Invasion of the Spheres

When designing all the things we wanted in our upstairs remodel, we thought of all kinds of neat inclusions such as:

• Centrally wired in-ceiling speakers: two in our bedroom, one in the bath, one in the spare BR.
  
• Flush globe fixture in our Bedroom, when we're not using our romantic sconces.
  
• Suntunnels, which let in so much daylight we don't turn on lights during the day
  
• Recessed lights in areas with low (7 foot) ceilings (hallway, spare BR)
• Required safety - hardwired, interconnected smoke and carbon monoxide detectors
  

All different systems that sound cool and function pretty well, and keep it from feeling less like a dark, cramped converted attic and more like bright, airy living space.

UNTIL...
You awaken from a wild dream, and, upon opening your eyes, are briefly are tortured by an onslaught of UFO's flying down to you. It's an invasion!



Had I known that these spheres would provide a celestial effect and remind me of Spheres, we might have totally exploited it and intentionally lined things up mimicking planets with moons and planetary rings, an entire solar system, or even an alien invasion! Since it may be difficult to imagine, I have a color-coded key for you:
Green = ceiling speaker
Yellow = suntunnel
Blue = recessed can light
Red = smoke detector
Purple = smoke / monoxide


Scary, isn't it? And that's without adding in the Spheres in our master BR!

At any rate, this certainly is yet another interesting byproduct of HumphreyHouse's evolution.

Ode to Sconces (& Mark)

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

Your 20 watt bulbs can reach, and then some.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost contractor-I love thee with the breath, smiles, tears, of all my life!-and, if God choose,I shall but love thee better with every lightbulb change.

I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you.

(Apologies to Elizabeth Barret Browning )

And to Mark, for making it happen, bringing the magic, using quarters in a way punishable by law ... many, many beers.

To mix or to match, that is the question ...

So last summer when the home expo jason's mom was working at was closing (in aurora), I swung by for the last few days of the sale and found some sconces I totally loved. They weren't a matching set, but they were from the same series. They were 70% off, and I had to buy them. So I did, and then set them aside for later. Lo and behold, in December there was a sale at homedepot online and I was able to pick up the mates to each sconce for roughly the same price I got them at expo! Here they are ...

As you can see, they are rust-colored with frosted glass and a satin nickel tip. We're putting the single ones in the bathroom, each flanking the tub, and the doubles are going into the bedroom, each flanking the entry area.

But here's the dilemma .... do we have to match our faucets to the fixtures? While a rust or oil-rubbed bronze would match nicely with these fixtures, I'm afraid they are probably going to be out of our budget, considering we have to purchase not only the sink, but a separate tub fixture as well as two different fixtures for the shower (one for the showerhead, and a different one for the shower sliding bar thingy (dontcha love my pro terminology? sorry, I lose nouns a lot). I'm thinking brushed nickel would be a lot more affordable, but is it taboo?