An Almost New Dining Room Lamp

It was one of the first things we bought when we moved to DC eighteen years ago. We needed a table lamp so we drove somewhere in Virginia and my husband liked this long stemmed metal art deco lamp. It has been in storage since we moved to northern Virginia five years ago - until this week. A few years ago we got a Holtkotter desk lamp for the entryway. It’s quite heavy and is a real pain in the neck. It found its way to the dining room side board when we moved. It has a halogen bulb - which I burned my fingers on once - and it stopped working. We took it to the neighborhood light store The company is now out of business and you can’t find replacement bulbs. The light bulb was working so it had to be the lamp. When we brought it home we plugged it back in and it worked - and then it didn’t after a few days. We couldn’t even unscrew the glass shade to get at the bulb. So rather than try and find a lightbulb or fool around with this annoying lamp anymore I took out the good old standby to see if it might work. I never cared for the height of the lamp on a side table. It was just too tall. But on the sideboard it balanced out the vase and the metal pieces and blended in nicely with the large mirror behind it. So now we are trying to find a way to get rid of the heavy glass lamp shape without having to drive to the dump. At least we had a decent replacement lamp. 

Fixin’ Up the House - the Little Things

We moved to northern Virginia three years ago. It’s the first place we haven’t really “done up” to our taste. With the pandemic it probably needs it more than ever, but we just didn’t have the inclination. The place looks okay, but not “cozy” - at least to my standards. A couple of weeks ago we rearranged the bedroom furniture so the head of the bed is away from the window. And we moved the couch in the den to the side of the room rather than walking in to it. It all looks so much better! That made visible a couple of things that needed to be addressed. The boxes that were under the bench by the foot of the bed are now under the window. Because they are sitting on the wood floor instead of the carpet, I needed to put sliders under them so as not to scratch the floor when pulling them in and out, and also attach to the back so they wouldn’t scratch the toe kick. We then had one of the lamps repaired so now it works like it should. There were four ugly plugs that stand out against the white wall that needed to be better camouflaged. I pulled out the very large adapter we used in our Capitol Hill condo and put the only white plug to the right, two black plugs on the left side, and put two plugs in the extension cord. Then all the cables were tied together and lifted off the floor so the vacuum cleaner wouldn’t get caught up in the wires. If we had a king bed you wouldn’t even see the wires and plugs. But we have a queen so there is the extra space. The three way plug that was once used there is now in the bathroom where we now have a small dehumidifier running, but need more plugs for other things. I can’t believe there was only one plug put in this bathroom! Then the small Persian carpet that was in the foyer by the closet was put back in the kitchen where it belongs. We purchased a Ruggables rug a few months back that never stayed put and just didn’t look that great. Then on the balcony we finally refurbished the baskets that hang from the seats with annuals. Now it looks fresh and pretty even though the flowers face the outside. At least when we sit out there we can enjoy them. It doesn’t seem like much but when you have a 1000 square foot living space everything needs to have a place and be functional. Since we probably won’t ever put in a second bathroom in our bedroom closet that may become the next project. We have so much junk in there it needs to be purged. We probably won’t ever use the twin bed that is stored there and taking up space. I’ve seen “closets” that might work nicely there that have shelves and doors and hanging racks. The discussion now is to either remove the candy dish in the foyer because it’s too busy or find something less ornate. Since we had to use the furniture from our other house not everything really goes in the new one. We did purchase a dining room sideboard a few months ago that we hope will create a cleaner look. If we ever see it we’ll need to decide next steps if needed. Oh - the shade in the dining room is crooked. We should probably get that fixed……

Lamp Repair at Lamps Unlimited

It’s been broken for three years. But since we have two of them we didn’t feel the need to have it fixed. We bought the pair of bedroom lamps at Ethan Allen sixteen years ago! One of them just sparked and it smelled like burnt wire so we just left it as a decorative piece rather than functional. But then we finally decided to move the bedroom furniture around so the head wasn’t under the window. In so doing, the “good lamp” ended up on my husband’s side of the bed - in the corner that needs the light when it is needed. That also meant that he would have to be the one responsible for turning it off right before we go to sleep - which would be a new habit. So we finally decided it would also be time to get the lamp fixed. Neither one of us wanted to buy new lamps because we like the way these look and they are rarely used. So we brought the lamp in yesterday to Lamps Unlimited - just down the street - to see if it could be repaired. Today we got the call that it was ready for pick up. It only cost twenty five dollars to either fix the switch or put in a new cord. We were happy with that and so was the bedroom. It’s a nice feeling to have two functional lamps! 

