Another Goal, Checked Off

I completed another one of my 2011 Goals. While it may not seem like much, it was one that meant a lot to me.

"Figure out lighting solutions for the Living Room.. it's way too dark in there."

Our Living Room is in the Northwest corner of the house. It is dark in there all day long (unless you want to watch TV... then you get a weird glare on the TV in the afternoon). We had 2 lamps in there, which we received as wedding gifts and had in our Living Room in our apartment. They weren't cutting it. So I bought a lamp for my bookcase, thinking that might help. It helped at night, because it's hooked up to a switch, so at least we didn't have to walk through the room in the dark anymore. But other than that, no big difference (looks pretty though). We go out to church/dinner/shopping with my parents every Saturday night and while I was waiting for R to get ready, I flipped through the Bed, Bath and Beyond catalog that came in the mail that day. And there was a set of 3 lamps, one floor lamp, two table lamps. They were exactly what I was looking for! And all three for only $59.99! Add my 20% off coupon into the mix and you get three large lamps for $47! Not bad! I unpacked the lamps first thing in the morning on Sunday (R joked that it was like Christmas morning... Styrofoam/boxes everywhere and me with a big grin on my face). I put the floor lamp in the corner by the door/DVDs/fireplace and the table lamps on either side of the love seat. It was so bright in there!! Even with just the floor lamp on it makes a huge difference! It's amazing! It also makes the room look a lot more grown-up and nicer (the mess and clutter in the house is really starting to get to me, the neat freak...). I haven't taken a picture of them yet, because the room is a mess with paint removal supplies, so this picture is from the BBB website.

Slight Electrical Problem

Last night when R was coming up to bed, he turned on the light at the bottom of the back staircase. Only it didn't turn on. He was a little concerned because the lightbulbs in the two fixtures attached to this switch were newish (less than a year old) CFL bulbs. They shouldn't even be close to the end of their life yet. So this morning he decided to check it out. And we're both glad he did.

The first thing he realized was that the light fixture wasn't attached to the ceiling very well. In fact, hardly at all. When he took it down, about 20 acorns and other miscellaneous "stuff" fell out of the ceiling. 

He ended up taking down the drywall in this part of the ceiling because he wanted to clean out all of the acorns and debris, and also get a better look at the wiring. This staircase is one of the areas we're planning on completely gutting so I had no problem with this.The drywall would have come down eventually anyways.

R went to Lowe's and bought a new electrical box and a simple $1 light bulb holder similar to this. We figured it would be fine as a temporary fixture until we could get to gutting and remodeling the whole staircase. However, just like everything in our house, it just wasn't that simple. After a couple hours of staring and testing, R decided he wasn't comfortable enough messing with the wiring. It appears that it wasn't done correctly (in fact, there's all black burn marks on the back of the drywall and wood showing that the wires/fixture got too hot) in the first place, and some of the wires were frayed, so we both decided it would be best to have a professional look at it. Until then, we don't have any electricity in the back half of the house (both upstairs and downstairs). The only room with power back there is the upstairs bathroom and the attic. So we've been using a lot of flashlights and extension cords :)

Kitchen Lighting

We haven't installed any of the new Kitchen light fixtures yet, but they've all been purchased. Lighting is one of my favorite parts of my job... I love choosing new light fixtures! There's so much to choose from!

The first fixture will be installed in the cabinet above the sink. I've never really seen anything done like this before, but putting an undercabinet light here didn't seem like it would provide enough light. And I'm not a fan of those small fluorescent lights you sometimes see installed under cabinets above sinks. I bought a pendant light. I've seen pendants installed over sinks when they're in front of windows and I'm not really a fan because they block the view out the window. But here, I'll just have a beadboard backsplash, which will make a nice background for the pendant light. The stem can be adjusted so that it's very very short (it almost won't look like a pendant). The shape and style match the next light fixture.

This light fixture will be installed in the general work area of the Kitchen. It is replacing a flush ceiling mount fixture. This fixture will be pretty close to the ceiling, but lowered enough so that it will throw some light onto the ceiling. It's a very simple fixture that I think will match well with the rest of the house.

For over the Kitchen table I wanted something more traditional. Since this half of the Kitchen is kind of set apart from the rest of the Kitchen, I felt it was okay to change things up a bit. This fixture will be centered above our traditional table, as well as centered on the fireplace and built in cabinet. It is very similar, but slightly less formal, to the fixture I am planning on purchasing for the Dining Room.  If you look carefully you'll notice that the shades have a similar shape as the glass shades of the other two lights.


Anyone looking to buy light fixtures, please check out www.bellacor.com. I've used them for work before and have always found that they have a great selection and great prices. And you can't beat their quick delivery times! (And no, they haven't paid me to say this.. I'm just that pleased with them!)

Here's the specifics on the Kitchen Lights:

1:

Manufacturer: Murray Feiss

Retailer: www.bellacor.com

Model: Barrington Oil Rubbed Bronze Mini Pendant

Finish: Oil Rubbed Bronze

Price: $70

2:

Manufacturer: Murray Feiss

Retailer: www.bellacor.com

Model: Barrington Oil Rubbed Bronze Small Semi-Flush

Finish: Oil Rubbed Bronze

Price: $70

3:

Manufacturer: ?

Retailer: www.overstock.com

Model: Iron 5-Light Black Chandelier

Finish: Black

Price: $107