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I live in an apartment, so I can't replace the light fixture in my dining area. So I was thinking about making something a little cooler. My local hardware store has balsa wood pieces of different widths and thicknesses. I was thinking about making a frame with panes. Your basic window turned on its side approx 18 x 12. I'd make 8 of those and paint them. (Or maybe use some stain I've got. In fact, I'm liking the stain idea more and more.) On the back side of each of pane of four of the windows, I'd put light gels. I'd then attach the other four windows to the side so that the gels are essentially framed in wood. I haven't quite decided how I'm proceeding from there. I could use screws and molly bolts to attache 1/2" x 1/2" x 17" pieces of wood to the ceiling and screw the frames into that. I could get hooks and free hang them. I'm thinking red and yellow gels. Red facing the living room and shelving wall, yellow facing the kitchen and hallway (brighter light in the kitchen. Am I making sense? Any suggestions?
Also, I have a floor lamp in the corner of the living room. It's got a standard cone shaped shade. The only thing the light is for is to illuminate my sewing machine. The light out the top is just there. I was thinking about putting a gel in the top of the shade that would sit on the wiring that attaches the shade to the harp. Probably cut a round gel and put a hole in the middle, and then screw the finial on. As long as the bulb isn't touching the gel, do you see a problem with this?
Why spend a weekend like a normal person when you can make a big ol' mess?
Edited Title cause I'm in Friday moron mode.
Posts: 4811 | From: Austin, TX | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
Sounds pretty to me... ditto on the pics, maybe a before and after kinda thing.
-------------------- God bless our Troops! If you can't stand behind our troops, please, feel free to stand in front of them. Posts: 380 | From: Ohio | Registered: Apr 2006
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posted
AFA the floor lamp, you might want to feel the metal spokes after it's been on for a while before you attach the gels. They can sometimes be close enough to the bulb to get pretty hot. If they do get too hot to put the gels on them, you could try just draping a scarf over the top of the lamp. It goes over the finial and the shade, so it doesn't get too hot, but the light from the top shines through it, so you could pick whatever color scarf you want and change them at will.
I'm assuming, BTW, that you want the light to be white at all times because of your sewing. You could change out the bulb to a colored one, but that would be a pain to keep switching if you use the white bulb a lot.
I really like your idea for the dining room light. You might want to make up the frames and weigh them and then go to the hardware store and ask for their advice. I think the hooks alone would be prettier and less to have to clean up when you're ready to leae your apartment (just spackle the holes), but they might not be able to hold the weight.
-------------------- Like every good third-in-a-series it contains a whole load of ewoks, ‘Clubber’ Lang, whey-faced Sophia Coppola, Sean Connery as the Pirate Captain’s estranged dad, a crappy CGI alien, and Richard Pryor on a donkey. -- Gideon Defoe Posts: 2211 | From: Harford County, MD | Registered: Oct 2005
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