Kichler Living Room Lamp Fix With Cloth Tape

We found a really pretty Kichler drum lamp for the living room. Unfortunately, we didn’t like it after it was installed. The shade on the white opaque glass lamp had what looked like two dark blue/gray stripes on it. It just didn’t look right based on the color scheme for the rest of the room. So I thought it might look better without the shade - just the opaque glass. So I put the shade away thinking we might use it again. The glass only light was better, but it was too small for the size of the room. So I started thinking making about options. I remembered when we first moved in three months ago that we got a can of paint to match our walls - just to have around for nicks and such. So I thought I could paint the stripes on the shade and see if that would make a difference. The idea was for it to blend in to the ceiling rather than make a huge statement. The sheer shade made the statement on its own but it didn’t need the stripes. So I painted the stripes with several coats over several days last week a little at a time. The trouble was I only had a foam brush that was too big for the project. What got on the inside plastic could easily be scraped away. But what got on the outside shade material wasn’t going anywhere. It looked awful when I finished and I was very disappointed - but wasn’t going to give us. I spent half of the day yesterday looking for white self adhesive ribbon and simply couldn’t find a thing. I really didn’t want to get ribbon and then glue it on, and I didn’t feel like driving all over town trying to find it. Then I remembered using bandage cloth tape for an injury I had many years ago. It met all the characteristics I was looking for - “all purpose,” off white, “ribbon texture,” self adhesive. So I luckily found a brand new roll of it in the bathroom cabinet and went to work. I ended up using several layers on the inside to hide the paint mistakes because the tape is somewhat transparent - the only draw back. It’s not the “cleanest” job I’ve ever done because the tape is not taut - so it looks a bit home made. But it does the trick for now - until I can think of something better - or just get to a Michael’s or JoAnne Fabrics to find out how it should really be done. 

Holtkotter Table Lamp Osram Halogen Light Bulb

My husband fell in love with the glass cloud table lamp over two years ago. We bought it at Alexandria Lighting in Old Town and I knew at the time we should probably get a replacement bulb for the inevitable - but we didn’t. So wouldn’t you know on Sunday evening the light quit working. I searched for the documentation about the specific detail for the halogen bulb. But I also realized that this light has a fuse, which could also be the culprit. This lamp has a dimming function and a one touch turn off button at the base. So we decided to go back to Alexandria Lighting and hopefully get the replacements we needed. They had the Osram Halolux Ceram bulb in 100w only - this lamp called for 75. The guy said it shouldn’t be a problem. Let’s hope not. So we got two replacement bulbs and didn’t get the fuse because they needed to see the specific fuse to better identify it. And he thought it was the bulb anyway. We’ve been using the lamp every day for many hours since we bought it. The thing about halogen bulbs is that you can’t touch them, and you’re not supposed to look directly at it either. Thank goodness I kept the literature describing the steps to get this thing taken apart and put back together. It is a very interesting lighting fixture, but sometimes it’s better to have the old fashioned kind. 

Holtkotter Tall Viennese Table Lamp with Dimmer

It took a month to finally get our hands on it, but it finally arrived yesterday at Alexandria Lighting. First the wrong size was ordered, then it was delivered to the wrong address. When we saw the size of the box at the store we were flabbergasted! All the packing materials filled a huge garbage bag. But it arrived in once piece and all we had to do was put it together - the LED light in to the base, and add the glass cloud shade. Of course, the three prong plug that comes with a fuse to handle the dimmer mechanism created a problem because there was already something hogging up the space. So we found an extension for the meantime and tried it out. We need to get used to the extreme change from what was there - a more traditional lamp with a large decorative dark base with a broad shade. This Holtkotter lamp is sleek and clean - almost floating! The dimming function is interesting - you just push a button on the base to light it up completely, or keep pressing it and release when you hit the ambiance that works. So this ends our year long freshening up of the studio apartment. Now we are looking forward to living in it.