bohemian hellhole

Ask Alice: Is it hard to re-wire a lamp?

Dear Alice, I recently purchased a lamp with a frayed cord. Is this easy to fix? Where should I start? ~ Regina

 

via Rental House Rules {where they have how to links and lots of advice on buying second hand lamps!}

Dear Regina, Last week I did an unreasonable amount of little projects, spurred on my the list I made for the William Morris project. Funny you should ask, because one of the things I did was to repair and re-wire a lamp. This little light was given to me years ago by a dear friend for Christmas. I used it, and moved it, and eventually broke it. Somewhere along the line I also lost the threaded rod that held it all together. It sat in a drawer, or a box or a bag for seriously 9 years, and I could never bring myself to just get rid of it. I also never managed to fix it until this week.

The first thing to do is inspect what you do have, is your lamp complete? Does it have a socket, switch, cord? Is it stable? Do you need to add feet, or like me a new threaded rod to hold it all together?

This is a diagram of basic parts. Not all lamps are identical, but they usually include a healthy dose of these parts. {via glassart3}

When I got out my bag of parts, I realized the the bakelite piece holding the socket together was broken. I decided the best way to fix it was superglue and duct tape. It works quite well, and no one will ever know. Except you. Then, I made a list, went to the hardware store and purchased a lamp kit. It was the easiest thing to do, it came with extra nuts and washers, as well as two threaded rods. I needed a cord too, to I took one off of a super lame Ikea lamp that was in my give away pile. {free!}

The lamp I have is basically a bunch of parts, stacked on top of a threaded rod. It was like a giant beading project, only I didn't lose all the beads. I started by threading the socket cap onto the rod, and then adding parts down to the base. The rod was longer than what I needed, so I marked it, and cut it off with my very favorite English hack saw, the 'Break Neck'. It's so lovely, and so handy!

After that was done, I added a washer and two nuts, forming a lock nut on the end of the rod. This keeps the whole thing firmly together. The next step was the actual wiring.

I threaded my lamp cord through the rod, up through the socket cap, and stripped about half an inch off each side.

{you may say 'hey, I can totally see that duct tape!', just wait.}

Twist these wire ends so that they don't fray out and poke you in the finger.  Each socket has connections that vary a bit, this lamp just had little 'tunnels' that I sent the stripped wire into, then tightened down the connection screw on top of the wire. {lamps are simple circuits, unless you have a crazy fancy light that has computers or AI inside it, you don't really have to worry which side each wire goes to}

Once the connecting screws are nice and tight you can add the finishing touches, socket sleeve, harp {if relevant}, shade and bulb. I do not recommend a CFL. If you are really worried about how much electricity you use in your lamps, buy a halogen bulb please. Other wise you might end up with a brain cloud. I am not kidding, CFL bulbs can do you in.

That's about it. If you have further questions, ask in the comment section below, and I will do my best to help!

Washing clothes, Alice

Ask Alice: What am I doing wrong?	Ask Alice: How do I put up wallpaper?	Ask Alice: Is it hard to re-wire a Lamp?

The William Morris Project, Week 3

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." This is week three of the Pancakes & French Fries William Morris Project, happening every thursday in 2012.

 

Well, I finally made my list of things I would like to get done in 2012 during the William Morris Project. It seems like each time I cross something off, I add at least one more on. Some of the items may never get done, ever; and some of them I should be able to do in my sleep. Regardless, they are all mixed in together, and I am working through them in no particular order. So far I think I am up to 29 things crossed off the list that includes over 150 items.

This last week I managed to:

Fix a giant crack in the living room ceiling

Patch holes and paint the dining room

Fix a gap in the floorboard

Paint bedroom #2

Purge closet items and books in bedroom #2

Organize the closet shelves in bedroom #2

Replace the sink strainers {the ones that came with the house neither plugged nor drained...annoying}

Remove terrible built in shelves in the entrance to the kitchen

Trim out the archway into the kitchen from the dining room to match the rest of the house

Fix the cabinet above the refrigerator so that the bottom doesn't fall out

Remove one walls worth of wallpaper border in the kitchen.

Put up a kitchen towel hook

Repair a lamp that has been in pieces for like 9 years

{Perhaps the list helped? Maybe it made me neurotic.}

Most of these items were not documented.

This is what happened to the terrible kitchen shelves. Here they are as we found them while touring the house for the first time.

