# Finding Sensible Items in the Modern Age



## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

_I'm re-posting this from our social thread to start a general discussion on modern madness:
_
Hi folks, something I had to show you all. I mentioned I was _still_ looking for bedside lamps to suit the Bush Room (https://www.flickr.com/photos/redmoonsanctuary/ and scroll down to the room with the raw timber wall). That's because since I last went lamp shopping, I seem to have fallen off the planet and landed on a cheap replica... I am just looking for a traditional turned-timber or timber/wrought iron type lamp, you know, like they pretty much all used to be, shouldn't be too hard...

Well, in the local shops not a one. I remember a few months ago, we bought bedside lamps for our bedroom from a second-hand shop, nice ones in turned timber/wrought iron, and I just bought new cherry red lampshades for them. (Will show you these when I've finally hemmed the bedroom curtains! :wink

But nothing at all like that. The bases all look like vases now, or rubbish bins, although they did have a very kitschy pink plastic cockatoo as well. Has the world gone mad where you are also?

So tonight I started looking online. Under "traditional lamps" I found these:










For just under $90, you too can have a design that looks like a toilet roll core on a stick!











Or - how about a psychedelic tampon on a stainless steel stand?











Or you can spend about $130 on something that looks like a shower head.











One of the vases I was talking about. Aren't we supposed to keep electrics away from water?


Now to other sources:










IKEA offers this charmingly elevated wastepaper basket. And it's only $20.











Or you can have Barbie Doll's blender, it's very affordable at $15, also from IKEA.










How about this retro 1980s computer look? About $50 from Bunnings, our biggest hardware chain.










This is around $150 and reminiscent of prosthetics.











Hmm. Not sure what this is, or its price, but kinda not interested...

Man, what happened to design? :icon_rolleyes:


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

...and for these and other reasons we generally get a lot of our stuff second-hand or make it ourselves!  Any nice DIY projects of whatever are totally welcome on this thread!


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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

Oh, those made me laugh! 

I don't have any photos, but like you, I buy second hand. I either go with the vintage look or put my own spin on it.

My latest project is making a headboard for a twin bed out of a picket fence gate I found on the place when I bought it. I have a boarder in that room right now though, so it will be September before I get it done and up.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

Actually, I like some of thise. 

The one with the boxy bottom would look cool in that room with the wood wall.


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

I'm not a fan of modern décor so while I'm waiting for decent fabric colors to come back in style my livingroom furniture keeps looking shabbier and shabbier.


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

I found this by searching "country style furnishings". 

Primitive Lamps


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## Saskia (Aug 26, 2009)

I am a member of a local Facebook "Garage Sale" group and I buy so much stuff from there. 

Like a lovely, homemade, secondhand, massive full wood bookshelf for $50. Just like random stuff. I got an iron towel rack the other day, and a free full wood wardrobe that was about 40 years old and more solid than many you see these days. 

Buying new there isn't much at the moment. You can get little kits to turn things into lamps. Like it has the cord and bayonet and you can attach it to anything really.


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## lostastirrup (Jan 6, 2015)

Your descriptions made my day.:rofl::rofl:


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

tinyliny said:


> Actually, I like some of thise.
> 
> The one with the boxy bottom would look cool in that room with the wood wall.


Well, we clearly disagree on that one. We think that's a total mismatch! The vase thing looks twee, if that's the one you mean, and the 80s computer sculpture isn't right for a natural-material room. None of these are candidates.


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

JCnGrace said:


> I found this by searching "country style furnishings".
> 
> Primitive Lamps


Thank you, JCG, some of these look very nice! Shame postage from the US is so expensive.

I'll try the same keywords for my next Australian search.


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

Saskia said:


> I am a member of a local Facebook "Garage Sale" group and I buy so much stuff from there.
> 
> Like a lovely, homemade, secondhand, massive full wood bookshelf for $50. Just like random stuff. I got an iron towel rack the other day, and a free full wood wardrobe that was about 40 years old and more solid than many you see these days. .


Yeah, fossicking like that is a good way to get stuff. We got our timber kitchen second-hand for under $2000 from auction before we even had permission to build, and after we'd made complementary contrasting add-ons and modifications to fit it into our space it turned into this:










This was just before completion. With the woodwork around the stove done and the pantry finished, it now looks like this:










A good friend who is a cabinetmaker and now lives in France helped us get skilled, and did the nitty-gritty stuff like patch the benchtop where a built-in cooktop had been. One of the aims of our house was not to have it ever feel modern or brand-new in any way - we were aiming for timeless - and to have a low ecological footprint both in the building and in the maintenance (it's winter, but we're passive solar, and running our wood heater maybe one evening a week right now in the middle of our winter - the sun, house design, thermal mass and insulation do the rest).

