Add a Nice Light

There’s a spot in the closet where our dress shirts almost touch the floor. It looks like an automated car-wash. Some months after moving in, Valerie took to spending the night tucked in this spot, with the shirts floating above her. Because of this, we sleep with the closet door open.

The original light fixture in this closet held a round-ring florescent-bulb. It was bright, and I had a dimmer installed. That made the light flicker on-and-off at all hours.

Sometimes the flickering would wake me up in the middle of night, startling me into what I imagine would be a crack den in the 1980s.

When I was picking out a replacement to fix the problem, I wanted something that felt lux (for Valerie) and also still old-school (for me).

My maternal grandmother (Nana) and maternal grandfather (Pop-Pop) had a crystal light in the corner of their living room. Growing up, I liked the rays and shadows the light created. I replaced the original fixture with one with crystals.