The day we moved in I took off the contact paper. Since then I have been glaring at them, cursing their ability to harbor junk. It was just so easy to put things on them that really belonged somewhere else. It wouldn't seem that bad until one day I would realize there was a huge pile of household cast offs hanging out in a very conspicuous spot. How can things like that go unnoticed? What is my problem? I still haven't figured it out. But I decided to take action against the shelves the second I got the 'OK'. This happened to be in the evening, while the kitchen was a complete disaster from a wallpaper removal project. I tend to take the same approach to all endeavours as I do when hanging wallpaper.  Whenever there are at least ten other things that need my attention more, I take on a messy project. The following photographs prove this with their un-biased counter top depiction.

One board at a time, I took them down. I had to break off the long nails that stuck out from the wall, and then counter sink them into the wood again. The top and wall pieces I left there, since they were part of my trim plan. I used all the wood I removed to trim the archway out. {this is a personal issue, I really hate un-trimmed doorways. They remind me of cheap construction, or bad apartments I've lived in. Maybe that's the same thing.} The goal was to make this opening to look like all the other door frames in the house. Using the wood that was removed in the process resulted in trim that looked like it had always been there.

The casing trim I found in the garage, and since there was a need for something along the wall, I cut a little piece of shoe molding to fit along the top trim and the linoleum backsplash. I had to whittle it with my Victorinox. {I didn't even cut my hand, which would have been normal}

After it was all said and done, there are still some things I would like to tweak, like for example, sand the whole thing down to bare wood and re-stain it so that the color isn't blotchy...but that's not on the list for this year. it is finished to this point, and I am so happy with how open and simple it is now. Before there was so much visual noise. {the wallpaper didn't help}

{pictures taken at night=dark and grainy photographs} These images really showcase the awful hardware in the kitchen, as well as the before/after wallpaper border look. The floors look amazing too! Wow, more to add to the list.

Wishing it was warm, Alice

 

Week 1	Week 2	Week 3

New pieces from Agapantha!

all available at Agapantha!

One of my favorite jewelry designers just put up a few new pieces on her site, they are beautiful.

Just wanted you to know...

Spraying lysol, Alice

More Yellow Bathroom Ideas

via Barn Light Electric

Martha Stewart's Nimbus Cloud

via Etsy

available at Lowes for around $4 each

Anthropologie's Fresno Towels via Retro Renovation

I found this light at Barn Light Electric by accident, while looking for something else. The yellow seemed....familiar, but not trusting my computer screen to accurately match color, I requested a finish sample from them. Sure enough, it was a perfect match. That light is now officially on my shopping list, probably a pair, flush-mounted.

The walls are still up for debate, I am leaning towards Martha Stewart's Nimbus Cloud, although some vintage yellow rose wallpaper would also be wonderful. {not sure if I can even wallpaper the bathroom} I found the Whistle Knobs at Lowes, and they meet my knob and pull standards {not hollow on the back,  smooth to the touch, or at least pleasant, no sharp or gritty feeling parts, easy to clean, simple....etc}. All of this should go well with my vintage towel collection, or maybe a few new, vintage styled towels are in order...

Organizing the closet, Alice

Omikron Panama {or Nesso on a diet}

I just came across these lights by Omikron, and they are growing on me. They remind me of a skinny Nesso lamp.

I also really love the H.AL., Cilindro XX Aprille, Stockholm and Oceana lights.

Waking up,  Alice

Tutorial: Fix a crack

I had to patch a few cracks in our walls over the weekend in preparation for painting the living room, and I thought I'd show you how I do that sort of thing. I learned crack repair on plaster, which is different than sheetrock, but the fix is pretty much the same. You will need four things: a 7 in 1 painting tool*, {if you're desperate, you can use something else pointy like the end of scissors or your favorite butter knife} some Red Devil 'Onetime' lightweight spackling, a putty knife and a sponge {the coffee is just for me, because I don't function without caffeine}.
I can't seem to find my metal putty knife, so I am using this crappy $.95 one I picked up. It still works. A note about the Red Devil. I know that some sort of mix to use joint compound like Silver-Set would probably work and look better, maybe, but I really hate sanding that stuff, and I hate waiting for it to dry, so I use this. I don't use it because I don't know any better, I do, I just like the quick and easy fix. In my experience, it holds up well, and I usually prep about five minutes before I paint, so this is perfect. You can use whatever you want. {it also only costs a few dollars and lasts forever!}The first thing you are going to do is take the pointy end of your 7 in 1 tool, and scrape along the crack. The goal is to open it up and get all the loose paint and wall material out, as well as provide a good surface for your spackling to adhere to.
After you have done this, take your putty knife and press some of the spackle into the crack. I recommend doing a little at a time, since it tends to be a bit crumbly, and you might need to spread it back and forth several times before you are satisfied with the application.
Move along the crack, filling it in. When you have filled in the whole crack, let it dry, and then contrary to the tub, where it says 'one application', I wipe the area down with a damp sponge, let that dry, and repeat the process until you feel like the wall is as smooth as you want it. There may be cases of settling where the wall will always have a bit of a ridge or bump where the crack was, and that is ok, our goal here is to just close up the crack, so that when you paint, you won't notice it. Painting over the fixes and flaws in my walls is one of my favorite things. Don't ask me why.