We also bought a wardrobe before that which was officially the first part of the house, from the same auction place. It reminded me of Narnia. It's now in the bedroom, but this is an old photo just after we moved the furniture in and doesn't show our bedside lamps, acquired second-hand after much looking!










And some of the stuff you find at the annual kerbside collection just shows what a wasteful throwaway society we live in... You don't need to bother buying a TV, just pick up last year's model from the kerbside collection...


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

boots said:


> I don't have any photos, but like you, I buy second hand. I either go with the vintage look or put my own spin on it.
> 
> My latest project is making a headboard for a twin bed out of a picket fence gate I found on the place when I bought it.


That sounds like a great headboard!

When you do get photos of _any_ of these, please share!


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

On a brighter note, while it's not what I'm looking for, I thought this was kind of cute:










:smile:

In the daytime it's an inoffensive plain white ceramic. It's a fine line between this and kitsch, but I think this one is OK. I just doubt it would give off enough light for reading a book by. But as a sort of night light, this could work in a bush theme room. You can actually get it as a night light - a small size to plug straight into the socket. It would be a novel way of keeping guests from tripping in the corridor at night en route to the facilities.

They do have bedside lamps like this as well:






















This owl, however, looks like it was the subject of some ghastly experiment that should be reported to the RSPCA. By contrast, the one above it just looks like an owl spiffed up for the Melbourne Cup. Maybe it's just the angle...


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

Hubby made a set of lamps from black diamond willow that grows in wetter soil. When sanded and protected it's a beautiful wood. Often the smaller wood is used in walking sticks.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

The 2 painted lamps are from my time spent decorating wooden lamps as part of a very small 'Cottage Industry' in the UK. 
The one with the twisted base was made from part of a beam from a quite ancient Village Hall that was demolished in about 1920. It was made by one of my ancestors who later emigrated to Canada and was a gift to my Grandparents (the shade was made much later for me)
I'm not crazy about the really modern look


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

Saddlebag said:


> Hubby made a set of lamps from black diamond willow that grows in wetter soil. When sanded and protected it's a beautiful wood. Often the smaller wood is used in walking sticks.


Oh, that sounds lovely, will you post some photos?

It's great how different types of wood often have these very different types of beauty. I like gnarly wood, wood with contrasts, wood with natural curves still on, wood that's got saw tooth marks still in it or plugs of resin, or with burnt areas from bushfires... wood with character, which ironically is considered "flawed" in standard woodwork / carpentry. From a strength point of view it might be, but for pieces where that doesn't matter so much, I think the aesthetics are great.

The pantry door in our kitchen was something we made from cypress pine floorboards. I'd never heard of cypress pine, and stumbled upon it by chance at a small building supplies store in our town. Turns out one of the staff there was using this little-known wood to make interestingly shaped frames for mirrors. The wood is a swirly mix of coffee and cream colours. I'd never seen wood like that before. I thought, "Oh, it's Hobbit wood!" when I first saw it.










This image shows more detail than our photos, but we selected the most contrasting pieces we could from the stock that was there.

I'd love any more photos of beautiful timbers anyone here has discovered, and if you've made things from them, then photos of these things... some people used driftwood to make pieces that are decorative or functional or both, and I've really liked that too!


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

jaydee said:


> The 2 painted lamps are from my time spent decorating wooden lamps as part of a very small 'Cottage Industry' in the UK.
> The one with the twisted base was made from part of a beam from a quite ancient Village Hall that was demolished in about 1920. It was made by one of my ancestors who later emigrated to Canada and was a gift to my Grandparents (the shade was made much later for me)
> I'm not crazy about the really modern look


Wow, that twisted base one is so intricate and beautifully made, it must have taken so much time, skill and patience to fashion it! I don't have anywhere near that level of skill with wood, but I can very much admire it.

And I think it's so cool when a piece of timber is recycled at the end of its life span and turned into something else, which now has a real history!

