Remember this photo from our quickie kitchen demolition? Remember the awful chandelier in the background?

Well that bastard came down and up went this red saucer pendant:

We found it at an antiques mall in Virginia and snatched it up. We have no idea who made it, although it appears to have taken some design cues from Louis Poulsen’s pendants, especially his PH 4/3 pendant. The only clue is a “made in Sweden” sticker—otherwise there are no manufacturer’s marks and the Google rabbit hole is leading me nowhere.

We replaced the old yellowed chord with new, bright white, fabric-covered chord and also replaced the socket, both from the Color Cord Company. We reused the canopy from the old chandelier, just painted it white.

The dining room is finally feeling comfortable.

homemoyaone_spring-animals

Happy first day of Spring! It’s still chilly here but not for much longer! We’ve signed up for a plot at the community garden, having decided that we’d rather concentrate on actual gardening for now instead of building deer-proof fencing*. We’re excited to get started on turning over the soil this weekend.

We’ve also registered for a day-long symposium on native plants at the National Arboretum next weekend, called “Native Plants: Yes You Can!” :) The schedule and more info can be found here. (It’s a PDF.) We’re planning a non-traditional “lawn” for the front of the house (think moss and ferns), solar energy, and maybe even aquatic planting, so the sessions are right up our alley. Can’t wait.

*Speaking of deer-proof fencing: there was a breach in the fencing around the “side yard” this morning. Here’s a deer inside the fence (she’s on the left; the deer on the right is outside):

Future plans include rebuilding the fence to enclose the side yard so we can let Broccoli the dog out (without having to watch that he doesn’t take off chasing a squirrel). We won’t have a traditional grass lawn anywhere—it just doesn’t make sense—but we may plant the side yard with sedges to give it roughly the feel of a lawn. To be determined…and continued.