Pendant lights lighting that hangs from a wire or pole suspended over kitchen islands or breakfast room tables are a great way to make a statement, says Thomas Shafer, a principal of Grunsfeld Shafer Architects in Evanston, Ill.

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At one point, he tried to call the Poxley volunteer fire department, but the creosote pole that supported the telephone wire had already gone up like a torch, taking his service away.

NEWYORKER: Idols

The stage that set designer Tom Pye has decorated includes a metal folding table you might find at a Target, a ladder, a few cane chairs, barbed wire, a gorgeous bush sculpted from metal, a birdcage and a stunning wooden bird pole, though the vulture that had been onstage before the curtain was nowhere to be found during one preview.

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