On one of the Grand Designs programmes, there was this English couple who weren't happy with the older-style house they had in their older-style neighbourhood, so they demolished it totally and built a new thing that looked industrial, you know, like a pathology laboratory. They didn't recycle a thing from their demolition, they hated it so much - but they didn't allow anyone else to recycle the materials either. So my husband and I watched with horror as a wrecking ball was used to smash everything, the bricks, the tiles, and, unbelievably, the wonderful oak beams that were used in the roof structure...

Most English people I've come across actually value historical things and lovely materials. That's probably why there are so many cute cottages and houses in England, in all sorts of different styles. They all look real, not Legoland!

Did you paint the first two lamps there? It looks like painstaking work. Are you very patient, and steady with your hands? ...I really like the one that looks like an elaborate candlestick!


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

I also have an old sideboard (not sure if that's what they're called anywhere else) that was made from wood salvaged from the old Hall by the same person, he was the Village Policeman as well as being a Cabinet Maker!!!
Yes I painted those lamps - the tall one was a copy of the original that had belonged to someone in the family of the man who set up the little company we worked in as a team, I think it was his wife's grt grandmother - they were 'Honorable's' related to some line of the Royal Family and the original was a candlestick as was the twisted base that I had converted into a lamp stand
We did quite a lot of different types and sold them through a London Company to places all over the world


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

Sue, our's got damaged in a move, altho they did look much like the one in the pic.


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

That's really beautiful, SB!  I think synthetic materials can't do what natural materials can, aesthetically. It's, I don't know, soul versus no soul...


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

*My garage sale find*


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

and, I like this owl the best:


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

Wow, great lamp, TL! That's a really elegant solution. Find a nice bit branch, polish it, make a hole down the centre for the electrics, attach lampshade of your choice.

This is a banksia cone:










Banksias are small Australian trees and there are many different species. The above photo is a _Banksia grandis_ cone. _Banksia integrifolia_ cones look like this:











_Banksia grandis_ cones in the tree:











And here's some examples of what enterprising local wood turners make from these cones:


















































I'm sure these would also make interesting lampstands. DH and I must go and look in some woodturner galleries!


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

I've had "disappearing photos" in the last post. Strangely, they all worked at the time of posting. One of the missing photos was a vase with a wide bottom and a narrow, sculpted top, made out of a bankia cone. My IT geek husband says sometimes this happens when servers go down, or when people decide to take photos off / block transmission. If they reappear, then I'll take it a server was down.

Strangely, one person on our social group can never see any of the photos I post, but sees everyone else's. In her case I think it's a software thing... or maybe internet speed...


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## DuffyDuck (Sep 27, 2011)

I hate decorating and matching things and finding furniture.
And clothes shopping. 

I hand over my cash to my mother, and she sorts it all out 

I do like the Banksia stuff, however. Very nice!


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## SEAmom (Jan 8, 2011)

You may be interested in this site, too.

Eco Friendly Home and Garden Decor, Stylish and Affordable Green Products, Green Gifts, Environmentally Friendly Products, Sustainable Furniture, Eco Friendly Pet Products, Eco Friendly Fashion

If you do a general search for organic decorating, there are LOTS of pretty cool products and ideas out there. I've worked with enough architects and interior designers that you want to use words like organic, rustic, etc. when looking at stuff like that to help you find what you're interested in.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

When a teen we'd scout the driftwood that would wash up on shore after winter storms on a huge lake. Altho it appears grey, sanding soon reveals different streaks of color.


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

SueC said:


> Wow, great lamp, TL! That's a really elegant solution. Find a nice bit branch, polish it, make a hole down the centre for the electrics, attach lampshade of your choice.
> 
> This is a banksia cone:
> 
> ...


