To be clear, I posted a DIFFERENT chandy from another source a few weeks ago, before having seen the PB one.

you're not alone..

if you like it. i say get it!

Here is a link that might be useful: on the conversations side...

Here is the original...

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.lampsplus.com/Products/chandeliers/page_14/37489/

I think Candace Olsen is responsible for that look coming into popularity. She's been using it on her shows and I really like it.

As far as lighting fixtures being 'unique' about the only way you will have one that no one else has is to buy one from an antique store and get it rewired if unsafe. Or...find out what they're doing in Europe and get that, being prepared to change it out in two years.

I can always tell what the hot colors are going to be because I'm over there so much. Two years is what it takes to find its way across the pond. Personally, I couldn't care less, because I always use my favorite palette and never tire of it, but I did buy some cute orange and lime silk tops that were all the rage for a while. :)

I don't give much thought to what other people are doing in their homes, or what's "in/out" and all that. I also don't really care how many times I see something in a catalog or magazine, if I love it and want to live with it myself. Seeing it repeated umpteen times isn't really going to change my mind. If I like something, I like it.
:-)

You asked so I'm answering. Totally silly!! Is everything in your house one of a kind?

Every light fixture I have in my new house is most probably owned by 10 million other people and so what? Along with my cabinets, flooring (by the way a lot of people from this web site is buying my flooring. Do you think I should rip mine up?)

See what I'm saying, it's totally silly. If you love it, buy it. Unless all those "other people" are coming by to comment that they have one just like yours. LOL

If I see it in a catalogue, I don't buy it and if I own something similar (outside of priceless antiques, not that I own any), I sometimes rethink my arrangement.

Catalogue interiors make me scream.

The only thing I really thought that about was that palm tree craze, what, about 10 yrs ago. It would have been too easy for me to get sucked into that (with my furniture tastes and 9 palm trees in the backyard!). I made a promise to myself when we bought the house - no palms inside, only outside. I've only broken my promise once and that was a month ago, it's a 7 inch tall copper mold to go with my collection in the kitchen, so I didn't beat myself up about it ;-)

If it's any consolation, Lamps Plus is not a boutique - maybe not as big as PB, but still pretty big. So what's another 9 million? :)

If you love it, go for it.

Just curious -- Do you guys look at home furnishings/decor in a much different light than clothing or hairstyle choices? Would you refuse to buy boot-cut jeans if they were current on the style scene? Would you refuse to cut your hair in a certain way that flattered your face, because it happened to be trendy?

Not me, auntjen. However, I have to confess not buying capris when they first came on the scene. Thought they would be a BIG fad and last only a year.

How many years have they been out now?

I have a chandelier that is sooooo different that I can't get a glass shade to replace the one that broke. Boo hoo. I'm all for non-unique.

I've actually been thinking about this recently. I'm reconsidering the toile I've dreamt of for years :(( I love it but feel I've just seen too much of it, for too long, or something. Hoping it will pass : )

I do think that, regardless, if you love the way something looks and feels when you're surrounded by it, it's just right for you. As much as I see the toile in stores, online, in books and mags, etc., I really don't see it around much irl. We had it growing up and a relative had it as well, and I've just always loved it. It's like I want my whole house in it or something. But red or green :- /

I compare it to when we first brought our puppy Bailey to the dog park, some other owners scoffed at her name, saying there were already 11 Bailey that came to the dog park and that we should change her name. I replied that she is the only Bailey in our house!
And that is how I think of others buying items that I like or see in catalogs. How an item will look with our things in our house is different than the next person and so on. And, I just don't give it a thought.

Thanks for the thoughts. I do want to say that I have been seeking out antique light fixtures - but haven't found what I want (without it being online), so maybe I really am looking for something more unique than even that chandelier.

Also, in response to the hair comment...I usually have my hair extremely short. About 2 years ago, I spent 6 months growing out my front bangs into a long, sweeping bang, off to one side. It took that long to grow it from what I had. No sooner did it get that length did Posh Spice cut her hair like that. I was barraged with comments, "I like your Posh hair cut." It really annoyed me because I had spent 6 months perfecting MY cut, then it turned into hers.

So...I guess I am just one of those people that these things bother, even if it is foolish.

The question remains will I get the chandelier...I do not know - and I was unaware of the Candice Olsen influence. Maybe I am just not committed enough to that chandelier, otherwise this would be a non-issue. ;)

I don't think it's weird or silly to want to be your own person, to feel that your home is decorated in a way that is unique to YOU....rather than following the trends. But in our mass-produced society, it's probably pretty difficult to really achieve that. In the 'olden days' you were not influenced by television living rooms and movie sets. You probably didn't even own a decorating magazine---I know my Mother didn't. So, whatever you did had more to do with what you saw in friend's homes or what you created or what you could afford. Those days are gone.

