Our new light for our stairwell arrived Wednesday and we wasted no time installing it that very night! In this post, we showed you the two options that were at the top of our list. And they were so different but we truly loved them both. Sometimes I post options like that, and almost as soon as I hit publish, I realize I liked one more than the other. It happened with the painting-the-banister post. I knew right away all black was just more us. But, you know when you ask someone their opinion about, say, what bag they like better and they say one and then your heart sinks a little because you suddenly realize you must of liked the other better? It honestly happens to me all of the time! But with these two lights, I couldn’t decide so it was so helpful to hear all of your opinions.
And really, truly, you guys said so many things that really made us think. Will one go out of style faster? Will one catch more bugs? More webs? Block more light? Cast weird shadows? Look better from outside? Last longer? So many pros and cons to each, but in the end, the commenter that said the cube felt like an art installation–well, THAT really resonated with me. SOLD.
And as soon as we ordered it, I knew it was the  Be Squared Modern Chandelier from Shades of Light was for us.  If we got the drum, we would have been very safely happy with it, but the mix of traditional and modern that the cube brings with the rest of the elements in place–OOooo–it makes my heart beat.
The gold detailing is the perfect almost matte antiqued gold that is trending right now. In the picture online, it looked more shiny, but I was pleasantly surprised to see it this way in person. It really looks interesting from all angles, which is something you want with a stairwell light you’ll see straight on, from the sides and even underneath.
Backing up for a minute, we had a few questions on Instagram about installing it. We did install it ourselves and there was some assembling to do before the installation, too.
Because of the shape, you couldn’t really set it down on the ground once it was put together, so this was definitely a two person job. I won’t go into details of exactly how we installed it (connect these two wires, yadda yadda) mostly because if you don’t know what you’re doing with electrical work, so many things can go wrong and I’d hate to feel responsible for that. But! For those few that were wondering how we positioned our ladder (a real question) this picture is for you:
Our ladder is one that can go on stairs, meaning you can shorten one side and lengthen the other so they’re even–just don’t look down. ;)
There were a lot of opinions, some strong one way or the other, on the cube vs. drum post and we know this particular light isn’t for every house or everyone. But, shoot, we couldn’t love it more right here.
With that, we’ll welcome the weekend with a before and progress shot and an air-five.
Update! After several requests for a night shot (I can’t believe I didn’t post a night shot originally!) Here ya go:
There were a few questions about the bulbs, too. Wattage is really important when you’re dealing with bare bulbs. These are 25 watt bulbs that we got at a local lighting store for a couple bucks each. The fixture said it can hold (8) 40 watt bulbs, but we decided to go for a lower wattage and hoped we could get away with since there are 8 of them. The light is extremely easy on the eyes, which was important to us since the fixture is at eye level when you head down the stairs–hence the lower wattage on our end. It gives off a nice ambient light without any harsh shadows. I tried to get one from the outside in, but shoot, I am just not that good of a photographer. Every photo, the window is just blown out. Sorry! Hope this gives you a good idea of what you could expect. :)
Where did you find that pendant?
Or in other words, how many stems did you use in yours? And how many did you have left? And how tall is your light now? And is there about 10 inches from the bottom of the lighting element and the bottom of the cube?
I think we used 2?
I was just viewing this on Shadesoflight.com and have been considering it for purchase…..googling it I came across your blog. It looks great in your house! Can you tell me how long the supplied stems are? It’s confusing in the description. Is the 3rd stem the gold on inside the cube? Or are there 3 stems to utilize above the cube in the black? I’m worried that using just one stem for above my dining table in a 10ft tall room will leave the light too high, and with all of the stems, way too low. From the site: Overall height is 70″. (31.25″Hx25.5″W) Supplied with 3 stems totaling 36″ and 60″ lead wire.
Very nice!
Look great. I really enjoy your blog.