Shedding some Light on the New Year

After painting 2 coats on our newly plastered ceilings, and getting most of our stuff moved in to the new house on New Year's Eve, we decided to start out New Year's Day with an "illuminating project".   Right after breakfast, we tackled the assembly of a crystal chandelier!  

Ever wonder how a delicate chandelier with draping chains of crystal beads and droplets and delicate arched glass tubes gets shipped?  

Let me tell you.... it is shipped in a box IN PIECES!   Tiny bubble wrapped packages, all labeled and tagged.  To Be Assembled.    Oh boy.....   We started with A and went on to B...C....D....E.....  till we got it together enough to be suspended between the rungs of a stepladder.   Even then, it was quite difficult.

Each little strand of crystals is attached on each end by tiny split rings (like key rings) that have to be delicately opened, slid around a tiny metal loop into place, and returned to it's original shape without distorting the ring.

It took us THREE hours to get it done!!!  I am not kidding.  What a project... but it was well worth it once it was done.   I hoisted it up from below while Steve made all the connections up top, and voila.... it was UP!

We took a lunch break, and then decided it was time to get the dining room furniture moved into the room to get a complete picture.  It had all been stuffed into the living room the day before so we could get the second coat of paint on the dining room ceiling.  We took out the "Moving Men" slider devices to put the buffet and hutch into place.  

It was so exciting to see each piece set down, exactly where it belonged.  I had previously envisioned the placement on graph paper with measurements, but now it was all taking shape right before my eyes! 

The flowers are left from Steve's mom's funeral 2 weeks ago and still holding their own.  They seemed to complete the room when I placed them on the buffet. 

I have some lace curtains I am going to put on each side of the bay window, but they are still packed away till I have a little more time to put on the final touches.  The missing section of plate rail over the buffet is from where we removed the original hutch that had been in the room.  Instead of replacing it with a re-created piece of wood, I think we are going to shop for an antique mirror or interesting print to put up there to fill that space.

I have various framed prints of the kids and grandtots to put along the plate rail all around the room, instead of plates!  They are all packed away yet in some box piled up in the kitchen.  But I did find the box of my Flow Blue dishes and blue vases to put in the hutch.

It was so much fun to see it all come together.  From finding the right furniture (bought used on Craigslist) and then recovering the seats with a fabric I bought with a gift card from a daughter on my birthday.  The candlesticks were found in a cute resale shop, and the dishes and vases in a thrift shop.  The chandelier was a special treat to ourselves.  I have always wanted a dining room like this----  and I keep pinching myself each time I walk through it, hardly believing that it is ours! 

(That was done on Tuesday----  Now it's Thursday and we got the rest of our furniture delivered yesterday.  That means we slept in a REAL bed last night!   Will write more about that tomorrow)

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