The past few weeks have been harried and hectic and stressful and fun. So much has gone on that I am finding it hard to sort it all out into something writable. So I’m scrapping all of that to write about light fixtures. This post will inevitably change the world.
Throughout the process of renovating our house I have come to the conclusion that I have a love affair with two things, fabrics and lights. I’m convinced they can completely change the mood of a room, or a house even. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, I really don’t know) both light fixtures and fabrics seem to be a get-what-you-pay-for kinda scenario. I’ve found that I fall head over heels for very expensive light fixtures and then need to spend days finding affordable versions of them, which inevitably wind up with logistical problems.
Our dining room pendant should have taken fifteen minutes to install, but because I fell in love with a fixture that was not meant to be hardwired to the ceiling, Matt had to work some serious magic to get it up there. Three hours and much rolling of eyes later, he installed a free (!) and lovely solution that I adore:
For the bathroom I searched high and low for just the right fixture, splurged a little on price, and then found it necessary for Matt to completely rebuild the wall behind it with spackle since the previous fixture took up far more space. But again I was tickled pink with how it turned out.
This morning Matt is busy wiring up lights that I picked out for the second floor. Before the drywall was installed, I asked him to completely rewire the lighting above our stairwell so that the hideously ugly track lighting could be switched over to a a flushmount and tasteful wall sconce. I found the sconce that I wanted, but once again, it would take some jerry-rigging to hardwire it into the wall and hide a hole in the fixture. In fact I need to spend a few hours this week finding a small brushed nickel knob to hide said hole. Because I can’t just make it easy, can I?
Once Matt finishes installing the fixtures upstairs, we’ll basically be done replacing lights throughout the house. And to keep my husband from walking out on me, I’ve decided to just stick with table lamps from now on.
Although then I might need him to add more outlets to the house.
May 10th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
All the good light fixtures are pretty expensive. Good thing he’s good with the wiring/jerry rigging.
May 10th, 2010 at 3:35 pm
Check out http://www.schoolhouseelectric.com (or google schoolhouse electric – I think that is the site though). You’ll want more.
. Just blame it on your favorite realtor. It will make the house look better whenever we sell it!
May 10th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
i’m with zach – LOVE LOVE schoolhouseelectric!!
May 10th, 2010 at 10:49 pm
i love school house electric, and i love that zach has me hooked on renovating old houses in nashville. although matt probably doesn’t.