HOUSE: Newburgh + Scavenging

Let there be (Random) light.

Hey, remember when Daniel performed a thrifting miracle and produced a Random Light seemingly out of thin air for about 85% off retail? That was almost NINE MONTHS ago, during which time said lamp has taken up a bunch of space doing absolutely nothing on the floor of the room at the back of the house (also known as Evan’s studio).

Well, no more!! It is FINALLY suspended from the ceiling and emitting light. Yay! I realize these pictures are no fun, but the room is a mess and it was dark out and honestly I was just happy to have accomplished something that wasn’t on my decidedly un-fun to-do list.

We hung the lamp kind of low directly above the desk. It’s huuuuuuuuge (too big for our living room, even with 10-foot ceilings!), and the only way it made sense to hang it was over a table. It looks really pretty against the black wallpaper.

Better photos to come once the room is fixed up a bit more! Perhaps Evan will agree to do a guest post…

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58 Comments

  • Reply victoria September 20, 2011 at 6:04 pm

    woot! yeah for the random light! yay for daniel finding it for you! 🙂

  • Reply the chronic utilitarian September 20, 2011 at 6:04 pm

    dang.
    that is lovely.

  • Reply twiggs September 20, 2011 at 6:10 pm

    way fabulous!! 😉 i also need something above my head!!

  • Reply Stormie Dae September 20, 2011 at 6:11 pm

    Yay – love it! The studio is one of my favorite rooms in your house…so pretty.

  • Reply erin loechner September 20, 2011 at 6:12 pm

    yes yes yes! congrats love!

  • Reply sandra September 20, 2011 at 6:12 pm

    looks great! i love your pictures of it!

  • Reply soozzie September 20, 2011 at 6:14 pm

    About 50 years ago this was a project that we kids would do. Blow up a balloon. Get a bunch of string and dip it in a slightly diluted bowl of Elmer’s glue and water. wind string around the balloon in random directions until desired complexity achieved. Let dry. Pop balloon and draw out dead balloon bits through the string matrix. Work in socket and lightbulb. Voila — high fashion interior lighting for pennies. This was about the same time as sand-molded candles and gold-sprayed driftwood arrangements, and well before macrame.

    I’m sure yours is much nicer. I may just rustle me up some string and glue….

    • Anna @ D16 September 20, 2011 at 6:17 pm

      Soozzie, I’ve posted about that particular project a few times in the past! But yes, this one is much, MUCH nicer. Much. No comparison. I never would have believed it until I saw it in person. It’s like…magical.

  • Reply lucy September 20, 2011 at 6:14 pm

    argh! looks beaut. that desk’s not messy and you know it!

    • Anna @ D16 September 20, 2011 at 6:16 pm

      Hahahah!!

  • Reply Andrea September 20, 2011 at 6:18 pm

    Aww! Love it! Fantastic combo with the wallpaper.

  • Reply Charlie September 20, 2011 at 6:20 pm

    It looks amazing!! And now I need to hang my fixture…

  • Reply jennifer in sf September 20, 2011 at 6:23 pm

    That light with the wallpaper, and that green lamp, is fantastic.

  • Reply Peetu September 20, 2011 at 6:39 pm

    Wow! That lamp looks beautiful. Loving the wallpaper too.

  • Reply heather September 20, 2011 at 6:51 pm

    Yes! Hooray for getting it up there – it looks beautiful!

  • Reply Mia September 20, 2011 at 7:07 pm

    Go you! Glad you have it up and can’t wait to see more pics of it.

  • Reply Helen September 20, 2011 at 7:14 pm

    So lovely. It looks like the moon against that dark foresty wallpaper.

  • Reply Joy September 20, 2011 at 7:19 pm

    Looks fantastic with the wallpaper! “Yay” indeed.

  • Reply robin September 20, 2011 at 7:24 pm

    did you ever hang your eames hang-it-all (the black and wood one)? my husband gave me one as an xmas present this past year and i have yet to give it a home. i’m hoping yours would inspire me. that being said, your vestibule hasn’t moved me any closer to hanging my 3 rolls of orly kiely wallpaper in the 3-4 years i’ve been reading your blog. someday. **sigh**

    • Anna @ D16 September 20, 2011 at 8:07 pm

      No, we didn’t hang it yet. 🙁 Isn’t that pathetic? I think it’s going to go in this room, though—a place to hang cables and stuff on.

