My Steampunk Dining Room: New Update & Pics!

You guys! After years and years of searching... I finally found a dining room light fixture.

Let the rejoicing... BEGIN.

See, I was forever drooling over stuff like this:

via Houzz

But I was also completely in love with banded globes, like these:

via

It had to be vintage enough for steampunk, elegant, but still casual, and with down lights for functionality, since I do most of my crafting at the table.

After a few years I decided the light didn't exist, so John - ever resourceful - drew up plans to build one:

But then we'd get to the point of discussing welding the iron frame (!!), and I'd tell him it was too much work; I'd just keep looking.

And finally - FINALLY - after scouring every light store in central Florida, and then every website I could think of, I found this:

via LightStyle

At $336 it's the most expensive light we've ever purchased, but considering how long I've been looking? - totally worth it.

(It'd be nice with bare Edison bulbs instead of globes, too, but since those would cost another $60 this is great for now. Maybe I'll try removing the globes later.)

This is also a great excuse to photograph my dining room again, since I just realized you guys haven't seen it in a couple of years:

Looking back at my old dining room photos, WOW am I glad we found that antique radio cabinet. Really helps fill the space.

Funny; you see so many of these metal globe fixtures now, but this is the only one I've seen with lights pointing down, and also on the outside of the sphere. (You watch; now they'll be everywhere.)

We have it on a dimmer, so at extra low light the globes glow orange:

The ceiling medallion was a plain white one from Home Depot, so John threw a little brown glaze on it to age it down:

 

 The glaze helps the design stand out more, too.

And since I'm so proud of John, I've also gotta show off the frame he made last week:

I've had this art print rolled up for over a year now, since I'm too cheap for custom framing. Finally John took a giant clearance frame we bought for $25, cut it up, re-assembled it, & refinished it to an aged coppery gold to match the art. And it is SO PRETTY.

The print itself is perfectly matte, so it almost looks a velvet painting up close - only, you know, in a good way. (You can buy it directly from the artist here on DeviantArt - only $23!)

Aaaand that's a perfect segue into announcing this month's art winner! So congratulations to... AliceGracey!!

Please e-mail me your mailing address, Alice, plus your choice of prize from my Pinterest art give-away board.

Hope you guys liked the new mini-tour of our steampunk dining room!