A JCP WIN

I spent lots of hours sitting on the floor of the window treatment section of JCPenney as a kid, way back before the days of finding JCPenney online deals and offers online; Mom was always looking for a new rod or finial or treatment of some kind, and I guess department stores were a natural go-to in the days before the internet and Target. (Her house always looks really great and homey.) But I really hated that window treatment section as a kid, and maybe–the realization is hitting me as I write this–that’s why I have such an aversion to window treatments to this day.

Seven months after moving in, we’re still putting a heavy emphasis on furnishing, and less of an emphasis on actual decorating. What I’m saying is that curtains–formal window coverings other than the blackout shades I owe to the kid’s rooms–are way down the road, even if I have sort of been admiring the sliding panel design options that I come across, ones that would cover the picture windows nicely during the evenings without being heavy curtains. I digress. We need couches more than accent throws, bed frames more than new pillowcases, closet organizers more than more shoes. If all goes perfectly to plan, we’ll have some luck furnishing and decorating in the same step, by buying amazing statement-esque pieces that provide much needed function. I think this floor lamp is one of the pieces we’ll have forever, even some day if and when we do have curtains.

Wham, bam, we have light.

There are absolutely no lights in the living room, I don’t think we realized this was the case before we actually moved in and it was suddenly 10pm that first night. It didn’t take me long to buy a small table lamp from Target, a steal of a deal that helped us out by giving off enough light to save us from stubbing our toes while walking through the room, but we’ve been on the hunt for a great looking floor lamp for a long time. Something powerful. Something impacting. That rare something that was both affordable and cool, and wouldn’t you be surprised to know that we found it at JCPenney? It’s the Lucina Floor Lamp from the Design by Conran line, a collection from British designer Sir Terence Conran. I paid nowhere close to the listed $345, because I’m not a crazy person.

Anyways, JCP has some radical furnishings these days. Contemporary lines by Jonathan Adler, Martha Stewart, and Michael Graves, product selections in the home section that actually make me want to walk into the department store to see what’s on display. And the displays in our mall are always nice too, they really help to sell the product, very bright and colorful, though I’m not sure if that’s the case throughout all JCPenneys, or just in larger malls like ours. We came very close to buying this really modern floor lamp from the same Design by Conran line a few months ago–the discounted price was certainly nice, about $110 down from $420, gasp!–but after doubting the quality of the product in-store and finding a review online that said that the head was too top-heavy to support itself and the clamps not quite strong enough, we bailed and decided to hold out for something better. I’m glad we found it in this light that we ended up bringing home.

The base of the lamp weighs almost as much as I do, a gigantic piece of marble with a secondary weight beneath it to prevent it from tipping easily. The wood accent was the real selling point, a beautiful complement to our new floors.

It puts off enough light to illuminate our entire living room in the evenings, light that flows from above and below, and through the white drum shade. Plus, pull chain. Sleek, simple pull chain.

We still have a long ways to go, but getting the living room to a more comfortable, functional space really helps us to feel the progress, to feel at home.