La Pièce de Résistance

Last week on Citify I mentioned that we had installed what I consider to be 'La Pièce de Résistance' in our Living Room. Did you spot it? Well, it's the new light fixture. It may sound strange, but finding a light fixture for this room has been a pretty big challenge. You see, there were many requirements that said fixture had to fill:

• it had to be light since there is no electrical box to attach it to (originally there would have been a gas fixture here, it was converted to an electrical fixture later by poking some wires through the centre of the plaster medallion)
• it had to have a small ceiling plate so as to not cover too much of the plaster medallion
• it had to have both an uplight and downlight component (without any uplighting it would cast a shadow on the plaster medallion)
• it had to be just the right scale, not too big / dominating and not too small / wimpy
• it had to complement the light fixture in the nearby Dining Room as they can both be seen together

We spent many a hour scouring stores and the internet to find a light fixture that was just right.  Here are a few of the finalists:

1. Alhambra MES Spherical Suspension Light  2. Cactus Pendant Light  3. Modulo S35 Pendant Lamp

4. Ossy Pendant  5. Propeller Lamp  6. Saucer Criss Cross Lamp

In the end, we chose a Link Suspension Light in American White Wood by LZF - a company that works out of a converted winery on the outskirts of the village of Chiva in the province of Valencia, Spain.

The fixture is made up of Mobius strips piled on top of one another.  This arrangement makes for an incredibly sculptural piece that takes on different forms from every angle it is viewed from.  While the form is decidedly modern, we like the fact that it is made from wood, a natural material.  It gives the light so much warmth and helps it to 'fit in' amongst the many eclectic pieces of our living room.

Installing it was no piece of cake.  In fact, it took my dad and I 3.5 hours and several test installations before we were happy with the final product.  In the absence of a electrical box, we drilled into the no longer active gas pipe for support.  However, this left the ceiling cover plate hanging too low with a gap in between the cover plate and medallion.  Our choice was either to cut the gas pipe off higher, requiring us to also 'chisel' away at the delicate plaster medallion or to improvise.  We chose to improvise:

Thankfully, my Dad saves everything and he had another cover plate that was identical in finish and similar in size to the one that came with the fixture.  We used this to mediate the gap.  Essentially, the final product has a double ceiling plate.

Be honest now, if I hadn't told you that, would you have noticed?

We're quite pleased with the final result.  Lighting is such an important part of space design.  Horrible lighting can make a great space incredibly unpleasant while great lighting can really elevate an already great space into something, well...greater!

-kyle