Varaluz Lighitng Fascination Collection Pendants

Maybe your children are lucky enough to be part of a Hanukkah festival concert or you are anticipating a Torah reading at the temple. Most likely you are looking forward to entertaining friends and family at home for the Night of the 5th Candle dinner. Enjoy eight days of singing, eating, drinking and gift exchange. All you need is a menorah. However, if you are looking for ways to update your dining room for the festivities, you can consider pendant lighting such as these from the Flair and Fascination collections by Varaluz Lighting.

Varaluz Lighting Pendant Lighting Flair Collection

Hanukkah is approaching and my new friends have explained that it is not Jewish Christmas. At my Jewish cooking lesson last month, the cooking teacher shared her childhood experience of having to explain to classmates that she didn’t have a Christmas tree but a Hanukkah bush. It was her family’s way of bringing evergreen into their decor though they did not observe Christian holidays. After her latke frying lesson and lecture on Jewish history, I understand that the frying potatoes in oil is a ritual that helps people remember the miracle of the temple oil that burned for eight nights.

Now besides gingerbread, I am looking forward to sufganiyot. I am so happy to be introduced to Jewish culture and food in Los Angeles. I’m from the San Francisco area so before my move to Southern California my exposure to Jewish culture was limited to matzo ball soup from the Holy Land restaurant in Berkeley. I was missing so much!

Happy Hanukkah!

Dining Chandelier Aladdin Light Lifts

Aladdin Light Lifts can gently raise and smoothly lower chandeliers up to one thousand pounds. Apartment Therapy reports on trendy and DIY chandeliers it its “Not Your Mother’s Chandelier” article. Before Aladdin Light Lifts, crystal chandelier owners had to sacrifice intricate designs, avoid complex filigree and angled surfaces. Why? Because dusting would be a pain in the neck.

Now whether you have your heart set on a new 300 pound Edison Chandelier or 200 pound Bohemian chandelier, you can install it and change its height easily with Aladdin Light Lifts. I am fond of Glass Link Chandeliers and Hand Blown Art Chandeliers mentioned in “Not Your Mother’s Chandelier”. Now you can indulge in mini chandeliers with lots of detail and glass chandeliers with facets. If you decide to hang a chandelier over your dining table leave 30″ to 36″ for headroom.

Crystal Chandeliers Bath Lighting by Aladdin Light Lifts

How do you reduce glare of chandeliers? Choose shades and dimmers for chandeliers in the bedroom, bathroom or dining room.  What are some sizes of chandeliers? Mini chandeliers are less than 20″ in diameter. Medium chandeliers are less than 36″ in diameter. Foyer chandeliers are 36″ in diameter or greater.

Glass Chandeliers Aladdin Light Lifts for Bedroom

Pendant Bar Lighting Fixtures Varaluz

If you are a fan of the Green Living Ideas blog, then I bet you are virtuous and considerate all year. Come on! Don’t be modest. I bet you are serving non-alcoholic drinks, that you found on Babble.com, such as ginger ale and mint Molasses Mules and Hot Buttered Un-rum holiday cocktails to your pregnant party guests. You’ve practiced making rice pudding frozen desserts with raspberries for healthy holiday desserts as suggested by Delicious Days blog. Furthermore, you asked for a donation to Rainforest Alliance towards their sustainable tourism efforts instead of a present for yourself.

Pendant Lighting Argyle Collection by Varaluz Lighting

Since you are such an ec0-sweetheart, you need to know about Varaluz Lighting. Before it was fashionable to be green, Varaluz Lighting has been recycling steel and glass to create its lovely light fixtures. For example the hand-stamped, transitional-style Argyle pendant lighting fixture you see above is 100% recycled glass and 70% recycled steel. This means if you decide to buy a home lighting fixture for the new year, you can rest assured that you are purchasing from a company that shares your values about sustainability. I know you’d resist Argyle’s glass grit sparkle and desert pearl finish if it weren’t eco-friendly. Good news that it is!

Contemporary Chandeliers Milano by Artcraft Lighting

What do the dream kitchens on HGTV for 2012 have in common? Fluidity between cooking and dining area. A blending of food preparation and entertaining areas. Imagine friends coming into your cooking arena to chat and help marinate. What are the colors that make up the palette of the 2012 dream kitchen according to HGTV? You see soothing hues such as blue, cream and gray.

What are some fresh ideas for colorful kitchens from Remodelista? Add color to your cabinets using plastic laminate over plywood or switch to open shelving. Use flower wallpaper that you would usually use for bedrooms in the kitchen. Create vignettes on your kitchen counter with colorful art, plants, and decorative containers.

