Disco balls belong on every ceiling
Forget the pendant lamp. The single best object you can hang in a living room turns every sunny afternoon into a party.
LB
Lou Bramwell
Contributing writer
Filed under
Style
Shoes, skateboards and whatever is hanging from the ceiling. Style as a mood, not a price tag.
The short version
1
Hang a small disco ball near a sunny window.
2
For forty minutes a day, the room becomes a party.
3
It also tells you the time.
I bought a small disco ball for a birthday party two years ago and never took it down. It hangs in the corner of my living room by the window, about the size of a grapefruit, and for most of the day it does nothing. Then the sun comes round to the west side of the building, and the room explodes.
For about forty minutes every clear afternoon, hundreds of little squares of light drift across the walls, the ceiling, the sofa, my cat. They move slowly as the ball turns in the draught from the window. Guests go quiet when it happens. My cat chases them every day as if it is the first time.
A disco ball does nothing all night and then, at four in the afternoon, it throws a party for the dust.
How to hang one
Choose a small one, 15 to 20 centimetres. Big ones are for clubs.
Hang it where direct sun reaches it for part of the day, near a window.
Use fishing line so it seems to float and turns freely.
Do not add a motor. The draught does it better, and more slowly.
Why it works
Most home lighting is designed to be invisible. A disco ball is the opposite. It is pure decoration, with no practical use at all, and that is exactly why it makes people happy. It reminds you that a room can do something surprising.
It is also a clock. You learn when the light will come, and you start arranging your afternoons around it. I have ended phone calls to go and watch it. I do not regret any of them.
From the camera roll
Pick a small one
The mirrors do the work
Off all night, on at four
“A disco ball does nothing all night and then, at four in the afternoon, it throws a party for the dust.”
— Lou Bramwell
Reader mail
Letters about this post.
“Hung ours in the kitchen. Washing up is a party now.”
“The 4pm light show is the best part of my day.”
“Landlord said no nails. Used a suction hook.”
LB
Written by
Lou Bramwell
Lou writes about records, rooms and small rituals. There is a disco ball in her living room and she will tell you exactly when the sun hits it.
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