A Light Obsession

A look at my lighting board on Pinterest will show you that I 

a. can't make any decisions 

b. love all the little lights or 

c. have a varied and eclectic taste

Probably a third of each.

We originally planned to put recessed lighting in the foyer, kitchen, and living room. It made a huge improvement, especially once we smoothed out those popcorn ceilings. Like most houses built in her time, Linda relied on lamp light in the living areas. That's kind of reminiscent of Sally and her sea shells, right?

Above is a scary before picture of those ceilings. Those lines aren't shadows, they're dirt. Gross. 

This was the foyer (which is being really generous since it's a dirty postage stamp). I wanted to put a cute chandelier here for about 5 seconds, until I realized that both the front and closet doors would hit it. :(

As you can see, the recessed lighting (and smooth ceilings) are a vast improvement. This picture was taken before the lighting trim was in, which is why it looks a little rough. 

In the bedrooms, we started out with these very 50s plate fixtures.  

I thought the fern etching was kind of fantastic, but when the electrician gave us a great deal to upgrade to recessed lighting in the bedrooms and hallway, we went for it. 

This was the old hallway light... Seriously, Grandpa?

The new hallway lighting looks 10,000 times better and since it's all LED, costs 10,000 times less, as well. 

This beauty hung over my grandparents' dining room for as long as I can remember. It's vaguely nautical and maybe could have been craftily fixed up, but I was overwhelmed by the brass... and the disgusting.  So out it went!

Enter my beautiful dining room flushmount. I'm in love with her. The soft amber glow of her Edison bulbs, the the industrial/farmhouse/rustic/hispter/modern feel of her cage, even the fun patterns she makes on the ceiling. We are soulmates. 

And when she's off, she's just as beautiful, only in a more austere, Ice Queen sort of way. You guys, she has a personality! 

Unfortunately, I don't think I have any pictures of the original lighting in the kitchen, but I'm sure you can gather it wasn't terribly updated (or clean). 

First, we added a row of  3 lights down the center of the kitchen. There's also one to the left, since the pantry snakes around the corner and there are two smaller cans above the sink. Accent lighting, duh. 

We added in a Solatube, which are amazing, economical alternatives to a skylight. I love Solatubes and I try to incorporate them into designs whenever possible. 

In the kitchen, we knocked out a wall, which allowed us to create an island peninsula. As we all know, peninsulas need special lighting. In order to showcase...the peninsula. Duh. As soon as I saw these beauties, I knew they had to be mine. They're black, but with some burnished copper/bronze areas and they tie in nicely with the bronze hardware in the kitchen and the dining room fixture. I also put Edison bulbs in these, so they're not energy-efficient, but they're gorgeous. #worthit

In the bathrooms, I REALLY wanted to go with these awesome industrial fixtures.

However, in a conversation about saving money and being efficient, my Dad and I (read: my Dad) decided that the bathrooms should NOT carry through the more expensive oil-rubbed bronze accents that I have in the kitchen and should instead have brushed nickel accents. And much more cost-effective lighting with much more cost-effective bulbs. 

So, I picked up these acceptable, slightly better than builder's grade bath bars at Home Depot. 

They're actually not bad, and I rather enjoy the arc of the piece holding the shade. It looks like they're dangling streetlamps. Or maybe Trojan helmets. 

That's it for the interior lighting changes, stay tuned for another post on the exterior lightingscapes!