Lighting Ideas

I’m actually not sure if this “fiber optic fall” is a room divider, an update on those hippy door beads, or what (the picture I found on the web isn’t very good). Still, it looks interesting. Something fun for a college dorm room maybe. The site where I found it just calls it “a new type of optic fiber decoration.” Sounds good to me.

“Optic fiber strings is made up of ten rows plastic optic fiber or more, every string optic fiber is processed as a string of mini bulbs, but it can change colors and all body is glittering and translucent. The optic fibers are arranged side by side, formed a width curtain, shinning and colour changing…”

Here’s a link to the company site (for those of you who can read Chinese… though even if you can’t there are some neat pictures of fiber optic products): http://www.cnfortis.com/

Looking for some Halloween decoration ideas? This string of pumpkin lights is sort of the Halloween version of Christmas lighting. You can string them up around the house and set them to a static or twinkling setting (you know, I’m not sure about twinkling pumpkins… twinkling Christmas lights I can see, but hm…). The lights run on AA batteries, so I guess you don’t have to put them up near an electrical outlet.

If you’re interested you can find more information on the pumpkin lighting at Alibaba, where they have quite a few funky holiday decorating ideas.

If you’re looking for a good table lamp to ready by… this ain’t it. The Supernova Color Changing Sphere Light is probably just good for mood lighting. It reminds me a bit of my old lava lamp, which was broken in one of my moves a few years ago. Man, I still miss that lamp now that I think about it. I may have to hunt down lava lamps next.

But anyway, the sphere lamp allows you to “create a calming atmosphere of ever changing colors and merged hues.” It uses different LEDs to create color combinations, such as red and green, blue and green, red and blue, and solid colors of red, blue, and green. It’s 8″ in diameter and just looks like a white ball when it’s turned off. There are more pictures of it in action on the merchant’s web site:

http://www.endoftherainbow-gifts.com/supernovasphere.html

Mmm, fire. I’m not sure what the heck I would do with a light like this, but the Fire Electrica Lamp is definitely unique. I think it’d be good in a downstairs rec room where you’ve got a wet bar and a pool table, and you throw the occasional party. It’s got that kind of party mood lighting vibe going (which is probably why it’s sold at a place called e-Party Unlimited).

The fire lamp will cost you $45 if you’re interested, though you can save money if you buy in bulk (because I’m sure you’re gonna need 10 or 12 of these…)

ePartyUnlimited

This is one of the neater looking outdoor lamps I’ve come across lately. I’m guessing from the name (French Conductor Lantern) that it’s styled after something they used to carry on the trains (locomotives?) back in ye olden days, before electricity was standard. Even if that guess is wrong, the lamp definitely reminds me of times gone by. This is a modern version, however, and it uses a light bulb instead of a candle. The lantern is meant to install on your deck or patio, to provide lighting while you entertain. Or it could work in the front of the house, too, to brighten the way for nocturnal visitors. Either way, the lantern is available for $565.00 from Circa Lighting.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve got some really boring ceiling lamps. I’ve pimped out my table lamps and floor lamps, but I haven’t done anything with the ceiling fixtures yet (I’ve got the ones that came with the place, yawn, boring) because I’m short and it looks like more work to switch out ceiling lamps. But someday it must be done, and I’d love to have some fun fixtures like this glass confetti lamp. Here’s a blurb from the site on how they’re made: “Fused glass shades are custom made from strips of special colored glass assembled onto a flat sheet and slowly fused together into one sheet of glass. This piece is then cut, sanded and returned to the kiln to be slumped into a bowl or sconce shape.”

Classic Illumination

Here’s a lantern that was inspired by bare winter branches. It seems like it would be an appropriate outdoor wall sconce now that autumn is here (not that I change out my lighting fixtures based on what time of year it is, though there probably are people in the world who are that assiduous with their decorating). This lamp is made from steel finished in a weathered bronze tone, and it sports a seeded glass shade (no, I don’t know what “seeded” means in this context either). It takes two 60 watt candle bulbs. Available from Smith and Hawken, the outdoor wall sconce will run you $139.

Smith and Hawken

Because I just don’t have enough blogs (barely 10…), I decided to start a new one over at my log home and log cabin web site. The site is two or three years old and rather unimpressive, so I thought starting a blog would be a way to get back into it. I also figured it’d help draw some traffic to the site, since Google seems to love fresh content (most of the articles on the main site haven’t been updated for a couple years… they’re “evergreen” though, stuff that is still true today). Anyway, if anyone out there has the log home dream (as I do), you’ll be able to see everything from log home pictures to log furniture ideas at the log homes blog.

Of course, there are only two posts up now, but I’m planning to add three or four a week and get a nice little archive going.