The Nursery: Chapter 8 {The Forgotten Plane}

For several years I worked under a very talented designer who always told me that the ceiling, particularly in commercial design, was the forgotten plane. I could not agree more. The longer I've been in the field, the more I realize that ceilings are my favorite design element, for one main reason, people cannot touch the ceiling. You will rarely go back into a commercial space and find that the end user has put American flag stickers, fake plants, or Thomas Kinkade paintings on the ceiling. Once you design it, it usually gets left alone, and designers like that very much.

Although residential is an entirely different beast, I try to maintain that same thought process. There is an electrician in Tribeca, NY who can attest to it. Last summer I guess he thought when I said "align the lighting fixture on center with the adjacent sprinkler head" I meant "get it kind of close." Don't be fooled by the southern accent, that puppy was ripped down and re-aligned before the week was over.

But back to the nursery. This particular ceiling is not one that you want to bring attention to; cracks, bulges, etc. it's not in good shape. But, since I'm designing for a baby, who is going to be on his back looking at the ceiling a great deal of the time, I wanted to do something fun. I still love bunting and wanted to incorporate it in some manner. So I came up with this little DIY.

Our apartment is covered with the infamous boob light. My friend Lauren enlightened me to that term and now I cannot see it as anything else.

I thought about buying a new light and having Mr. Sabbe take this one down, but there is a small chance we could be moving again this summer, so I wanted to think of an alternative. I was also 100% sure that the ceiling above this light is in even more terrible shape than the surrounding areas and my pregnant body is in no shape for plaster repair.

I wanted to avoid putting any type of  lens on the bottom, beyond what is already there. This room has no windows, so I really need as much overhead lighting as possible. I basically just screwed off the middle disk of the existing fixture, placed the lamp shade over the light, and screwed the disk back on. Then to hide the brackets, I just ran the bunting over them and then continued it onto thin ribbon until it reached the corners of the room.

I think the shadows are the best part.

New and improved light fixture + ceiling decor....$20.

I'm getting really close to being finished, which is exciting. More to come this week.