Witch

"Ding Dong! The Witch is dead. Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch! Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead."
-Wizard of Oz

It might not appear as a witch to you but it's a bitch of a witch to me. Team DeBoer has resided in this house for just over four years and I have hated the fan that hangs in our dining room every hour of every day of every month of those four years. Hate. Sure, it's practical, it has a remote and it was fairly new when we moved in but none of this negates it's ugliness. The fake wood, the brassy hardware, the flower-petal-shaped glass surrounds, the tiny Christmas-light-like light bulbs. Ew. Ew. Ew.

The witch, up close and personal.

The witch in it's natural habitat the very first day we saw our house.

I had previously found a fabulous replacement but didn't have the heart, or funds, to purchase it from Pottery Barn where it tipped the monetary scales at $375+. Even though it went on sale a couple of times, I still couldn't bring myself to spend the money. Just as I was working up the courage and savings to change my mind, Pottery Barn discontinued the model. Bastards. Needless to say I've been a little bitter ever since. I'd show you a photo but I gave up trying to find one on the Internet and in one of my feng shui moods, I tossed all my old PB catalogs so as to declutter my space and mind.

I continued to keep an eye out and ironically, finally spotted a suitable replacement while crib shopping for Cletus. I didn't come home with a crib but I came home with something that made me even happier. Introducing our new, sleek, modern, contemporary and elegant light fixture from Crate and Barrel!

Picture it with painted window trim, tape removed, curtains and all the fixins.

This is a view from the kitchen.

Now I realize it may not be everyone's cup of tea and it may be hard to appreciate it's beauty given it's unfinished surroundings but I LOVE it. It resembles the fixture I originally loved at Pottery Barn in that it has a square surround. This model just happens to have a pendent inside as opposed to the four candle pillars of the PB version. Our dining room is very small to begin with so I love that it hangs low to provide intimate lighting but is narrow enough not to obstruct any views or pathways. I love that it offsets the traditional lines of the table and I love that it's oil bronze finishings match our existing curtain rod and kitchen fixtures.

I tried to get a non-flash photo so pardon the overall darkness.

Thanks to neighbor Mike, it was successfully installed in a couple of hours (which included a quick trip to the local Ace Hardware for some spare parts). No one was hurt or electrocuted during the installation and the witch was properly dismantled and dumped. Check that off the renovation list! At this rate, we might get the quarter-round put up in the kitchen and box in the basement insulated by 2015! It's a marathon people… not a sprint… especially when the ole money tree isn't sprouting.

Photo taken from Crate and Barrel's Web site.