The picture gives a good sense of the light fixture. When it arrived and I put it together, the finished product was pretty much what I expected. All the metal parts were well finished, and assembled easily. The hanging tubes come in sections that can be connected together a couple different ways to adjust the length,. The joints in the sections screw together with a nearly invisible seam. There are six sections (3 pairs):, 6", 12" and 24". You always have to use the 6" section, and it can combine with the others to total tube lengths of 18", 30" or 42". With only the minimal 6" section used, which is the way it worked best with our rather low ceilings, the bottom of the glass globes was 18" down from the ceiling.
The glass globes were slightly inconsistent in color. 3 of the 4 were quite similar, but one of them had a much paler patch that covered about a fourth of the circumference. It was OK in our space. We were able to turn it to a side you don't usually stand in. We MIGHT have returned it you could walk all around the light in our room.
The glass globes were somewhat difficult to attach to the light sockets. There is a zinc nut that has to screw onto the ceramic bulb socket inside the hanging glass. The globe tapers in at the top, and I found it very difficult to spin the nuts all the way on. Maybe there is a special tool that makes it easy, or maybe someone with small hands would be able to do it. I improvised by creating a really deep nut driver for a 1 1/2 inch nut by shaping the end of a piece of 1 1/2 inc PVC pipe I had around. It didn't have to be a very precise tool -- just something that could spin a nut in a space where my fingers didn't fit.
It took some fiddling about to get the globes to hang straight down. I needed to tighten the nuts just so: not too tight, and not too loose, so that I could adjust the hang of the glass without applying too much force, and have them stay in place by friction when I let go. It took me about 15 minutes to get them straight to my eye. Once done, it stays done, and you don't have to mess with it again. Just don't expect them to screw on straight at first -- there aren't any flat surfaces that make them line up.
The light the lamp sheds is MOSTLY down out the open bottom. Enough light diffuses through the blue glass to make them glow pleasantly, but not so much that you can't look right at them when they are on. They do create a tint to the light on the nearby ceiling and walls. If they are the only light on in the room, the ceiling and walls are not very brightly lit, and definitely blue. There is a pool of warm colored light below the fixture.
The sockets are standard size, and hold up to a 60 watt bulb. I used CFLs (the twisty bulb kind), and there was plenty of room for either the "60 Watt equivalent" 13 Watt CFL bulbs, or the "100 Watt equivalent" 23 Watt CFLs. I preferred the "60 Watt" types, because the bigger CFLs come down lower and you can see the bulb more directly. The smaller bulbs are well shielded from direct view unless you look right up into the globe.
I have flat ceilings, but it is worth noting that the top of the hanging tubes have swivel joints to accommodate vaulted or sloping ceilings.
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