Oh my gosh I'm feeling creepy crawlies all over... my goodness it's freaking me out. I can't do holes in things that look fungusy... 

~~~

I do love drift wood though, and they have some neat lamps but I'm thinking you need something with more body.

Why not try looking up "rustic table lamps" there were some oil lamp replicas that would look amazing in your room.


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## ChitChatChet (Sep 9, 2013)

This was a great thread to read on a Monday morning! I really needed a good laugh.


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

SueC said:


> Or you can spend about $130 on something that looks like a shower head.


ROFL, reminded me of the lamp in the OB/Gyn's office.....the one right at the foot of the exam table?


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

My thought exactly! My dad was a doctor, so I remember him using a lamp like that.


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## Missy May (Feb 18, 2012)

SueC, I love your armoire...what I can see of it, anyway. I imagine "the whole enchilada" is gorgeous. 

I got a kick out of the lamp pics and descriptions. haha!! 

I dislike lamps and I do not own one. It just seems like extreme overkill for one or two bulbs. Pooh-Bah. We have a lot of skylights, so - maybe if we didn't I would see it differently. 

I do like the new led flameless candles though. Downside - they are battery operated. Not quite the "candle light power" you are looking for, I am sure.


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

Missy May said:


> I dislike lamps and I do not own one. It just seems like extreme overkill for one or two bulbs. Pooh-Bah. We have a lot of skylights, so - maybe if we didn't I would see it differently.


But you see, we like to read at night in bed, and we think some of our guests might like to do that too!


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## Missy May (Feb 18, 2012)

SueC said:


> But you see, we like to read at night in bed, and we think some of our guests might like to do that too!


Read? :wink:

I can select overhead lighting just on "my side", but I'm to lazy to get up and turn it off, so I got a kindle.  My mom has complained about that no lamp thing whilst visiting, though. :icon_rolleyes:


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## SEAmom (Jan 8, 2011)

Missy May said:


> SueC, I love your armoire...what I can see of it, anyway. I imagine "the whole enchilada" is gorgeous.
> 
> I got a kick out of the lamp pics and descriptions. haha!!
> 
> ...


I'm almost the opposite. I can't stand overhead lighting (we have an attic, so no skylights in the upstairs OR downstairs rooms), so lamps are my go-to. While I like turning on a light when I walk into a dark room (I hate the dark), I far prefer turning on a lamp than an overhead light. 

We have some of the LED candles, but they really are useless. Just a single point of light with no notable distribution.


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## Missy May (Feb 18, 2012)

SEAmom said:


> I'm almost the opposite. I can't stand overhead lighting (we have an attic, so no skylights in the upstairs OR downstairs rooms), so lamps are my go-to. While I like turning on a light when I walk into a dark room (I hate the dark), I far prefer turning on a lamp than an overhead light.
> 
> We have some of the LED candles, but they really are useless. Just a single point of light with no notable distribution.


I don't like the dark, either. I put led nightlights everywhere, including the kind that act as a flashlight, too - just incase.  

Against better judgment, I just have to have one of those led candles w the timer for "nightlight".  If nothing else, I'll put them in my patio candle lanterns and attract bugs! :wink: 

I do like the driftwood, cactus or other natural looking lamps, at least you get a piece of art for the footprint. And, I really liked the "retrofitted" lantern someone posted, and it seems like it would fit well in your beautiful home, Sue.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

There's something really cozy about lamps and they can be an art object as well as being functional


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

Missy May said:


> Read? :wink:
> 
> I can select overhead lighting just on "my side", but I'm to lazy to get up and turn it off, so I got a kindle.  My mom has complained about that no lamp thing whilst visiting, though. :icon_rolleyes:


Ah, but you know, although we too sometimes read on e-readers or our netbooks, we are the kind of fossilised archetypes who really enjoy _paper_ books most of all! The smell, the feel, the whole history of books and book-binding and printing... so much richer than IT! 

And if you have a bedside lamp, you don't have to get up to turn it off! ;-) That's my piece in praise of bedside lamps.

I am considering ordering a pair of glow-owls to see if they can be made to emit enough light for book-reading, and be comfortable too (light shining directly into eyes is not cool when reading). If it's a no to either of these, I will put low-lumen bulbs into them and just have one in each guest room for mood lighting. I think the owls have something to offer for atmosphere one way or the other.


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

SEAmom said:


> I'm almost the opposite. I can't stand overhead lighting (we have an attic, so no skylights in the upstairs OR downstairs rooms), so lamps are my go-to. While I like turning on a light when I walk into a dark room (I hate the dark), I far prefer turning on a lamp than an overhead light.
> 
> We have some of the LED candles, but they really are useless. Just a single point of light with no notable distribution.