Contemplating a regularly scheduled Red Bull delivery via Amazon, Alice

*There is a funny little tool that works great specifically for opening cracks, but the 7 in 1 has lots of other uses too. It's a toss up. Ease of use or multi-function?

Fit to Eat: Amazing Chocolate Cookies

Thanks to Amy Allsopp for writing this gluten free chocolate cookie post!

Via King Arthur Flour

A little while ago Alice shared this recipe for flourless fudge cookies. In the past I have been decidedly less than excited about gluten-free baked goods. Also I thought it was ironic that the recipe came from the website for a flour company, but it turns out they have a whole section of gluten-free recipes! A couple weeks later when I was craving something super chocolatey but not heavy, I remembered this recipe. I was kind of amazed that it didn't call for any dairy either - no flour, no butter, essentially just powdered sugar, egg whites, and a whole lotta dark cocoa. I found a similar recipe from Molly Wizenberg at Orangette. This one includes chopped walnuts and cocoa nibs. I wasn't interested in nuts at the time, but loved the idea of cocoa nibs to add a bit of texture and an additional chocolate note to the flavor profile. I essentially followed the King Arthur recipe, skipping the espresso powder and adding cocoa nibs. The second time I made them, I decided the cookies needed to be half the original size. (Did I mention the chocolate flavor is kind of intense?)

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup dark cocoa powder (Dutch-process)
• 3 large egg whites
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup cocoa nibs (optional ~ see other recipe links above for more add-in options)

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two baking sheets with parchment, and lightly grease the parchment.
• Stir together all of the ingredients until smooth. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, and stir again until smooth.
• Drop the soft dough onto the prepared baking sheets in whatever size you prefer. (Tablespoon will yield about 16 cookies; teaspoon and a half will yield about twice that.)
• Bake the cookies for about 8 minutes; they should spread, become somewhat shiny, and develop faintly crackly tops. (Baking time may vary depending on your oven, and will increase a bit with the optional additions. Check after 6-7 minutes and keep a close eye on them.)
• Remove the cookies from the oven, and allow them to cool briefly on the pan before removing with a thin spatula.

Share these chewy, chocolatey treats with a loved one over a good cup of coffee or whatever suits your fancy.

Amy Allsopp loves design and editing - whether it's for marketing communications materials, homes and indoor spaces, gardens and outdoor spaces, or food and drink! She writes about some of these things on her blog.

Books, books, books.

via ami in paris

via library furniture

After we moved, it seemed like our books quadrupled. Maybe it's the lack of built in shelves or storage in this mid century ranch, or maybe we went book shopping to pass the time while we were waiting to find a place to live. Either way, we have piles of books. I have been looking around for good shelving options and keep finding terrible press-board assemble at home shelves, or really weird modular things. What happened to having a solid library bookshelf {or twelve} with a rolling ladder?

Semi floating reclaimed wood shelves in recessed pockets are most likely going to be the solution for the office, but what about all the non-office books? Any suggestions?

Off to the mall, Alice

Ask Alice: How do I put up Wallpaper?

Dear Alice, It seems like wallpaper is becoming the new accent wall. I have never hung wallpaper before, how do I put it up? ~ Jessica
via Seidman Paperhanging

