The Story of a Light

Followers, I've been waiting to write this post for a LONG time...waiting because I was never fully confident that the light I'm about to tell you about would ever make it through my door. Several months ago, you may remember me posting this 'inspiration picture' regarding a dining room light fixture.

I came across this image COMPLETELY randomly on the world wide web (I think I first spotted it on a blog I found somewhere on Twitter) and it was instant love. I started my search for this light by stopping into a few of my favorite lighting shops in town to see if they recognized it (Southern Lights and Lappin Lighting). Neither store recognized it, both thought it was some sort of a custom fixture. They also showed me a few similar styled ones like this, which didn't have the leggy, vintage feel of my inspiration light.

You of all people know I love a good light hunt, so I carried on with my mission. Months passed as I continued combing online lighting store after online lighting store - all to no avail and all without sparking any interest in a fixture aside from this one. Frustration was building. Late one night, while reading a slew of home decor blogs on Twitter, I came across an image of a woman STANDING in the very dining room that housed my inspiration fixture. WHO WAS THIS WOMAN and HOW could I contact her? Several searches through blogs like Made By Girl brought me to the blog Look Linger Love and it's author Chassity...otherwise known as, "The Girl In The Dining Room With The Light Fixture I Love!" I immediately emailed her sounding like a complete light stalker pleading that the fixture not be vintage and instead be readily available for my purchase (gulp, and hoping the fixture be within my price range). Thankfully, Chassity was kind enough to respond to my email and share that the fixture was indeed NOT vintage, but one she purchased from a lighting store in Charleston, South Carolina called Carolina Lanterns. I immediately called the store and asked them if I could email a picture of a fixture that a customer had purchased from them roughly two years ago, could they PLEASE tell me who makes it and whether or not it is still available. A weekend later, my fears were confirmed - the fixture is No.Longer.Available. Insert heart sinking here:-( I tried to swallow the news and move on...Jeff even gave me a few pats on the back and told me I had put up a good fight. But I just couldn't close the chapter of this book quite yet. So I went online fixture stalking and specifically targeted the manufacturer this time (now that I knew it), Lam Lee of Europe. Their site was a dead-end as they only sell to businesses that need an access code to navigate through their site. On top of that, everything was in Belgian and even with translating things online, I couldn't figure out a darn thing. So I took a shot in the dark and sent an email off to their 'info' email address in hopes SOMEONE would respond. No luck. I sent one last email before putting this whole thing to rest and then Christ responded. Yes, his name was Christ and he was here to answer my prayers. The fixture was INDEED a Lam Lee fixture and INDEED still available and INDEED could be purchased by me and shipped to the US. I was OVER the moon with excitement. The fixture was slightly outside of my price range so I told Jeff I would turn around a quick Craigslist sale to make up the dividend (here's where I sold our old Queen bed frame...BAM). Next came the wire transfer where I took myself to the bank and sent my first international wire transfer (don't you feel like you should whisper those words when you walk in a bank?) I felt like a total criminal and kept repeating, "It's for a light fixture!" With the funds transferred, it was time to figure out how the heck I was going to get this bad boy to me in one piece and THAT, my friends, is where the story got VERY interesting. Stay tuned for Part 2 of The Story of a Light...and in the meantime, check out Chassity's blog which I ADORE and her gorgeous home, adorable kiddos and appreciation for all things beautiful www.looklingerlove.blogspot.com