The Perfect Things

When one is renovating a house to keep (which, by the way, is much more complicated than building afresh and far more involving than I expected), one wants The Perfect Things. If we were renovating to flip this house, choices would be a lot easier, but because we plan to live here until they take us out in a box, we want everything to be Just Right.

Light fixtures are a pain in the bum. Usually, they are cheaply made and come with a gasp-inducing price tag that bears no resemblance to the quality of the piece. Also, they generally either offer enough light by which to do surgery, or so little light that they are not useful except as night lights. I hate shopping for light fixtures. I hate shopping for light fixtures more than I hate shopping for clothes, and that's saying something!

So, when it came time to shop for light fixtures for our renovated bathroom, My Beloved had to promise me lunch first at a favorite restaurant to get the heavy pout off my face. We headed off for Berkeley where we knew there was a lighting shop near the restaurant. 

First, the lunch. We stopped at Cafe Rouge on Fourth Street in Berkeley, a place where we have enjoyed lunches before. My Beloved ordered the hot dog (I got a bite - primo!) and an amazing appetizer of prosciutto and asparagus topped with a perfectly poached egg. I wasn't starving, so I just ordered the soup, a corn and new potato chowder with diced ham and bits of bacon. It had shreds of either kale or Swiss chard, which gave it additional texture and a sense of smugness at having eaten something healthy for the day. The best part was that the chef added just a little spicy heat, very subtle, that sneaked up on my taste buds at the very end of each bite after the creaminess had diminished. Easily the best corn chowder I've eaten, and it's one of my favorite soups.

Then, off to the lighting store, fortified with a splendid lunch. And, lo and behold!, we found just the right fixture!  Our tile will be so pale a green that it's nearly white, and the countertops will be swirly pale green and white granite, so when we saw this fixture, we exclaimed simultaneously, "That's the ONE!"

Finally, I have something to show you other than pipes and wires; here are our light fixtures for the bathroom.

These will be on either side of the mirror, one curling left and the other curling right. Of course, they do have the heart-stopping price tags - what else is new? - but at least we can both agree that they will be The Perfect Thing.