Red Light Special

The electrician has been here quite a bit this week, installing bath fans and new light fixtures.  One of the first fixtures I purchased  for the house was a total score: it was a clearance floor model and the last one left.  At first, I thought it was just too large for my house, and walked away from it, only to realize that it would be perfect for the hallway after we removed the drop ceiling.  I came back and picked it up and am so glad that I did!  It was hung this week and I just love it.

The fixture is by CobiStyle:

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It's a bit of a departure from the oil rubbed bronze I have in the rest of the house, but there's just something about a red light that I love, especially with copper accents.

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Tomorrow, I'll be able to share the updates in the master bedroom.  It's coming along at last!

Let there be Light, Part II

As my husband said today, our house is looking more like a home: we have electricity and light fixtures at last.

Yesterday, my mother-in-law and I primed the living room ceiling in preparation for the new fixture going in there.  The primer dripped in my hair and my face and also spattered all over the floor even though we had drop cloths everywhere.  Still, the primer somehow managed to land in the sliver of uncovered floor, which meant we had to stop and scrub the floor about every five brush strokes.  But it's done. That ceiling in particular was in serious need of primer, as a lot of water stains from the leaking roof showed through the plaster.  

Remember this?

I now recall from past experiences how terrible it is to do any work on a ceiling (specifically, the ceiling we wallpapered in our last home…but it did look amazing when it was done).  My mom swore she would never assist me again in wallpapering a ceiling, but these are the stuff memories are made of, right Mom?

Here's the peek of some fixtures installed today:

Dining room

Kitchen pendant

Den

Living room

Also, I think I finally found the kitchen cabinet hardware:

Atlas Homewares Distressed collection medium pull

Continental Home Hardware White Ceramic and Oil-Rubbed Bronze Lever Pull

Moving day is next weekend and there is still so much on my to-do list.  This weekend I hope to finish painting the trim upstairs.  Tonight I finished scrubbing down all the door hardware.  It's hard to prioritize what needs to be done when it feels like everything needs to be done....

You Can't Rush Art...or Enduring the During

The wallpaper removal process has begun.  I do not envy the poor soul taking the three layers (and possibly 50 years or more) of paper down.  Did I mention that someone along the way also painted on top of the three layers of wallpaper?

We've also had some recessed lighting installed in the kitchen.  I am looking forward to how bright it will be in there.  

I decided to tackle one of the new pendants from Restore that I picked up recently.  I tried rushing the process because I wanted to have one light done before evening.  The screws holding the fixture together were pretty rusted on, so after trying 3 pliers and some WD-40, we were able to get rolling. Here's what I learned: I need a warmer day and more time to do the lights correctly, but I think the first one turned out pretty well.

 You can't rush art.

Cold Feet

I got cold feet.

I received the cabinet door sample recently and it just looked so....white.  I know that I like white, but I didn't know if I was okay with how white it was.  I asked the designer to meet me with other white door swatches at the countertop shop (or whatever those places are called).

We met and I got the chance to see what the door would look like with the countertop that we are considering.  

I feel better.  I think that there is some contrast between the countertop and cabinet...I was afraid that the colors would be too similar.

After the countertop shop, we went to Habitat for Humanity's Restore.  Let me just sing the praises of that store!  I left with 8 light fixtures and a new kitchen hutch for the girls' "cafe".  All the furniture and lighting were 1/2 off too!  Here's what I am most excited about:

Hefty industrial pendants for $30 each.  Wow.  These will probably take care of our entire basement.  I was looking on Pinterest today for some ideas on how to refresh some these and here's what I have come up with so far:

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After Restore, we stopped by the house to drop off the lights and saw that the electrician has been there to rewire the kitchen.  

They also removed the dumpster (dumpster #5 by my count) and #6 is on its way.  Good thing, too, because this is what the backyard looks like today:

I checked on the master bedroom too while I was there and they installed the second skylight.  It looks so inviting in there with all that light!

Overall, a very successful day.