What if gray and blue are not for you? How about using Pantone’s 2012 color of the year? Tangerine Tango. Expect to see this vivacious orange popping up in cosmetics and women’s clothing for spring and summer 2012. House of Turquoise Blogger is delighted with this color. Why not introduce this color to your dining room with upholstered dining chairs in Tangerine Tango? You can decorate your kitchen and dining room with Artcraft Lighting for balance. For instance, off-white linen shades and black finish of Artcraft’s Coventry Collection of pendant and kitchen island lights would be a good contrast for vibrant colors. Artcraft’s 6-Light Milano contemporary chandeliers in chrome are an excellent choice for a vibrant dining room.

Artcraft Kitchen Island Lighting Coventry

Fredrick Ramond Opus Sconces with Egg Glass

I grew up in an Americanized-Chinese household and our family dyed Easter eggs in Spring but ate hardboiled eggs year-round. Chinese celebrations included magenta red eggs for baby celebrations and gingered eggs for new mothers. Dyed tea eggs and five spice eggs were good anytime.

Why has the “egg chair” become so ubiquitous for 2012 home decor? For example, you can find vinyl corded egg chairs for $395 featured on Remodelista. You can also find natural material, plastic and fiberglass egg chairs displayed on Pinterest. Why will customers be ordering Opus egg-shaped sconces by Fredrick Ramond Lighting in the new year?

Egg Chair

If the first egg chair was made popular by Bauhaus designer Arne Jacobsen in 1956, why is this shape making a comeback? Why will the floor lamp by Lite Source, below, be in high demand?

Lite Source Egg Floor Light

Benjamin Moore’s Colorpulse convention relayed that the egg shape is a hot decor trend for the upcoming year. It falls under the idea of “protection”. The “protection” trend includes birdcages and gauze. What do eggs, birdcages and gauze share in common? All three protect something that it shrouds. Although eggshells, wire cages and gauze mesh are vulnerable materials, they buffer the outside world from what they protect. This is one of the four themes of the color and home decor trends for 2012. The egg is also a universal symbol of rebirth and renewal. The egg shape is also considered a futuristic shape. For instance, many science fiction films featured Jacobsen’s egg chair in the 1960s. Likewise, Finnish Designer Eero Aarnio created the ball chair and the bubble chair during the ’60s.

Eero Aarnio Bubble Chair

Though speakers are available as an accessory to the egg chair, ball chair and bubble chair, the basic model cocoons the sitter from outside noise. The shell the shields the sitter varies in levels of transparency and opaqueness. Some modern interpretations fill the round chair with soft cushions and lined walls. Others suspend the ovoid chair so that it hangs rather than sits on a pedestal. Whether clear, translucent or opaque, the egg-shaped chair has made a revival.

Will you choose the modern round chair at all? Do you prefer sitting in a fragment of shell, an egg cup or hanging ovoid ornament? Bauhaus 2 Your House sells their egg chair for $3,650. The swivel lounge chair has an upholstered seat and rigid foam shell. Its base is aluminum and steel. For all these egg chairs, you don’t have to choose white. You can choose primary colors or black. You can even choose gold interiors. The egg and dart pattern used in the <a href=”http://www.affordablelamps.com/justice-design.html”>Justice Design Lighting</a> fixture below borrows a common pattern from Greek and Roman statues.

Egg and Dart Sconces by Justice Design Lighting

My favorite interpretation of the upcoming year’s egg theme isn’t a protective chair but an indulgent whimsical rug. It’s a double yolk pillowed white shag rug! You can find this “fried egg” throw rug by Architect Valentina Audrito on BoingBoing.net.

If individuals are not attracted to the egg motif because of a desire to return to the womb, then it’s likely because of the renewed interest in the farm by urban dwellers. Some cities have amateur chicken farmers. Why buy organic eggs at the store when you can raise them yourself? That would explain the rise luxury urban chicken residences by designers BKLYN and raadstudio. In some cases, the chicken co-ops sell for around $3,000. Because of increased concern about animal raising practices for human consumption, some individuals are raising their chickens in clean, comfortable, spacious homes.

Urban Chicken Raising

Furthermore, you’ll see this mix of country and urban modern in industrial chic decor. This is also called the “new rustic”. You’ll notice mainstream interior design blogs adopt DIYs for reclaimed wood and found metal from farms. If you are not ready to exchange your carpeting for reclaimed oak from barns, you can take part in the egg and farm trend by referencing agriculture in subtle ways. For instance, you can buy Marcel Wanders porcelain egg vase manufactured by moooi for $133. Another glam way to introduce eggs as home decor is to display turquoise eggs. Depending on the size and quality of turquoise, this can cost between $4 to $50. For instance you can purchase a turquoise chip gemstone egg for $10 at an ordinary crystal and rock shop.