And I don't think Dixie has any problem at all with having a normal sofa.......something like a media center or armoire or stand to place her t.v. on..........or bedside tables/nightstands for her cuppa tea and book and lamp. We all live much the same in that respect. And while some guy out there has deep purple carpet with a T.V. coming down on a chain from the ceiling........Dixie doesn't want that.

But some of us who are addicted to decorating and don't necessarily want to copy the best friend's house or the neighbor's house.........want to have something.......maybe a cool light fixture, perhaps an arrangement of vintage bride photos, maybe an original piece of art or an antique Persian rug........that elevates our room out of the mundane and expected, into something that totally looks like "Us".

Any girl with a credit card or an HELOC can walk into Ethan Allen and buy a furniture suite. Or wander into Bed Bath & Beyond and get a complete matched set of new bedding to orchestrate her master bedroom redo. Nothing wrong with that. (which reminds me, I need new sheets!) But while it may take much longer to find an original 1920's chandelier on Ebay to finish out your dining room remodel, or hit 15 different estate sales to find a rustic walnut farm table for your kitchen redo, or even rewire/rework something to repurpose it as the centerpiece of your Backyard Makeover, it can be the one thing that really makes you happy about your house---the piece that friends never fail to comment on when they walk into your room. Nobody's gonna say, "Wow! you have a sofa!" But if you have an intricately carved antique sofa that you have had reupholstered beautifully, you will probably get a surprised compliment now and again.

In my home, I have the requisite t.v. in an armoire, the sofa, the recliner, the lamps and the lamp tables, in my living room. But two of my chairs are very old and no one I know has anything like them. I have an antique barnwood cabinet that holds my china and have never seen one exactly like it. Even my run-of-the-mill rattan sofa (you can get these sofa with rattan tables on Craigslist by the hundreds) is upholstered in a more unusual fabric choice--bronzey chenille--and has a vintage mirror hanging above........rather than the pastel chintz fabric they usually have. And most people put theirs in a sunroom. So I smile to myself when I look at it, because it doesn't look just exactly like something I could walk into Pier One and buy.

If you are getting something just because you need it, like replacing an ugly lightbox in the bathroom or getting a new faucet to replace the old leaky one, it is pretty simple to just head into Lamps Plus or Home depot or Lowes and do what you need to do. We all do that. But sometimes, when something really catches your eye and strikes you as different, as unusual, as unique........and that's the thing that moves you........it can really be a disappointment to find that those "Uniquenesses" are being featured on HGTV and in the room settings at the J.C.Penney Home Store.

Yes Dixie. I am long-winded, but I feel like you do.

Red

Red, you said what I was trying to say! I used to be a "copy the PB spread" type of decorator. In fact, my old living room was nearly an exact replica at one time. Over time, through looking at blogs, and decorating sites and just coming into my own a little bit, I realized that the rooms that really wowed me had that unexpected piece. I see things on here and other sources and think, "Wow, how clever to use that in that way!" Those are the rooms I admire most - many from talented posters here!

I have begun to search out pieces that I love and speak to me. I am mixing some older pieces, some antiques and some quirky things with my "regular" pieces. I was just disappointed that the chandelier that spoke to ME, clearly speaks to a LOT of other people because I was looking for that little twist to individualize my space.

Red, you never have to apologize for being long-winded. You do such beautiful things with your decorating that are truly unique. More importantly, you are not a "unique snob" who makes others feel ordinary if they don't have the means, time or talent to do likewise.

I love reading your posts.

My issue with the catalogue rooms is the way they commodify what normally would be personal touches--when Pottery Barn/West Elm etc. sell large scale photos of what might be someone's dream vacation or quirky "could be found in a flea market" items, does it deaden the customers' creative impulses?

If my daughter spends hours at thrift stores and her best friend gets the same look at Anthropolgie, does it matter?

When good taste can be bought so easily, does "good taste" even matter? Or does consumer demand for these things force mass merchants to work harder on supplying well designed items?

I mean, you can still find horrors at any price point, but there are more options, which is a good thing. I guess.

You guys are so kind, Parma and Dixie! Just as soon as I hit 'submit' I worried that I sounded too pleased with my rattan sofa. You know..........you write something and then, when you re-read it, it comes out stuffy instead of "well, I'm just sayin'.........."?

