Lighting as Jewelry

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine.

Something romantic happened. H. chose a beautiful small-scale chandelier with crystal droplets [above] for our bedroom. It looks like jewelry to me and as you know, I like jewelry. I love accessories, and it's great fun to accessorize a house.

We went together to a few lighting stores before I left for Vermont with Figgy last Wednesday evening. As we zipped around between sconces and floor lamps, we got a feeling for each other's tastes, because we had to select:

1. Bedroom sconces
2. Bedroom overhead
3. Dressing room overhead
4. H.'s office overhead
5. My office overhead with fan
6. Figgy's attic room track lighting
7. Living room overhead
8. Stairway sconce
9. Back hallway overhead
10. Upper hallway overhead
11. Lights over bathoom vanity mirror
12. Kitchen nook
13. Kitchen overhead with fan
14. Kitchen over sink

H. and I butt heads a lot. So while we walked the stores, our conversations went a little like this. We disagreed, but I am proud to say that no big sparks went off. No one blew a gasket.

He: I love this one for our living room. It just reminds me of something Grandma Wunder [his maternal grandmother] would have had in her apartment. It seems like it's been there forever.
Me: I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be difficult, but I don't like that metal scrolling on the top.

Me: Now I really love this. A chandelier for the bedroom. With crystal.
He: C'mon, Alice, no way. Are you out of your mind? I'm a guy. [walks away]

Me: Look at this. I love this. [It was a silvery hanging metal fixture for the living room with many little cutouts that the light danced through.] This is so cool. It makes a statement. Paige and Gary [our very hip, party-throwing neighbors] would have something like this.
He: Alice, please. Did you see the price? It's seven hundred dollars. That's a huge part of our lighting budget. [Truth is, I hadn't thought about that, and was glad he did.]

We overlapped, though, on liking little lampshades and loving the chandelier that we already have in our dining room, which has some beaded crystal swags. 

In You I Trust
When I left for Vermont, we were under the wire. We had to choose so Kip, our contractor, could let the electrician finish up his work. Going away was probably the best thing to do. I'm leaving it up to you, I told H. He was just as happy, b/c we both knew it would be better if just one of us chose. By then he had a feel for what I loved and hated. And, I told myself, when we moved into our home 16 years ago this month, we had no say in the lights. We just lived with what was there--until we finally removed the track lighting from the living room and replaced the purple chandelier in the dining room a few years ago.

I'm just somehow very touched that left to his own devices, H. did after all decide on a chandelier with crystal for our bedroom. I know they say it's not romantic when a husband chooses a household item like a blender or vacuum for his wife. But 1, I would like a blender and 2, this is not like that. This is like jewelry I will look at every morning, noon and night. [I'm also very impressed. Just checked online, and it was $309.99. H. got it @ Capitol Lighting on Route 17 in Paramus on "as is" final sale, $199.99.] Here's the link to the Mini Chandelier with 4 Lights: http://www.quoizel.com/myquoizel/PF_Results.aspx?Type=AdvancedSearch&category=Chandelier.

Lights out. Good night.