      Go hang your wallpaper!!

    • Martha September 30, 2011 at 4:28 pm

      I’m just now reading this and I wanted to say that makes me feel better! I just hung my hang-it-all after 6 months of it hanging out in it’s beautiful box. My only excuse is that I had to repaint the room first… and that took some time, let me tell you.

  • Reply jodi September 20, 2011 at 8:09 pm

    oh!! it looks soooo good!

  • Reply Pati N September 20, 2011 at 8:23 pm

    awesome Anna…Love it! Can’t wait for more pics 🙂

  • Reply Dan @ Manhattan Nest September 20, 2011 at 9:16 pm

    YAYYYYYY! Oh, looks so good! Did you end up getting the Moooi hardware for it? Love to see it up and being put to use, good job kiddos!

    • Anna @ D16 September 20, 2011 at 11:21 pm

      We did, yes!! Sadly it was more expensive than we anticipated for the right size, but now that it’s done…it was worth it. I may need to hit up up for advice on dealing with the cord slack since we had to swag it. I’m thinking of coiling up the excess and wrapping it with some kind of cording so it looks intentional…

  • Reply diana September 20, 2011 at 10:50 pm

    guest post evan! guest post! WOOT WOOT!

    (in the tune of, let’s go evan, let’s go)

    the light is lovely 🙂

  • Reply Rose September 20, 2011 at 10:55 pm

    The black tree wallpaper and the huge round light really makes me think of a surreal nighttime scene in the woods. I love it!

  • Reply Anya September 20, 2011 at 10:56 pm

    That looks fantastic! Love the way the light hits the wallpaper as well. I’d love to see more pics in the future.

  • Reply cajeta September 20, 2011 at 11:28 pm

    I love it against the black wallpaper & next to the forest green lamp! It’s so full moon ET scene!

    • Anna @ D16 September 21, 2011 at 8:34 am

      Awwww! I wish ET would come and hang out with me.

    • •k• September 21, 2011 at 10:07 am

      I’m also getting the ET vibe. You should totally hang a teeny tiny ET and Elliot cutout on that wall just for fun.

  • Reply kay* September 21, 2011 at 2:16 am

    oh that looks so good. i heart that light. and your wallpaper.

  • Reply Monica September 21, 2011 at 3:06 am

    So very pretty!

  • Reply Tania September 21, 2011 at 8:34 am

    Yeah it looks like a full moon in a forest setting. Just beautiful.

  • Reply Ceci September 21, 2011 at 9:27 am

    I can’t wait to see the whole picture! I bet it looks great against the wall paper – like an orb in the woods. What mess?

  • Reply white collar | green soul September 21, 2011 at 10:16 am

    Yay! Look amazing! I’m super jealous of your ferm-living wallpaper as well – they have the most incredible patterns.

    I have a similar light (waiting on a second) that I bought here in Canada from Rona for $80!!! It’s not quite as big (24″), and probably less ‘stringy’ but it’s similar and cool none the less. They’re going in the living room to contrast with the 100 year old medallions… hopefully they end up looking as good as yours!

    – agata.

  • Reply Laura September 21, 2011 at 10:21 am

    I was wondering what became of the lampshade and was feeling pretty good that you might not have gotten around to putting it up yet. Still I can deal with this time frame. Eventually I will fix the lack of light in the downstairs cupboard.

  • Reply Fiona September 21, 2011 at 11:24 am

    Well, you beat me. It took me a year after I moved in to get all my lights installed. I don’t know why something like that took so long, but it did. Then, when I tried to get an electrician to come out (because stuff needed to move, etc) no one even returned my calls. It’s insane! Finally, we tracked someone down who would do it.

  • Reply jbhat September 21, 2011 at 12:30 pm

    OMG, I am so glad you remembered to put it up and to let us know. I have been dyyying to see it. And yes please to Evan. Hurry!

    jbhat

  • Reply Eliza September 21, 2011 at 3:22 pm

    cheers for doing something from your ‘un-fun to-do’ list! it looks beautiful, i’m always giddy to see this room, and renew my crush on this wallpaper!

  • Reply Tamiko September 21, 2011 at 5:12 pm

    Anna: you do know that there is no mess on that table, right? The light looks quite lovely!