21 years ago, I was about to have my last baby and we were solidifying our baby name choices. My first baby had a pretty unusual name, (I named her after a woman of ill-repute in one of John Wayne's lesser known movies) and had all kinds of trouble with people mispronouncing, mis-spelling, asking WHY????? You know what I mean.....) so for this baby, I wanted something easy to spell, easy to say, not mistakable for anything else, and still......a little original.

So, my Mom suggested "Amanda".

Amanda. How perfect is that? No other spelling, everyone knows how to pronounce it, "Mandy" is acceptable, and it's so totally..............different. No one I knew was named Amanda. No one I knew had a baby named Amanda. It struck me as so old-fashioned, yet solid. I naively wondered if some of my friends would make fun of me for naming my new daughter such an out-dated..........western-sounding........name? (My own name is so old-fashioned I continually have customers who see it on my name plate telling me their "Mother had that name" or "My Grandma has that name!" Cool. Whatever. After decades of it, I'm used to it even if I don't like it!)

Anyway........my excitement at having such an original and unique baby name has been totally fulfilled in having the original and unique 'Amanda'. She is that all over the place. She's adorable. Everyone loves her, friends and co-workers and family. Old ladies trust her. Children hug her. My co-workers constantly ask me how someone as ______ and _______ and ______________ as me, could turn out a daughter as nice as Amanda.

But........the name? Well, at the high-saturation point of 'Amanda', which I think hit her at about 4th grade, she had 3 other Amandas in her class. Her teacher had to give them all nicknames to keep them sorted.

What happened to my old-fashioned, out-of-use, sweet little name? What I think happened is this:
My Mom and I started hearing the name but more in a subliminal way......where you're not thinking......."Oh, that's cute!" But where it really doesn't intrude upon your consciousness. Like where you buy a 2004 Civic in silver (platinum) and think you've got a cool color, then, finally notice that every Civic you see is silver. So, Amanda was becoming insanely popular and we were noticing it, but not noticing it at the same time.

That's what happened with your chandelier. I think.
So now you have 2 choices. You can keep your eyes open for something really wonderful--maybe vintage--that will indeed be out of the common way........or you can buy the very pretty one you already saw, hang it, and name it Amanda.

Red

Dix, ya wanna hear something Hysterical??? I actually thought I had posted already on your thread and just figured out why...Check this one out on the Conversations side...

Red

Here is a link that might be useful: Great Minds think alike!

I don't mind buying something that is mass produced.
When needing a little something new for empty table or wall area after rearranging furniture and walking through TJM/Marshalls/Big Lots something catches my eye, and if I keep going back to it, I buy it.
There are probably hundreds of homes in my city with the same thing only I try to repurpose/paint/add trim to, in order to give mass produced item a bit of a difference.(Ex: Iron Candlestick turned over, silicone to adhere clay saucer to upside down candlestick= Lift to merchandise a table) but I can't be too particular because of our finances--or lack of, I should say.

What fries my beeee-hind more than anything when it comes to decorating (and this just happened last weekend) is when in conversation with a group of friends or family, discussing future decorating plans/ideas for a particular area in a corner/painting some chairs---and because of our financial situation not being able to do it immediately but dimes to donuts one of those friends or family members will do it Jack-Flash.

I don't have the decorator gene so it takes me quite a while to come up with something that looks decent. Then to see it, or worse, get called a week later and told how wonderful their newly painted chair/vignette table in corner of entry/new plantings (same as what I had discussed wanting) look!
GRRRRRRRRRRR! Now THAT really chaps my beeee-hind.

Sorry for the thread hijack rant. *smile*

I can totally understand your feelings, dixiechixie, and they are not silly at all. I try to avoid looking at places like Pottery Barn as one cannot find originals there. I do occasionally sneak a peak at their stuff online as I have seen some good ideas for arranging things. Someone told me once that the way I had arranged a vignette looked "pottery barn" and I really wasn't sure if it was a compliment or not! Taking it as one tho as I'll accept all I can get!

I've found some light fixtures I really like on the site below but by the time I get my act together they'll probably all be in PB also!

BTW that's a beautiful chandy.

Here is a link that might be useful: some interesting light fixtures here.

redbazel, you needed a gizmo like this:

Here is a link that might be useful: Baby name wizard

Harriet, I love you! That was amazing! And it definitely shows that I had my head in the sand when I was expecting in 1987........Amanda was like #1. Whoa.

(I typed my name in there and that was staggering. The 1800's had it as super popular, then, it started petering out and disappeared by the 1970's and 80's!)

Thanks for that.

Red