Light
As I mentioned earlier this week, Sweets and I spent some time shopping for tile for our condo. While I don’t have before & after photos to show you (not yet, at least), I do have a photo of the tile we picked out for the kitchen backsplash.
What I forgot to mention was the lighting store we visited. You see, we have this lighting fixture in our living room that I hate. It’s too small for our space. It’s got too many cutesy curly-q things in the metal. It’s silver and cool (instead of warm, the way we like our living space). And it’s just not us.
We’ve been meaning to buy new light fixtures for quite some time. But, it has always fallen low on our priority list. As it should. We don’t need a new light. We want a new light.
But, finding something that fits our personality is tough. Most lighting is way to intricate for us. Or too country. Or too overdone for our tastes. Or just too big for our space (we don’t have particularly high ceilings, so chandeliers that hang far from the ceiling aren’t great for us). And, the modern stuff? The stuff you’d think we’d really like given our taste in furniture and art? Well, Sweets likes some of it, but I find most of it to be too far out there. Too cold. Too unfeeling.
So, maybe we’ve been procrastinating about this lighting purchase. Because even when we find something we like? We have to worry about price. Lighting can get really expensive, really quickly!
However, over the weekend, we finally ventured up to a lighting store that our neighbors recommended to us (a year ago!). And walked into a fat sale. 50% off retail. Hello!
It didn’t take long before Sweets and I found a couple options we liked (yes, we were both shocked). We jotted down size and price and came home to measure and discuss. We made a decision. I called the store. We made a purchase. And we’ll pick up our new lights after Thanksgiving.
We got both a chandelier as well as a semi-flush mounted light since our living room has a spot for both.
The second photo shows a better image of the finish. It’s like an aged bronze. Very warm. Dynamic. It’s going to fit really well into our continually transforming living room!
Lighting is not something most of us ever think about as we either rent (and wouldn’t make a change like that) or when we buy, we place our spending priorities elsewhere. So tell me, what kind of lighting would you purchase given the type of home you live in?
November 18th, 2009 at 8:32 am
Right now we have a flourescent light in our kitchen. It is big and ugly and gives me a headache. I would love to replace it but we can/t seem to find anything we both like. Hopefully we will stumble upon something just like you seemed to.
Yours is beautiful! I love both and bet they will look wonderful in your home.
November 18th, 2009 at 8:45 am
we got to pick out our lighting when we built the house and i agree…everything we looked at was too ornate and busy. We finally found very simple lighting, Frank Lloyd Wright style, that has simple, harder lines and it just goes well in our house.
November 18th, 2009 at 8:58 am
It is funny that you wrote about this because, we are searching for a light for our kitchen. We have flushed lights the border the cabinets but they do not throw light to the middle of the room. So we are in the market for a light fixture there.
We have looked here and there and found some that we like but nothing that stood out. It is our mission next year to get something up there.
Great choices, the bronzed look will work well with your colors.
November 18th, 2009 at 8:59 am
I’m not a fan of harsh overhead lights. Your lighting fixtures are beautiful though and I can only imagine how warm and cozy your living space with be with them.
November 18th, 2009 at 9:43 am
Very nice! We are both dying for a new light fixture in our dining room, but like you, it comes very low on the priority list, and the list is super long. So… well, we haven’t even looked. So I don’t know what we’d want. But definitely not what we have.
November 18th, 2009 at 9:47 am
You measured. Unlike with the couch? Awesome! Okay, that was naughty of me. And I like warm fixtures, too.
November 18th, 2009 at 10:06 am
I’m a fan of soft lighting and also prefer the fixture to have some detail to it but nothing super crazy and exotic. I actually prefer lamps + accent lamps to overhead lighting for some reason though I couldn’t tell you why!
November 18th, 2009 at 10:09 am
I’m jealous of your home ownership. :) That’s all I have to say. hee hee. I’m sure whatever you pick out will be great.
November 18th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Me likey!
A couple of our light fixtures are a little too frou-frou for our tastes, but they’re low on the list of priorities. It’s the entryway and hall, so we don’t really notice them. The kitchen light fixtures we like, and everything else is ceiling fans which are a necessity down here.
November 18th, 2009 at 10:43 am
Love the choices you made! I really need some more overhead lighting. My living room and bedroom do not have any and in these cold, dark winter months in Seattle I feel like I am in a cave.
November 18th, 2009 at 10:57 am
Those look beautiful!
Our lighting sucks, it’s what was left in the house when we moved but knowing that it’s not our forever home, we’re leaving it. We’ve already re-done the backyard, all the windows & doors- and in the spring we’re refinishing the hardwood floors. For I can overlook the lighting for the next 3 or 4 years =)
November 18th, 2009 at 11:59 am
If I ever buy my own place, I’m having you decorate it.
November 18th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
I really like the chandelier you chose! Our condo is only 2 years old so we won’t be replacing any of the light fixtures anytime soon. I’m not really a fan of our current light fixtures but it seems like a waste to get rid of them when they’re still relatively new.
November 18th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Those fixtures are a nice mix of contemporary and antique styles. Good pick!
My husband, who is much more of a Design Person than I am, insisted that we change almost all the light fixtures in our condo as soon as we could manage it. Well, it’s taken three years, but we’ve now done every room except the bathrooms and the kitchen. It makes such a huge difference to have lots of beautiful, clear, white light. I’m not so afraid of facing this winter because I know it will never be too dark at home.
November 18th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
oh my gosh, i have no idea. i’ve always rented, and often in places with VERY little overhead lighting, so i rely a lot on lamps :-P
November 18th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
I love your tile and the lights are quite nice too. My taste in lights is, what I think you’d consider a little on the cold side. I did change the lights when I first moved and mine are modern, close to the ceiling, no chandeliers, brushed silver metal ones. I think they look good with my style of furniture and most importantly I like them. I think at the end that’s what counts, that we like our living environment and it reflects to some extent who we are. Can’t wait to see the final pictures! :)
November 18th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
Like you, lighting has taken a big back seat in our living space. Well, in our bedroom, at least. For the longest time, we had an old (and I mean OLD) halogen lamp in our bedroom. The only light there. That’s it. Well, we only sleep and… uh… *ahem*. You get the idea.
In our living area, the apt came with track lighting in the dining area (shudder) and nothing else. We promptly found a simple chandelier we liked for the dining area and two wall sconces for above the couch. And a matching floor lamp.
November 19th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Very nice -- I bet they cast well on the ceiling. Purdy!
November 19th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
I like the tile and lighting you’ve chosen! We also have been having a hard time finding replacement lighting -- so much in fact, that we are not looking anymore. We felt like we went everywhere. And since I used to have contacts in the commercial side of the industry, I was somewhat spoiled by knowing the possibility of what lighting CAN do but not being able to find it!
November 20th, 2009 at 12:27 am
Love the backsplash! Excellent choice!