image from Rosie's Vintage Wallpaper via Lara Lewis

Dear Jessica,

The best tutorial I know of is the one Martha Stewart put together. She has great step by step instructions and lots of photos to help. I can't be that precise. When I wallpaper, I usually have a towel, a needle, wallpaper adhesive and a paintbrush. Since I often find my wallpaper secondhand, there are rarely instructions handy. It happens like this: when the time is not right, and there are lots of other things going on, I decide, hey! I have some wallpaper, why not put it up NOW? I grab my generic wallpaper adhesive, my paintbrush, needle and towel, and start hanging. I don't recommend it. Instead of pasting the paper, I paint the adhesive right on the wall, nice and thick. Then I {always starting at the top! If it insists on falling down, you can tack it into the wall with pushpins to hold it still while the adhesive sets} start hanging the paper, depending on the project the best rule is to begin in the middle of the wall and work outward. Leave a few inches of extra paper at the ceiling and floor trim, because it is aways a better idea to trim it after, rather than cut it 'to fit' and find you cut it too short. Then I wipe the whole thing down with my towel, {damp} and start working out the bubbles, from the center towards the edges. If there is a horrible bubble that won't budge, I poke it with my needle and work all the air out. Continue on with the rest of your wallpaper, making sure that the pattern lines up. You can paper over light switches {just cut a little hole for the switch}  and outlets and trim around them after you work out the bubbles.  Hooray! Wallpaper! {If you can, buy extra, because chances are you will have a few 'accidents', but that's ok! It will all turn out good in the end, but if it doesn't, I'll come help you.}

If all that sounds too messy and difficult, you can frame some wallpaper pieces and hang them on your wall. Katy Elliot explains it all here.

I documented a little wallpaper project a while ago here.

Folding clothes, Alice

Ask Alice: What am I doing wrong?	Ask Alice: How do I put up wallpaper?	Ask Alice: Is it hard to re-wire a Lamp?

The William Morris Project, Week 2

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." This is week two of the Pancakes & French Fries William Morris Project, happening every thursday in 2012.

Before we moved into this house, I swore I would take down the Venetian blinds immediately. They were badly installed, poorly functioning, ugly plastic strips. Why would I ever keep such a thing around? Function. Soon after moving in, it was Christmas, and purchasing something to replace them with seemed rather selfish when I could be buying gifts. Then it it was New Years, then my birthday, you get the idea. One thing led to another and I still had plastic car wash noodles in my window. I thought about them quite a bit, thinking about what could replace them. {this is where I start over thinking} The window ends about 3 inches from the front door, making curtains or drapes fairly impractical. When parted, they would just be right in the way of anyone coming in the door. Plus, it sounded tidier to have them up and away when open.

So I looked and looked for something that would fit. Bamboo blinds have always been my standby favorite, but it was looking like they would have to be custom, since the two side windows were a scrawny 17" wide. I was literally in tears pricing things out, going back to a regular curtain rod out of desperation only to find it wouldn't really be any cheaper, and the rod would likely be a piece of junk. For some reason I decided it would be a good idea to check Overstock. {never having shopped there before, I supposed it to be full of things like micro-suede storage ottomans and terrible bakers racks. I am sure they have those as well...} Success! They had bamboo roman shades in pretty much every incriment of size, in the exact color that I was looking for, and instead of about $95 per 17" shade, I found these for $17 each. The middle one was around $35, and since they always have $3 shipping, I only ended up paying about $70 for the whole window. That was amazing. {and useful!} The worst part was waiting for them to arrive!

When the FedEx truck finally did deliver my package, I immediately set to work. I was so excited to put the new blinds up that only removed the 'noodles' of the old ones to begin with.

Remember last week when I warned you about the baggie of awful fasteners? Here they are. I threw them out. On the right you will see I opted for a 1.5" gold screw, since I was going to be attaching the brackets directly into wood. They could be a bit shorter.  Next I removed the wing nut and washer from each bracket, and without measuring {why bother when you can eyeball?} I just screwed 'em in!

One down, two to go! Here is the stack of old venetian slat things on my floor. They are currently stuffed up in the rafters of the storage room, because it was easier than dealing with them right away. I'll get there, someday!

You can see the track below, still hanging on for dear life...but doesn't the window seem friendlier?

When I did remove the track, I found an extra set of giant holes, probably left behind from an earlier set of traverse drapes, and some globby spackle. Nice!

There seems to be a tiny issue where I can see the metal bracket on just one side of the middle blind, which I think I can fix with a little bit of shimming between the blinds and the wood mounting bar.

Since I had thrown away the fastener baggie, I had no cord hook things to hang the extra cord on when the blinds are up. I stole some little brass cup hooks from our kitchen cupboards, since I don't use them {and actually scrape my hands on them quite often when using that particular shelf} All in all, it took me about 45 minutes to put the new blinds up, and take the old ones down.

Drinking Vitamin D Emergen-C, Alice

Week 1	Week 2	Week 3