We don't like harsh lighting, and our overhead lighting is all low/medium lumen bulbs that emit a warm golden light. We're finding it really great for creating a cosy evening atmosphere, and for our Circadian rhythms: Bright electric lighting interferes with those. You know how they put bright lights in commercial hen barns to increase their lay by messing with their Circadian rhythms? Yet modern humans also routinely expose themselves to that kind of biological disruption. The low-intensity, eye-friendly soft, golden lights are really great at getting it through to our bodies it's not business as usual, but transition time for upcoming sleep! 

We have a lot of rice paper lamps in the house and they too help soften and diffuse the electric light.

During the day, superbly daylit even on gloomy days.

PS: Some of the modern alternatives to Edison bulbs really make my eyes hurt... especially the blue-toned, flickering ones. Yeuch. Good thing they have nice non-Edison bulbs now too.


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

PS to owl lamps:

Other lamps, of course, are still on the list as well, and there have been some great examples and links here, thanks everyone! 

And keep your DIY projects and ideas coming, I'm listening!


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## Missy May (Feb 18, 2012)

SueC, the owl lamps sound great. I am all for functional art!

My DD, a teenager, would agree with your appreciation for bound books when it comes to textbooks. I have tried to push the latest kindles and textbook digital downloads for years. She isn't having it. It seems the better alternative _to me. _She is a straight 'A' student, so I back off and try to stay silent - which isn't easy.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

When our small house was being built, I had the electricians install his and hers lamps over the bed. They were bullet style so provided enough light for reading but could be turned so as not to disturb the other. No need for lamp tables. Since hubby was up much earlier than me his light was also operated from a switch just inside the door as I didn't want a ceiling fixture.


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

...this thread I think is also worth resurrecting, although unfortunately some of the original photos have disappeared in cyberspace. We've got new members who I'm sure have things to say about this topic, and who can resist a good whine about the trials and tribulations of modern living? :Angel:


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

Childproof caps on bottles - also elderly and not so elderly person proof!


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## horseylover1_1 (Feb 13, 2008)

Hmm, I just buy everything on Amazon - or if it is horse related... online Western stores. Did you finally find a lamp? I didn't read the whole thread. LOL.


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

Yeah, I did. At a second-hand place - lamps with banksia cones as stands...





That's one of the guest rooms. It's supposed to feel Australian! 

More photos here:

https://www.horseforum.com/member-j...ys-other-people-479466/page34/#post1970635935


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## AndyTheCornbread (Feb 3, 2019)

This is what I have for my bedside lamp. Seems to work well for me:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Newhous...p-with-LED-Bulb-Included-NHDK-OX-BK/307443468


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

SueC said:


> Wow, great lamp, TL! That's a really elegant solution. Find a nice bit branch, polish it, make a hole down the centre for the electrics, attach lampshade of your choice.
> 
> This is a banksia cone:
> 
> ...



I started laughing at the first photo. It reminds me of a bunch of chattering, happy, clams. The end result of someone's artistry turned out beautiful though.


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## MissLulu (Feb 3, 2019)

@SueC I love your home. It looks like an old house that someone did some nice updates without getting rid of the character.


I love the owl lamp. Over the past year I have been looking for light fixtures and saw that cute lamp but decided I didn't have a use for it. I may need to rethink that decision. Shopping for light fixtures is exhausting! So many choices and 99% of it won't work in my home.


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

MissLulu said:


> @SueC I love your home. It looks like an old house that someone did some nice updates without getting rid of the character.


Thank you... that was what we were hoping for, when we built the place. We didn't want to live in a modern place. Although the shape is modern from the outside because I designed it passive-solar for the site (on grid paper etc with sun angles for various seasons :ZZZ and this was the most logical way to do it, building it largely from lime plastered straw, wood and with a traditional (for Australia, 100+ years ago) metal roof softened all that modernity and gave us an outcome we're very happy with. I'm actually a sucker for Lord of the Rings type stuff, or Gaudi, or anything witchy with pointy gables. turrets and lots of gargoyles - but I had to let that go. I don't regret it, it's a wonderfully self-regulating, comfortable house (warm in winter, cool in summer - no air-conditioning, only heating two evenings a week on average in winter with our little wood heater) that's really aesthetically pleasing inside, full of light and air and an almost Japanese simplicity.

Only took 5 years of our blood, sweat and tears, but actually really, really worth it, the second best thing we've done, other than marry each other! 




> I love the owl lamp. Over the past year I have been looking for light fixtures and saw that cute lamp but decided I didn't have a use for it. I may need to rethink that decision. Shopping for light fixtures is exhausting! So many choices and 99% of it won't work in my home.


