Let There Be Lights

Welcome back to home renovation in real time! The last time I posted we were shopping for sofas and lights for our living room. We are still shopping for sofas but we did happily settle on new lights. 

A few years back we saw these globe pendants in the local Re-source store. That is, the sort of home improvement thrift-store in town where my husband likes to hang out to rummage through the scrap metal bin and where I like to look for treasures like this. After letting them sit for what must have been months, we finally decided to pick them up for our front entry. Mike, the owner and our friend, sold the three of them to us for ten dollars each because, as he said, "nobody would want them but [us]". 

That blows my mind about the town we live in because this is not the only mid century treasure we have scooped up for dirt-cheap or free because people here don't seem to appreciate the style. Just yesterday down in Denver, a mere hour and a half away, I saw these exact globe pendants for sale for $500 each in a retro consignment shop. No joke. 

All this also blows my mind when I think about the people who commissioned Nixon and Jones in 1959 to design a modern church building for the mountain town of Granby, CO. Even today, it sticks out like a sore thumb on the hillside, amidst simple and rustic mountain homes. I don't know who they are or what they were thinking, but I appreciate their boldness. 

Part of the reason we decided to pull the trigger on these lights for our front entry is because we stopped by the First Christian Church in Boulder, CO one night before it had been sold and designated a landmark. This was an impromptu stop and there was nobody around so we just walked around and peeked into the windows, wondering at the sense of connectedness we felt with this place that was like a sister to our home. It was difficult to see much, but I immediately recognized the globe pendants hanging throughout and so I told Nate we needed to go get the ones from Mike's. The same architects that designed our house put these lights in this building maybe a year later, so I knew they would belong and bring homage to the original intent of the design. And today, when I think about it, I still feel like we are borrowing our sister's earrings. 

Former First Christian Church in Boulder, CO

All that brings me to today. We have thought about what we would do with our living room lighting for years. People seem to like the original purple stained glass pendants-- and we do, too-- but they really don't fit in exactly with what we want to accomplish with this space. Plus, just because it is original doesn't mean it is the best choice for today. I know people who stick with furniture or fixtures they really don't love or need anymore just because of some arbitrary reasoning like, "It's original," or "It belonged to [so and so]" or, "It was a gift." I'm not about that. I may be extreme but I see my house as an extension of me and so if there is something major that I don't stand behind in my space, then I feel compelled to change it before I think someone will get the wrong idea about me. Though, to be fair, I must not be too extreme because those lights have been giving the wrong idea about me for over five years. I mean, sometimes we can't afford to do major home renovations in one fell swoop. Plus, life is full of compromises and self-discovery, you know. 

So, after looking at all the lights available for sale anywhere, we have finally settled on our lighting. You can find replicas of this globe pendant all over the internet so you don't need to buy the $500 one at your local retro retail store if you don't want to. We found the best deal out there for eight, 14-inch globes (on Wayfair.com, if you're interested). 

We constructed a questionable scaffolding so my husband could spend hours towering more than 20 feet over our new concrete floors. We bought warm white LED bulbs, which will hopefully last forever so we don't have to climb a ladder to change them ever again. 

The end result is whimsical clouds in the heavens. 

We love it and I hope you do, too. At least, I hope you feel light and warm when you come to visit. 

To the Max

I've heard that, when it comes to making decisions, there are two types of people: Maximizers and Optimizers. I think about this a lot because we are renovating and that constitutes a gajillion decisions, most of which put your relationship to the ultimate test. But that's a post for another day.

Now that we have finished our concrete floors we have this huge blank canvas on which to put the entirety of a West Elm catalog carefully though-out investment pieces. By the way, let me digress for a moment and say that there is nothing like having a new, beautiful floor to make all your furniture look like total crap.

So we have been doing a lot of (mostly online) shopping and so now is the perfect time to explain this maximizer/optimizer thing.

