Lighting

So with our 1950's house came 1950's lighting. We knew from the first time we looked at the place that every fan and fixture would eventually have to go. Before we renovated the kitchen we had a pendant over the sink (which really wasn't that bad), a small three bulb fixture over the breakfast table by the back door, and a ceiling fan with four lovely globes. The ceiling fan looked out of place to me but since the kitchen was so closed off from the rest of the house it did get really hot in there when we cooked that one time.

In the kitchen we added four can lights around the room and these two pendants over the island that I mentioned in our kitchen before and after post.

Since the old pendant over the sink didn't match we took it down and put a another recessed light in it's place. With the sink in front of a window we prefer that the can light does not obstruct your view of our football field of a front yard.

We have been told by several of our neighbors that the hill our house in on is one of the highest points in Tyler and after we went jogging for the first time in this house we believed it. We frequently like to get out doors to go on bike rides, walk the dog, or head over the Pollard Park and swing on the play ground like we are 8 years old and once we leave the drive way any direction you go you are headed down hill. My office is located a mile away on the other side of the neighborhood and we learned one night that you can get from our driveway to the office with out pedaling. Now getting back is a different story. I told Katie I would ride my bike to work but she would have to come pick me up every day and that would just be embarrassing.

When we first moved in to the house our plan was to knock down the wall between the kitchen and dinning room (which we did) and make the dinning room into a family room. We went ahead and moved the dinning table and chandelier to one side of our large front living area and ran electrical and inserted a new switch for the light. We have gone back and forth and changed our minds, multiple times, on almost every project in our house and this one was no different. We finally decided that since we already had two living areas (we also have a den with a fire place that I am currently using as an office) for us to eliminate a true dinning area to add a third living area didn't make sense. So once the wall was down the dinning table went back. Where the dinning table was in the front room we put our small wooden breakfast table that no longer fit in the kitchen with the new island and bar seating. This became a game table and a place for the just the two of us to eat and be able to see the TV. The additional space in this area was filled up by our piano which is a whole other story that I will get to one day. Over this small table we needed a light that looked different enough from the new island pendants in the kitchen but helped tie in our new dinning room light that we hadn't yet purchased but knew what we wanted it to look like.

(This is our little bookshelf with games beside this table)

We tried everything in the space, went to every lighting store in Tyler, twice, even tried to make one ourselves by installing a light kit into a lantern we bought at Home Goods last time we were in Dallas. Nothing seemed to work in the space. Our last thought was to open a new lighting store in East Texas that actually carried some different and exciting looking lighting. That discussion didn't last long though and we were back to scouring the existing stores.

Going into it we thought we would have a problem with being cheap. I don't know if I would actually say cheap but we were looking for different and unique on a budget. What we found though is that different and unique didn't even exist. We weren't even given the chance to say "man that is perfect, too bad it's so expensive". Finally during a trip to Lowe's for a completely unrelated project, we came across the new Allen + Roth collection. We had started to see several of these glass globe pendants around the Internet and on several shows but had never really seen one in person. I was hesitant on the finish, never really being a fan of oil rubbed bronze, but really liked the glass globe so we decided to take it home and give it a shot.

We ended up liking it so much that when we were looking for an entry light we went back to Lowe's and found this one from the same collection. This entry light needed to be high enough and not too wide so the door could swing beside it. We didn't really want another pendant and can never find a flush mount that we like so this seemed like the perfect alternative. (We also really like the vintage filament bulbs that come with these lights)

Back to the dinning room that is without a light since I took apart the old chandelier to use parts for our home made lantern attempt. For months Katie had been searching the Internet for chandeliers and the only ones that we both liked were the wine barrel chandeliers from Restoration Hardware. Now if you click on that link you will quickly learn that this just wasn't going to happen. So the search was on back to all the lighting shops within a 50 mile radius. We would tell people we were looking for a wooden wine barrel chandelier and they would always say sure I know exactly what you are looking for and then show us a light that was the complete opposite. We were frustrated, and almost gave in a few times and purchased a light that neither of us liked, however we never really got over how great a unique wooden light would look in our house.

Finally we heard from some friend that there was a man at First Monday in Canton that sold lights that sounded like what we were looking for. So the next First Monday weekend that rolled around we made the 35 minute drive over to Canton. Sure enough we found this little shop inside one of the main pavilions and were really impressed with what he had. We settle on one that was a little smaller to work with our 8 foot ceilings and after a little haggling it was ours and we couldn't wait to get it home to install it.

Installing a light is something I have done numerous times and if everything goes right should only take a few minutes. After four hours I gave up and called my Dad in for reinforcement. Apparently at this junction box in the ceiling was a connection for almost every other light in the house and when we took the wall down and moved the lines into the attic a few of them did not get reconnected correctly. The first time we wired the chandelier up and flipped the breaker back on the light stayed on all the time. You could flip the switch all you wanted but the light was always on. We thought about just using the breaker as a switch because how often do we really dine, but decided to forge ahead and figure it out. In our next attempt the light worked, however half our house was out. Finally after taking everything apart and chasing it through the attic we got it all put back together and working.

We know our table is too small for the space and we are still looking for a knock off Restoration Hardware table to go with our new light. Something that seats 8-1o. We had a big mirror on that back wall but ended up moving it to the entry way of our bedroom across the closet. It gets more used there.

We are really happy with our lighting solutions thus far and hope we have the same luck going forward with the rest of the house. Currently we are having a hard time finding ceiling fans that we like. Maybe we should open up our own lighting store, any investors reading? This past weekend we traveled over to Gladewater and made a purchase for our upcoming bathroom(s) reno so be sure to check back for that post.