sasafras, DIY is not an option! We are retired and our kids are probably older than you! Would you like your 75 year old diabetic dad up on a rickety ladder trying to pry off that medallion? I doubt it. The rocks were not a red flag to us. We watched the hammer and 2 x 4's all bounce off that ceiling. Heavy rocks were the only way to break that glass!! Anything that makes this reno move faster is less cost to us, and there are more rocks than weeds on the property!! The two are budget related. Thanks hilltop, for understanding. The house was slightly less than $300,000 in a short sale. Contractor estimated $100,000+, and it is now exceeding $150,000. The house was in much worse shape than we thought. It has good bones and great views. The master is only a piece of the remodel puzzle. The above prices do NOT include decorating. You will all probably get tired of me as I question each room's decor. Thanks! Suzi

It is such a treat to not only see your beautiful chandeliers, but to see your beautiful DRs as well. Cliff and Joanne, you have given me the idea of perhaps painting a less expensive white shade to the color I think I want. It will also let me trial it to see what kind of light glows out too, before I spring for the whole 6 shades. Auntjen, I just love your bold use of color. Your home spells "happy" to me. NHB, elegant as always.

Traditionally these were plaster and for most of the time they were popular originally, they were painted to match the ceiling or picked out in a trim color of other mouldings. The crevices in the design masked soot from the lighting and it was also easier to touch up as a separate element rather than repaint the ceiling. Only in the High Victorian period and later did these seem to get the polychrome treatment, to my knowledge. It really is part of the ceiling, not part of the fixture.

oh I'm just dizzy. So much beauty! I stopped over here hoping for this exact thread. I am currently shopping and struggling for a chandelier for our "formal" dining room/space. It is meant to be the formal dining, but it is litterally eight feet from the front door. There is no real foyer. It also has a 15 ceiling and only a wall and a half seperating it from everything else. The fixture in there is very wrong and light just seems to disapear. Everything is so expensive out there, its very frustrating. Thanks Sumnerfan for starting this thread. It helps so much to be able to see the rooms with the fixtures instead of a store full of fixtures.