I bumped into Jason Hudson at a party over the Holidays and bugged him about his lovely birdcage pendant lamp that I'd seen over on his great blog These Roving Eyes. Anyway, he was happy to share the story behind the piece, and thus begins a new occasional series on the blog - that one great thing.

Jason Hudson: My partner Jeff fell in love with this old wooden cage when he saw it at an antique shop when he was a kid. He proudly brought it home and it sat in the living room for years. After his father passed away, we found it amongst junk in the garage and I could see that it had a special place in Jeff's memory.  

I'm a firm believer in taking meaningful objects and adjusting them to work in a contemporary setting. Like your Grandma's old piano - the cherry finish isn't working in your mid-century modern dwelling, but it holds a ton of sentimental value, so have that sucker refinished! It's still the same piano, still full of memories, its precious ivories untouched. So make it work! 

Because the honey-coloured wood and sad-Cat-Lady-overtones weren't working for me, I convinced Jeff to let me spray out the cage in a high-gloss black. We wired-it-up with a great Edison bulb and just like that, had our very own, ultra-cool, one-of-a-kind lamp, rife with Jeff's childhood memories but within the limits of our (read: my) personal style. 

It casts lovely shadows on the walls and adds a certain warmth and organic quality the room was lacking before.