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[summerblue]

I love the style of the BL 18" lantern, but hated the chinsy candle. I wanted it so much that I was almost going to order it & remove the candle & put a CI candle in there, but based on onlineshopper's description of how her 12" sister lantern one came apart, I decided that for the price of this lantern, I shouldn't have to put myself out in order to put in a candle of my choosing. For this price I fully expected a CI resin candle to be attached, or I would have been thrilled if the lantern was sold without a candle at a much more reasonable price.

As I so wanted a really nice lantern like the BL one, I spent a couple of hours googling images to find only 2 that I really liked as much as the BL one. 1 is an exorbinantly high-priced, top of the line art piece & the other small one wasn't sold in the US according to the mfr. Here are the pics:

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Anyway, a couple of nights ago I went to a shopping center that had a Pier 1 so I dropped in to take a peek, as I have only shopped in PI a few times in all these years. Well, I feel like I hit the jackpot in terms of copping several lanterns that I absolutely adore. Here's the link to the 1st 2 I bought, & be aware that they are a ton nicer & much more proportionate in structure than the picture depicts:

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If you click on this link & check out pages 15 & 21 (you'll have to pause the slide show by cursoring over one of those circles), you will see a better representation of what they actually look like, although the pics still don't do them justice.

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I put a CI 6" white resin candle in the small one & it's perfect! It's going on a table in the entry way. IMO, the big one, would look better in either all clear glass or embossed clear glass panels alternating with the 3 different colored embossed panels so I'm going to have 3 clear glass panels cut so I can do a visual test to see which way to go. Somehow I think all clear glass panels are going to look sterling. Based on trying different candles on-hand, an 8 x 4" works well so any 7 - 9" white, red or cream candle is what I'm gonna go with. I want to order the CI swirl 9" candle in red & white, just waiting for the white to hopefully come back in stock. This lantern is so huge that I'm going to put it either directly on the floor or on a very low box in a corner. It's really a statement piece.

OK, so while I was there, I picked up the medium size in this lantern:

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It looks great with a 6" CI white resin candle; 8" was a little too big, IMO.

As I really love it, I ordered both the small & large ones from another store as by the time I saw these, they (as I was told) had already sold like hot cakes. Don't know how I will arrange them until I have all 3 sizes in my possession, but, off-hand, I am thinking that all 3 would look great in a grouping in a corner on the floor. When CI comes out with their new s/5 in red, I'm gonna try them grouped together in the large lantern to see how it looks, and if it looks great, I'm gonna purchase the s/5 in cream for this lantern.

I also bought 3 of these in blue, red & amber:

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Both a 4 or 5" candle fits great, but my preference is for the 5". The red one glows red with a red candle in it, but the red glass washes out with a white candle; same goes for the blue. The blue looks great with a green, light blue, turquoise or blue candle so I guess I'm gonna have to order those remote control ones when they come back in stock. CI's 5" white resin candle looks great in the amber one.

Well, after I purchased the initial 3, I decided to peruse PI's website & I found this:

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And I had to have this! Anyway, this had been in PI since August & as it was already on Clearance, I could only find 3 to have shipped to me from NJ, although the girl is going to scout the storage room over the next couple of days to see if she can find me a 4th one. I'm thrilled to have found 3! I have a regular, plain-jane, split-level home so I don't have the height for these (being 25"!) to be placed in pairs. It would definitely be overkill as I think you really need a 2 story great room or a very tall fireplace to accomodate their size if paired. However, in my home, mounted individually, they would make a great statement in lieu of a picture on those in between walls. You know, the ones between a bathroom & closet or between the door & the window. I find them similar to the recent CI ones, but the cross-bar design & circle pattern on the top of the CI one makes it look like it's only appropriate as an outdoor sconce. I'm thinking of painting one aqua blue, one white & leaving the last one black.

So, I just wanted to let you gals know that I am thrilled with my finds. And, unless I ever find that one I googled that is not available in the US or win the lottery for that $2000 one, I think I'm definitely through with sconces & lanterns. Up until now, I only had 3 sets of cheap ones ($15/pair @ walmart or $8/pair @ ACMoore w/ discount coupon) that I intend to spray paint different colors.

But if the Q ever comes out with another vase as nice as the HR Swirled one, I'm in for that.

BTW, for those of you who really liked CI's tortoise shell candleholder, check these out. I saw these in the store & they are super nice, and unlike CI's, the inside well is flat, however, you have to make sure that the ones you choose sit level on the bottom:

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I believe that the small one will accomodate a 4" candle, either 2-7/8" or 3" wide, & the large one will accomodate a 5 x 3" candle. I think they are so much nicer than the CI one.

Anyway, thanks for allowing me my moment of chattiness & elation.