Light is a funny little trick. Isn’t it amazing how the light in your home can really change the mood of your surroundings? Moving from space to space in adulthood I’ve really come to appreciate what properly lit places can do to make a house a home. Vic and I (mostly Vic, but let’s just say “we” since I claim his time as mine own:) have painstakingly poured over the lighting layout in our new home. It is safe to say we have gone overboard on this aspect of our home planning, but I’m a girl who likes my spaces lit and lit well.
One of the surprisingly difficult tasks I’ve taken on through this process is finding all of the necessary light fixtures within the allotted budget. How many hours have I soaked into this seemingly simple task, you ask? Aye, but I have no answer for you. I keep thinking about the relationship of door knobs to hinges to cabinet hardware to light fixtures. How much do these things need to match? How much contrast is good to see? Harmony is important to me. Matchy watchy is not… but I digress.
I decided that the most important lighting to me is the trio above the kitchen island.
I started with this fun retro look. Lowe’s has a delightful line of products from allen + roth that I really love. Just simple, vintage inspired pieces that aren’t expensive. Such fun!
But ultimately I didn’t feel good about the chrome. Couldn’t get into it. I love vintage, but I’m less retro and more farmhouse. So, back to square one. I found another beautiful piece at Kelly’s lighting. Hand blown milky white glass and a dainty black hinge on top. GORGEOUS… and only $300 a piece! HA! I’m not sure what fancy pants I was wearing the day I went in there! That’s basically my whole lighting budget, or at least most of it, so I passed.
Before I could find the right pendant I ended up stumbling upon this “Harlowe” piece from Pottery Barn that I’ve been loving for a white, but went on sale. Hello! Perfection! It has just the right mix of elegant and farm house for my taste and it was on sale at the time for $99. For unknown reasons, it is now back up to $159.
So now, the dining chandelier is dealt with. This is a “country kitchen” so the kitchen and dining space are right next to each other. These lights need to complement one another. I found these little gems at ShadesofLight.com. I love them! With an Edison bulb in there and similar molten glass to the pendant, I think its a winner! And the price was totally right Excellency!
To make sure 3 pendants would work in the space visually, I made these ridiculous light proxies out of styrofoam, wood, tape and twine and hung them from the fixture holes. These were the same size width-wise as the original chrome fixture and I was a bit worried that they were huge. But they were just fine and these smaller ones from Shades of Light will work even better.
OOH and you can see the beginnings of our hard work on the windows last weekend! Finish work is fun to see happen!
Did you need to know any of that much less all of it? No. No you probably did not. 🙂
The Mama Diaries 