Who knew my mom was so hip?

My mom 2 months prior to passing away.

Have you ever seen that commercial where a couple sets a very cool, sleek and expensive Delta faucet in front of an architect and challenges, “Design a house around this!”? Well, that is kind of what has happened in regards to my master bedroom makeover and a pair of lamps. Yes, a pair of lamps -  a pair of 30 year old lamps.

I had mentioned previously that my mother recently passed away. March 16, 2014. She was 92 and loved beyond belief by her two daughters. She lived in a one bedroom condo in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida that she and my dad bought in the early 1980s. They decorated the small space precisely to their tastes and as of March 16, 2014 it looked exactly the same as it did in the 1980s. They were frugal, never frivolous.  Extremely generous and giving  to their children and grandchildren but allowed no waste, no unnecessary spending, and always had a bit in the savings account for that rainy day. Both of my parents lived through the Great Depression which affected them for the remainder of their lives and inadvertently affected my sister and me too. Neither of us had “cool” clothes to wear to school. While my peers were wearing Villager skirts and Bass Weejun loafers, I was wearing Sears and Roebuck and Thom McAn. While others were driving Firebirds or Cutlasses I was borrowing my dad’s old Corvair. We begged and pleaded but mom stood strong and did not spend over our means just to placate whining children.  It was a lasting gift my parents gave us - a good head on our shoulders in regards to money and that need to have a savings account for those storms that will undoubtedly come one day.

 In regards to decorating, my mom and dad liked clean lines and absolutely no clutter. They were SO excited when they purchased Lucite (looks like acrylic) tables and lamps for the living room and thought they were living high on the hog. They also purchased a “cat” sculpture made of tiny, dark grey and white pieces of mirror that sat upon the Lucite table like royalty and sparkled like a disco ball in the sunlight. “These were expensive!” they would exclaim every time my sister and I suggested they make a change.  Care was taken to never set any glasses on the tables without a napkin or coaster. Dad had glued felt on the bottom of the mirrored cat to avoid unwanted scratches on the precious Lucite. My mom bought a special cleaner especially made just for this furniture and the grandkids were not allowed to color or play on the tables. These were prized possessions.  Donna and I would snicker and think that the décor was “dated” and that Lucite was just a fancy name for plastic. Because – well you know we are just so much more “with it” than our parents. Don’t we all think that?

My dad died in 2000 and my mom continued to live in the condo and stay pretty active throughout the remainder of her life. She still hung on to those Lucite furnishings and mirrored cat with a vise-like grip and made us promise that if anything happened to her we would make sure we took those pieces. My sister and I used to have conversations about this and talk about what the hell we were going to do with these things if mom died. YOU take it – no YOU take it – no YOU take it and so forth and so on.

Well, Mom died. Still hard for me to realize. Still hard to say. It sticks in my throat (or keyboard in this case) and causes my eyes to brim. As we were going through the condo, packing the things we thought she would want us to have, Donna agreed to take the Lucite coffee table, end table and bookshelf. I came back to Georgia with the lamps and the cat.  My sister did some research online and not only found that these items are quite “in” right now but VERY valuable. I mean these lamps are worth about a major chunk of change! My daughter told me recently that she saw a sculpture resembling the “cat” with a price tag of $2000.00 on Rodeo Drive. Who would have thunk it? My Mom always thought she was hip and trendy and now my sis and I cannot disagree.

"Disco" Kitty

The lamps are my Delta faucet. I made the decorating plan for the bedroom around them. I would have done that even if they were not fashionable, chic, or pricey. They are part of my mom and dad and I cannot wait to have them lit in my new bedroom. The cat will find a prominent spot to once again “rule” with its prisms of light. Somehow I think Mom would be pleased.

The color palate in the bedroom will be shades of grey (not 50 though), black, white and with an accent color that I have not decided on yet. What do you think -  black or white lampshades? Let me know!

These lamps will eventually be placed on nightstands on each side of the bed.