A few months ago we moved from our one bedroom apartment to a townhouse. There are tons of changes I would like to make but none are urgent… except for the unsightly light hanging above our powder room mirror. Lets call this light fixture Fru Fru Freddy. Fru Fru Freddy doesn’t match the other metals in the room, its scale is too big for the mirror and it is traditional whereas the rest of the bathroom is contemporary. And did I mention I think it is ugly, really, really ugly. The problem you see, is that I have run clean out of financial room for making big purchases for our house, and in terms of our cash flow, a $200 plus light fixture is a big purchase.
In my rigorous lighting class my lovely (and opinionated) teacher did her best to impart her vast lighting knowledge on us students. One simple thing I readily agreed on was her low opinion of “fat alberts”. These unsightly light fixtures appear in many a sad bathroom from the 80’s and I was living in a home with one such bathroom at the time I took this course.
A design savvy friend of mine, one of those naturally gifted decorators, recently flipped a home with her husband. As she was leaving my home she told me she was heading over to Lowes to buy some aforementioned fat alberts for their newly renovated bathrooms. At under $20 a pop they are pretty much the most budget friendly vanity light you can buy. In my head I heard my lighting teacher’s voice and cringed. However, after living with Fru Fru Freddy for a few more months I began to take her use of fat albert into consideration. What I have realized is that while albert might be a bit rotund, he is less offensive to my sensibilities than freddy’s fru fru-ness. And so, I offer my sincerest apologies to my decorating instructor because today, hanging above my mirror, is a curvaceous version of a fat albert light fixture, and I like it!
What’s your opinion, who takes the cup in the clash between fat albert and fru fru Freddy? See poll to vote.
I am all in favor of using a budget friendly design element – though maybe not the ultimate goal – to change an offensive design element! Fat Albert has been part of our family in three bathrooms for the last 20 years and I don’t even notice them, until they burn out. Now that we are moving I am sure we will say a sad but fond farewell to our fat albert friends!