  • Reply Querencia September 21, 2011 at 5:35 pm

    i could never be “over” or bored with that light no matter how many rooms i saw it in but it had started to lose its novelty for me. i don’t think i’ve ever seen it positioned like that. i would have cringed about hearing it hung so close to a wall and such a gigantor fellow hung so low over a desk and blahblah. but it’s lovely and… you made a big gigantic statement cosy somehow. my first crushlove for it is renewed. congrats on getting it up. and making it your own in your home.

  • Reply Sarah September 21, 2011 at 5:36 pm

    That looks fabulous! I absolutely love all of those books all over the place! Seriously! I want a study like that!

    (really must cut down on the !’s…)

    • Anna @ D16 September 21, 2011 at 7:22 pm

      !!!!!!! 🙂

  • Reply Lizzie September 22, 2011 at 7:04 pm

    Beautiful! Especially against that wallpaper, yes. What a gorgeous room.

  • Reply Melanie September 23, 2011 at 1:12 pm

    That is an awesome lamp. If you think your place is messy, then you can never see mine. If you decide to visit Seattle sometime, we can meet at a coffee shop. 🙂

  • Reply Annie markantonatou September 23, 2011 at 1:44 pm

    love weird and unique lighting! but my hubby is not so open minded with decor..

  • Reply mommy September 24, 2011 at 12:20 pm

    Did you use one of those old fashioned cloth covered cords and drape it across the ceiling? In Sweden, people frequently have a big lamp hanging right over their coffee table, or sofa end table. Looks great over the desk! Another thing I want to copy, but don’t have room for, except maybe in the basement (if we ever get rid of the smoke damage down there). Evan’s studio is starting to look pretty nifty (so messy though).

    • Anna @ D16 September 24, 2011 at 9:53 pm

      Yes, SO MESSY. At least someone understands. 😉 The cord isn’t cloth, but it’s heavy and black and nice-looking. We need to figure out how to deal with the length (don’t want to cut it), though.

      By the way, your comment got automatically marked as spam! I have no idea why. Weird.

  • Reply Colleen / Inspired to Share September 25, 2011 at 10:51 pm

    It looks awesome!!! Love the first photo!

  • Reply Grumble Girl September 27, 2011 at 11:54 am

    Oh. That looks just beautiful, Anna! I knew it would…

    I’m looking for something similar for our kitchen – something to separate the “living” part from the rest. I doubt I’d be able to find one at 85% off (SQUEEEE!) so, a reasonable facsimile will have to do. One day.

    YAY FOR YOU!!

  • Reply Bromter September 27, 2011 at 4:34 pm

    IT LOOKS AWESOME!

  • Reply jesslope October 2, 2011 at 8:00 pm

    wow. so pretty. so awesome. it does look like a moon.

  • Reply miri October 5, 2011 at 9:45 am

    I managed to convince my boyfriend that the ‘black forest wallpaper’ is great with the help of your posts. I know it’s not called black forest wallpaper but that’s what I call it cause it reminds me of the black forest and, thus, home. It’s lovely, I might get it now.

    I also love the random light, it goes so well with everything else in the room!

  • Reply Georgie October 16, 2011 at 6:14 pm

    Anna,

    a nerdy design question … what is the pantone colour of the ‘YAY’ you’ve used? Love it!

    • Anna @ D16 October 16, 2011 at 7:43 pm

      There are no Pantone colors on computer screens (Pantone is a color system for printing inks), but the hex number is FF0066.

  • Reply Flora October 20, 2011 at 3:23 pm

    Anna, I really enjoy all the little designs and words you add to your pictures. Brilliant.

  • Reply Farmer Doug January 3, 2013 at 7:24 pm

    Hi Anna. Love the lamp! Would sure love to see more such posts too. Has it really been over 15 months since you’ve devoted a post to this particular topic?! Your talent and taste are too good not to share more of your views (and photos) on this subject. Congratulations on having cultivated such a formidable following. I especially like how you are not afraid to publish “negative” comments and to reply soberly to each of them, explaining your position – and for not mincing words about it either! All the best in 2013…”Farmer Doug” @ Ladybug’s Mew in Yellow Point (on Vancouver Island), B.C. Canada

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