Awesome bowler hat lights

{source}

Sometimes you follow links and blog posts and it's like a never ending rabbit hole.  Other times, you actually see the light at the end of the tunnel and find something really cool.

I spotted these really cool light fixtures from a designer in London, Jake Phipps.  I think these would be fairly simple to make.


Though I haven't made them myself, I was able to get some info. off his site that give some clues to how he made these.

The designer found vintage top hats or bowler hats.  He added an anodised aluminum lining to the hats. He added a suspension lighting kit.  The bulbs he used were 28 watt.  I don't think I've seen that here in the US, but I would assume you'd need to use a very low watt bulb.

For the lining, the designer used gold and silver.  I prefer the silver or {and I'm not even sure if they sell it} I would prefer a black lining myself.  I'm not sure how the light would reflect off a black lining - probably not too well, but just sayin' what I think would be pretty.

These look super-cool.  I hope I can try to make these some day!

A cool train station bench { inspiration file }

I work at The Old Lucketts Store in Leesburg, Virgina a few times a month as well as take pictures of the shop and post them weekly.  The store offers endless inspiration, and truly unique examples of recycled and repurposed furniture.

I wanted to share an awesome bench I featured on their website this week.

The owner purchased an antique train station bench.  She painted the bench and added a utilitarian fabric to the seats and back to make it more comfortable.  The result is a wonderful three seater bench that would look perfect as bench seating in a dining room, entryway or large living room.

Here's what the bench likely looked like before the redo...

{ photo:  The Arts and Crafts Society forums }

And here it is after some new life was breathed in to it...

{ photo:  The Old Lucketts Store }