The dining room light and lighting decisions.

I was thinking about something that was a reproduction “craftsman style” shade with stained glass in a basketweave pattern. That would have been lovely.

Then, I saw this fixture from an old New York train station. It’s a bit large, and some might say out of scale, but the light it gives off is a lovely, warm glow rather than an in-your-eyes burst. It will be different from anything else in the city — and because it is genuine art deco (antique) it will help ground the house a bit… I also like that the design is a sort of “greige” (the new term for a shade between gray and beige), which is a fairly modern part of the house decorating palette. It will help me find a few other elements once we move in.

And of course, for my Tom, the best bread maker in the world, the wheat pattern seems appropriate. Design-wise, I also like the fact that it comes from a time when, after a terrible event (“The Great War”), people were optimistically looking toward the future. They were rebuilding, moving on, making plans. Just like us.

I can hardly wait to see this fixture installed!