I got those owl lamps off the Internet. You're too right it's exhausting to go around shops, especially if you're after classical or natural stuff, not fashionable stuff. Or if you're colour coordinating. I got all my bedside mats and also the lounge floor rug online - had to look through over 500 colours/patterns to get what I wanted even online, but try doing this going around shops...

What's your home like? What suits it best?


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

The thing about modern stuff is that it is not built to last, 

I was given a Burko Boiler, a free standing boiler that heated water, many homes had them for boiling nappies (diapers) 
This had been in a garage for many years before coming to me. I used it for heating water approx 10 gallons, when we had several horses out hunting to bath them when they came back. 

There was a bakerlite handle on the tap and this shattered. I called the company to see if it could be replaced. The elderly man called me back asking of I had the correct model number. When I affirmed it was he told me the machine was over fifty years old, 

A freezer I was given was thirty years old and lasted another ten before we decided to get a new one. That lasted about five years.

Oh, I was given an old fashioned meat mincer, the type you fix to a table. That was pre WW1 and finally the thread went on the fitment. Bought a new one, that lasted very few uses. Bought another of the same type as the first and that is still going strong, I also inherited my mother's which is certainly 60+ years old and works well.


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

Built-in obsolescence, @Foxhunter. :evil: We loathe it, and try to avoid it as much as possible. Often you're going to get more residual life out of a good-quality second-hand item than buying new, designed-to-break stuff. We love auction houses etc - and DIY...


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

SueC, I agree with you. I love getting a bargain from a thrift shop. 

My nephew and his g/friend dress themselves very smartly from charity/thrift shops, most of the furniture in their flat is used or given to them. 

I had been left a dinner service, lovely set but I will never use it so I gave it to them for Christmas, I was uncertain they would like it but they love it and have had friends around for a meal and used it which I love.


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## MissLulu (Feb 3, 2019)

I tried to post yesterday but the forum ate it! @SueC I love Lord of the Rings too but I think the neighbours would protest if I put up gargoyles on the house. I think my problem with finding lamps and light fixtures is there are thousands of options online. I think I should find something I like and then start looking. I can't tell you the style of my house, it is just a jumble of all the things we have acquired over the years. 


A couple of years ago I needed a new blender. My son really liked making smoothies and our old blender was a bad design and needed to be replaced. Most of what I found were either the $20 blender or the $250 blender. I knew the cheap blender wouldn't last but who has $250 (or more) to spend on a blender? It took lots of shopping but I finally found a reasonably priced blender and my boy got to have his daily smoothies (and occasionally I got to use the blender too). 


When I was a teen in the 80s my grandmother would mix the batter for my birthday cake on a mixer that my grandfather purchased for her in 1939. My washing machine was purchased 29 years ago (I'm on my third dryer) and is amazing at cleaning clothing. I went to visit one of my sisters and she had a fancy front load washer. I asked her if she liked it and she said, "No, but I got it free so I can't complain". I am also annoyed at the "Built-in obsolescence". 




@Foxhunter My grandmother had one of those meat mincers! When I was a toddler she would use it mince the meat for my dinner. As an adult my mom told me it irritated her because I was old enough to chew my food and it was silly thing for my grandma to do.


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

I've been needing furniture for the longest time and still do. I found a brand new couch at a thrift store and am using that until I find what I want. This couch is cheaply made but believe it or not, it was $14.99. I can't stand the idea of paying big money for cheaply made stuff and if you want well made you are looking at price ranges in the thousands. I can staple cardboard together myself so I'm not going to pay hundreds of dollars for someone else to do it for me. 

When we moved from Los Angeles to MN in 1980, my mom drug her washing machine that was already ancient with her. She finally replaced it a couple of years ago but it was still working. For the life of me, I can't get a washer to last more than a decade if I'm lucky.


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

Thanks for resurrecting this thread @SueC 

I adore you home! Those lamps are the coolest things! 

I tried looking for new lamps a few years ago and couldn't find anything that appealed to me. Most of my home has ceiling fans with lights attached, as that is that practical option to lower electricity bills. I have several fans operating most of the year. 

But, I wanted a bedside lamp, o read by. Finally gave up and just bought a cheapo from Ikea that had a on/off switch in the cord so I didn't have to get up. It doesn't match anything in my bedroom, but it is convenient and cheap...one day it will be replaced, but not anytime soon.


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## Spanish Rider (May 1, 2014)

