who don’t love them will understand that it’s our house and it only has to make us grin from ear to ear!
xo,
s
Amen! Well said Sherry
Well said, Sherry. I really admire how focused and calm you and John both are when it comes to critiques of your style. The only thing that matters is that you are all happy in your home, because you’re the ones living there!
Hmm, it seems too close to the bed. Any chance you will move it to centered in the space between the bathroom and Ed? You’d have to be very sure you were not planning to ever move the bed… and would need an electrician. Boo! I’m not sure what light fixture would work, Ed really complicates things that way. Still, love the lamp! The coffee show near me has a few of them up and they have held up pretty well in that environment for a year or so. If you love it, though, maybe get a second one before they are discontinued, just in case it gets dirty?
Would rather have seen it centered inside the bed..looks a bit awkward in its place, at least in the photos…it’s a really cute fixture though…
I likey…
I’ve been smitten with this fixture since it came out but thought it was too big for my room. Giddy to hear they make a smaller size. It looks FANtastic installed. LOVE it!
That was one of the options I brought home for our dog’s bedroom! Just FYI – the 120w equivalent CFL bulbs are less than 40w and put out a ton of light. It’s what we use to get around the dim light that the Ikea 40w fixtures put off.
Might you consider removing Ed’s top rails and just having a 4-poster bed? Or removing the foot and side rails and just having the head rail to drape something from down the road? Just an idea for a way to showcase the cool fixture more without taking away from Ed.
We’re loving how everything looks for now, so we’re not ready to take Ed apart just yet. But you never know where we’ll end up. Thanks for the suggestion!
xo,
s
I want to like it cause it is a really fun piece but it just seems too big for the room, too low, and a little strange so close to Ed (no personal space, poor Ed).
I commend your adventurous design and I always look forward to seeing what you’ll do next! Overall the house is coming along beautifully .. you guys are truly awesome!
I love, love, love the Macros fixture but the hubby doesn’t and frankly, I can’t imagine living without a ceiling fan here in Florida’s sweltering summer heat :o) So, I simply live vicariously through you!
man, i wish i would have read about your ceiling medallion solution prior to installing maskros in my own home. feel read all about that process on my blog.
http://girlandgreatdane.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-to-install-maskros.html
yours looks great!
That looks awesome!
Look so good! I didn’t know this fixture came in two sizes. We have several medallions in our house. We had popcorn ceilings removed and redone before we moved in. That meant that when we took down the old fixtures to put new ones up there were spots that weren’t done. Such an easy fix. My husband is not so crazy about them though. We hung a Moroccan star pendant up with one. They are kinda heavy and delicate so it made for a bit of a difficult project, but looks great all finished!
Really? I love the light fixture, but you don’t think this is a little out of scale with the rest of the room? That thing is GIGANTIC?!
Nope, we love it. But we knew it wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea! The room is larger than 14′ x 14′ – so it’s a lot bigger than anything that we’re used to and the scale feels perfect to us with such a large 4-poster bed, etc. But to each his own!
xo,
s
My wife and I are redoing the bedroom right now and we haven’t agreed on a light fixture yet. I actually have wanted the maskros since the beginning, but my wife really likes capiz. I just think the capiz are a little too feminine for my taste. I think this post might convince her!
Did you guys think it had a cheap feel to it at all? I know Ikea can be hit or miss on feeling cheap; we just want our bedroom to feel sophisticated. Thanks.
It looks great in your pictures by the way.
To us it actually felt more expensive than the plastic light fixture options (we didn’t know it was paper even when it was right in front of our face until we reached out and touched it). We’re really happy with the quality so far. It’s only been about a day though. Haha. But we hear good things online from other Maskros owners, which is nice!
xo,
s
I have lusted over that light since the first time I saw it…but I could never pull the trigger on it because it seemed sooooo large! NOW I WANT IT AGAIN!
I actually have a round paper lantern over my dining table, so maybe I should just pull the trigger and bring Mr. Maskros home with me…it’s hanging from a 12 foot ceiling, maybe I should be bold and just go for the LARGE one.
That is a different medallion than in Clara’s room isn’t it? More plain? I like it.
Yup, we chose one without the sweet beaded design for more of a clean modern look.
xo,
s
We bought maskros over the holidays while visiting my folks (there’s no Ikea within 2500 km of our house). I’d been lusting after it since seeing it in the catalogue and it truly is AMAZING. it is the most happy making light fixture in our house (you shoudl have seen the monstrosities the previous owners left for us…). It’s in our living room where it reflects onto the walls and ceilng in the evenings.
We got rid of the ‘cup’ fixture cover thing and replaced with a flat one (and wound the extra cord into the ceiling instead).
Love that you described it as “happy making” – you hit the nail on the head. I never thought it could be so fun to flick on a light in the evening. Seriously, it makes us giddy.
xo,
s
I wish you had run a “guess which lamp” contest, because as soon as you mentioned a new lamp, I just KNEW which one it was. I saw it at IKEA and loved it.
Haha, too funny!
xo,
s
Wow! Yet again, you two have done something amazing. It really is cool to see how your rooms come together piece by piece.
Oh my gosh, it’s so fun! And btw, we just painted our guest bath a color very similar to your bedroom. We used Behr “Aquatic Edge”.
Those lights always remind me of dandelions…the ones that you blow and the little seeds prance in the wind. I’ve never seen one lit up before – it’s beautiful!
Yes- that’s exactly what it looks like! A big happy dandelion!
xo,
s
I knew it was going to be something fun when you mention it was going to be “crazy.”
I have also seen that lamp in Ikea. I love how your Master is coming together. The vibrant colors and light furniture have made the room come alive.
Love it, seriously. Excellent choice, I would have NEVER thought of it! Also, I just noticed the teeny tiny smiley face way down at the bottom of the site, how presh!
Fun fact – that smiley face is actually inserted by WordPress to track stats. Precious and functional, no?
-John
I love it…the light, AND the fact that your design risks encourage me to be a bit more bold with my own home. It’s easy to get in a rut sometimes, so thanks for the inspiring projects and fabulous style that you offer.
I LOVE this light fixture. Saw it in IKEA last fall and fell in love. Unfortunately it is NOT my husband’s taste at all so it won’t be joining our family – happy to live vicariously through you though :)
The light looks great! Will you be naming it too? Maybe something related to Carson Daly due to the New Year’s theme… :)
Also, I laughed when John said he turned off all the electricity in the house to change out the fan… Sincerely, a fellow wife of a home safety czar who does the same thing!
Haha, Carson is cute. Originally we thought maybe it should be Mark (because Maskros has Mark in there somewhere) but I think it’s a she. But Carson is a crossover name, so it can be a girl’s name too. Haha.
xo,
s
Fabulous. Love it. May I request at some point though a montage of Js t-shirt fashions while working on home projects? Between “Talk Nerdy to Me” and ” I’m a Pepper” I’m cracking up.
I know right? Those are my favorites.
xo,
s
WOW!! That is really kewel ~ and it fits the room and you guys ~ LOVE it :)