February 11, 2010

tax refund = dining room pendant light (maybe)




I love tax time... I used to dread it... I hated it... but now, given the interest we pay on our mortgage, in addition to Cook County real estate taxes, tax time offers.... THE GLORIOUS REFUND! ka-ching! ka-ching! ka-ching!
Actually, it's more like only one ka-ching!, but still... $$$.
In addition to stashing some cash in savings, a little bit of the refund is scheduled for cosmetic, but much needed, home improvements... Towards the top of the list - the dining room / kitchen light fixture situation.
Currently in the dining room, there is just a bare bulb in an exposed wire fixture socket... bare bulbs, when designed/installed with thought, can be used quite effectively in lighting, however the bulb situation in our dining room is not an example of such.
About 3 or 4 months back, we installed a red vintage Panton Topan Pendant in the kitchen. I grew up with it in my room. Originally, we were going to hang it in the study upstairs, however the kitchen needed a pendant over the island so I figured let's hang it in the kitchen for now. The pop of color is striking against the charcoal soapstone counters... HOWEVER, I stumbled upon the Topan Pendant in black and man, oh, man... that fixture would look NICE in the kitchen. Especially when lit... the inside has a copper glow. So, now I'm wondering do we get the Topan in black for the kitchen and move the red one upstairs to the study??? Hmmm....
First and foremost, which pendant should we go with for the dining room? We've narrowed it down to two choices - 1) the cost effective yet fun/edgy Patrick Townsend Orbit Chandelier OR 2) the OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive beautful yet never affordable so we'll have to find a used one on eBay or get a knock-off Artichoke Pendant by Louis Poulsen.
Photoshop mock-ups located above... Thoughts?