Ugh, lamps. In the "modern" age of "modern" design, I have the hardest time findings things that I like, I can afford and go with my more rustic/vintage decor. My house is actually filled with things from my grandmother's house, and modern lamps just won't work. My favorites are a pair of "bobbin lamps", which are made from the old wooden bobbins from the woolen mills near our house in Maine, and my uncle wired them and made a base.

Good-looking ceiling lamps, though, are tough to find here, so half my house is still lightless or with a bare bulb hanging. Like @AnitaAnne, I'm also making do with stuff from IKEA.


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## Knave (Dec 16, 2015)

I didn’t read all the replies, but I loved your post. It made me laugh. Little duck has a lamp she bought at a thrift shop that is make of books, and it is really cool.

My favorite lamp ever is at the sheds because it needs reworked. It was a gift to my father in law. The base is an older cowboy leaning against a tree. It has a little plaque on the bottom that is engraved “It’s okay to be grey.” One day, when I have a little extra money, I will take it in to be rewired.


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## RidingWithRuby (Apr 18, 2019)

Don't get me started on lamps. I just want a stand with a lightbulb attached, and also a lightbulb covering so I don't go blind. Doesn't need to look like it was dressed by someone colorblind, or look like it came from the year 3019! I just want a lamp.

Also clothes. Why can't I buy a simple t-shirt or tank top that doesn't have unicorns or flowers or quotes all over it? I am but a simple woman. I do not require flowers and unicorns.


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## Knave (Dec 16, 2015)

Besides the two lamps I said I like, I kind of have a distaste for lamps. I would rather just have a light. When our house arrived there were only lights in a couple of the rooms! I was shocked, “Why are there no lights?” “You can have lamps.” “No, I don’t think that will work.”

I wanted to say a lot more than that. Seriously, no lights?! So, they put lights in. Now my girls have lamps, and I always worry they will burn down the house.


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

You may have to start knitting, @RidingWithRuby! 

For a while, I had a bedside lamp with a very plain beige lampshade, which I dressed up one day with a matchstick / bamboo place setting held together with red thread, so red / bamboo coloured, natural texture. I just wrapped the thing around the shade, cut to size, sewed it up at the back, and had a natural-looking lampshade without reducing the light output significantly.

For the ceiling lights at our place, we gave up and we use either plain exposed pearl bulbs in their sockets (kitchen, corridor) or rice paper lampshades (lounge, bedrooms), which look lovely, suit anything natural and are inexpensive.

"Balloon" lampshade here:



Budget was a huge consideration for us, and we focused on good basics first, and cut out a lot of unnecessary fripperies. We like the resulting simplicity.


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

I'm kind of the opposite, I like lamps and don't really like overhead light unless it's really small lights. Problems with lamps is I cannot ever find what I like either.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

My eyes aren't as good as they once were and to read I need good light. I have a fluorescent light in the kitchen which is fine and a halogen desk lamp in my bedroom. 

Nothing special at all. They do what I need - give me the correct light to read with!


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## RegalCharm (Jul 24, 2008)

Foxhunter said:


> My eyes aren't as good as they once were and to read I need good light. I have a fluorescent light in the kitchen which is fine and a halogen desk lamp in my bedroom.
> 
> Nothing special at all. They do what I need - give me the correct light to read with!



I also need extra light to read. One thing I do at the Tractor store is grab one of those little LED flashlights and put it in the buggy and when I come to something I want to read use it to light up the small print on the package to read instructions or ingredients . Then put the light back before I check out. 

So if you are shopping behind me and you buy one of those little LED lights you might not be getting one with full batteries. LOL


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

Watch out, @RegalCharm, or your karma might catch up with you when you visit your dentist! ;-)

Yep, when our eyesight deteriorated in the last couple of years in our mid-40s, I just kept on putting brighter lightbulbs into our bedside lamps for two years. :rofl: _Denial is not a river in Egypt_, etc. Then early this year I sat down to start another paper journal after a 5-year break from paper journalling, and found I could not see my own handwriting at that distance, it was all a blur. Screens are further away, brightly lit and lull you into a false sense of security! So now we have reading glasses - and are having nightly reading festivals. Even with the bright lights, we were getting eye strain after just 20 minutes at the end of our denial phase... and now we can read again for hours! :happydance:

Flouros don't work for me - the light oscillates, and gives me headaches. Then I remembered a study about that very thing, and why flouros aren't allowed in German classrooms!


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## RegalCharm (Jul 24, 2008)

Well the technician did have to try 4 times to get an upper impression that would pass inspection so a upper plate could be made. She said she sure was glad that I was not a gagger. LOL.... Took 3 times to get the lower mold and the last one was questionable.


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