MAXIMIZERS:
These are the decision makers who go out looking for, say, a sofa. They analyze exactly what they want and need-- size, color, fabric, style, price-- and then go look at a few sofas. They find one that seems pretty perfect but then proceed to go look at ALL THE SOFAS, everywhere, throughout the whole world. Then they eventually, and almost reluctantly, go buy the pretty perfect sofa and feel great about the decision after second- and third-guessing the choice.

OPTIMIZERS:
Sometimes referred to as "Satisficers" (a mix of satisfy and suffice), these are the decision makers who go out looking for a sofa and find a sofa they kind of like, in their price range and buy it immediately without ever giving it a second thought. Simple as that.

If you haven't met us, Nathan and I are both maximizers. Like, to the max. You wouldn't even believe the multitude of hours we have spent in the Home Depot agonizing over the stupidest things.

I snapped this picture of Nate the other day, nearly comatose, online shopping. We have finally decided, after five years of living here and thinking about this, which light pendants will replace the purple stained glass ones in our living room sanctuary. Here, he is tediously looking at all the lights. After we have already decided. Just to make sure we really like those the most, and that we get the absolute best deal. I rarely give him any crap about this sort of thing because I am the same way. I totally get it.

Now we are on the hunt for the most perfect sofa. If you have found one you love and can make recommendations, comment and let me know. In the meantime, if you need us you can find us looking at all the sofas.

Tiny Victory

It's been a while since I last posted and I am sorry if I've left you on pins and needles. To catch you up, we stopped just short of finishing our floors before a much needed Christmas holiday away with family. Now, it's the new year and as cliche as it may be, Nathan and I both feel a sense of newness on the horizon.

If you know me then you probably know I am not one to live my life on autopilot or become stuck in a rut (for long). The same thing inside me that gave me a wanderlust through my twenties is the same thing that inspired me to jump on board with my love and move into an old church in Colorado. This is the same thing that causes me to periodically reevaluate my choices to-date and make sure I am (we are) still on the right path for us. We cannot help but wonder sometimes if this church house plays such a key role in our story because it is our idol or because it is our calling. We hope and pray it is the latter.

Regardless of where we've been or where we'll end up next New Year, this place is our home and I am excited to show you what's new.

As of today, Nathan has finished the last coat of wax. If you are interested in the nerdy details, the wax protects the sealer, which protects the concrete, mostly from scratches. They also help to bring out the rich color of the stain.

During this process we talked to several people who had never seen polished concrete floors, at least not in a home. I think we sounded crazy to them. I also think we Americans have a real hardwood floor fetish.

A guy at Bobcat of the Rockies in Golden, CO-- which was our lifeblood during this process, from machine rental to product purchasing to astounding knowledge bestowed-- told us at one point that if he were going to bid out our job it would cost $8 per square-foot and it would take a crew a solid week.

"You can install new hardwood for less than that," I said. 

But here's the thing. Even though hardwood flooring is very timeless and wonderful in its own way, and we will be using it in some parts of our home, it was worth it to us to restore this concrete.

First off, this was the original flooring and, come to find out, very true to modern design in the mid-century. To restore this floor is to bring back to life part of the original architecture of this building. That feels almost missional.

Next, the crew that first poured the concrete slab in 1959-1960, used a hand trowel to create this decorative diamond pattern as control lines (that's the part that looks like tile). This is a detail you just don't see very much anymore. Labor is so expensive and so custom details like that are all-too often neglected today. As they say. "they don't make it like they used to." To cover the concrete with any other flooring would be, quite literally, to bury diamonds.

Finally, reusing something you already have is the most sustainable way to design. No trees were harmed in the restoring of these floors.

Nathan and I love the finished product and a contractor friend even told us that it looks really good. That it's "not your typical homeowner special." That means a lot coming from a professional. Still, we definitely made compromises along the way and we can look at the finished product and see every single flaw. That's life, though. All you can do is the best you can do with the time and money, knowledge and skill you possess at the time. And I'm certainly not going to point out those flaws to you.

At this point you might still be unsatisfied with these "'after" pictures, taken at night, with a cheap camera. There's no stunning room design and it will take months to update everything that goes on top of these new floors. But that is what this process is mostly like. Tiny victories.