Roundup: Light, Bright and Beautiful Homes

Post holiday season is a time when our homes are finally able to take a sigh of relief. The holiday decorations have been packed up and stored for another year, the presents have all been given and we are starting back into our "normal" routines. What we really want is to fling the windows open and let the sun shine in, but if you live in the 75% of the country that is still a bit too chilly to do so, click through the jump to see some light and bright ideas to make your place feel like a breath of fresh air.

House Tour: Rachel's Repurposed Mid-Century Place - Often times when we think about bright objects in the home we are referencing smaller accent pieces. Not in this house tour where color takes the main stage in the form of large pieces of furniture. It keeps things playful without being over the top.

House Tour: Summer and Josh's Pumped Up Traditional - Most of us are doing good just to keep our closets clean, let alone decorating them. Because a closet is a place that only you (typically) see it's a great place for a little fun. It's sure to make you smile each and every day and a great emphasis in a space that usually doesn't have any.

House Tour: Arthur's Long Distance Home - Another trick to keeping things light is to utilize the vertical space in your rooms. Taking artwork or curtains all the way to the ceiling lift the eye up when entering a space and keep even darker or heavier furniture feeling light as a feather.

- House Tour: Haldane Martin's White Nest - Less is more, literally, in this home in Cape Town. The photographs in this tour were taken a mere 48 hours after move-in. There is a fantastic sense of light in this home, from feathers near the ceiling, to white, white and more white, to the delicious amount of actual light to be had, it's a great space all around. But what makes each element of the home stand out is it's lack of "stuff." We aren't saying you can't have "stuff" but often times finding a way to keep most of it out of sight will create a fantastic peace of mind.

House Tour: Meg and John's Big City Home - Lighting would be the literal way to lighten and brighten things up in your spaces. Sometimes bringing your lighting down in your spaces is a great way to accomplish this. Many times we grew up in homes with lights high above our heads and it can be difficult to make the adjustment to lower lighting, but give it a try, it can make all the difference in the world when it comes to lighting up your life!

i love the ostrich chandelier but couldn't afford it, so i attempted to construct a $10 knock-off with wax paper, tape and a paper lantern:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/7fR3Gl2fa5McuD9y3gEJgg?feat=directlink

posted by littlebunnyfoofoo on January 5th 2009 at 8:28pm
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here's a pic of the construction process if anyone is interested:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/adrKtX2apw1_Q0yVkjlYEQ?feat=directlink

posted by littlebunnyfoofoo on January 5th 2009 at 8:34pm
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wow, it's beautiful. I don't know if it's just the lighting (or if it looks like wax paper taped to a lamp shade in person), but it's got a great effect in the photo! brava!

posted by kimg924 on January 5th 2009 at 9:01pm
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thanks, kimg924! actually, i think it looks better in person (both with the light on and off...it looks almost ghostly with the light off), but i was worried about exactly your concern throughout the first quarter of its construction. initially there were a lot of telltale/crappy looking seams/shadows left by the tape i used initially (matte scotch 'magic tape' that most people have), but i took those 'petals' down and retaped them with 'shiny' tape. lots of layers is key, though! next project is making a chandelier with parchment, wax and vellum paper...

posted by littlebunnyfoofoo on January 5th 2009 at 9:28pm
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But what do you do if you don't *have* a nice big window to throw open, but a little skinny thing that opens onto a shaded entry? My dining room is dark all year long, and it's got this dinky recessed light in the ceiling - very understated. I've considered some massive project along the back wall (humungo Anthropologie-style jar lamp display, giant lit terrarium) but I don't expect to stay here too much longer. Maybe I should go find some LEDs at an after-Xmas sale and do loopies on the wall... hmm... may have solved my own problem here...

posted by whytephoenix on January 6th 2009 at 10:17am
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littlebunnyfoofoo, you rock my socks! i have been thinking of how i could poach this idea ever since i saw haldane's post go up; my version was going to actually use feathers but i haven't really worked with them much and i was anxious about disaster. thank you so much for sharing; your take on it looks great!

posted by curvatura on January 6th 2009 at 11:04am
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