Monday, October 1, 2012

Live and Learn #3 - Lighting Lessons

Choosing lights has been an interesting adventure.  In some rooms I have a better idea of what I don't like than what I do like.

When I found the vanity lights for our master bathroom I thought I would love them, so I ordered them.  I like them well enough, but I wish they were a little bit bigger.  They just don't have as much presence in the room as I'd hoped.  But they put off a lot of light and Rob and I BOTH like them so they are staying.

So, then the next light we needed to purchase was the main bathroom lights.  We needed two and I wanted to find something that would work well with the lights in the bathroom and also with the chandelier that we have hanging in our bedroom.   Finding something that Rob and I BOTH liked was proving to be more challenging than I thought it would be.

So, one day we went out to the Overstock Outlet Store south of Logan and found this light fixture.  I liked the enclosed drum shade and I thought the acrylic bubbles were a cute touch for a bathroom.  The shape and colors worked with the vanity lights and the shape worked with bedroom chandelier, but I was a little concerned about the size.
I SHOULD HAVE measured the height, and width and overall dimension of the light fixture before we actually purchased it.  I also SHOULD HAVE asked about how it was mounted.  I ASSUMED the way it was hanging in the store was how it would be mounted on the ceiling.   But, we just forged ahead, bought the one in the store, found a matching light on Overstock.com and ordered it.

Once they were hung I knew immediately that they were not going to work.  They hung too low, especially the one that was mounted above the toilet.  They took up way too much visual space in the room and I did not like the two plates above the acrylic bubbles (I even asked the electrician if we could cut the bottom plate off because it was that distracting to me).  I believe a few tears were shed.  Rob was much more practical and said that we should just go find something else that worked and looked better.  We asked the electrician if he would mind if we switched them out and he didn't.

We didn't have time to order anything online so I went to Home Depot and Lowe's.  This was our replacement.  It looks much better in the room.  I MAY go back and touch it up with some black or silver paint, but I'm waiting to see it with the bathroom finished before I make a decision about that.  When I just glance at it quickly the color (antiqued silver?) doesn't bother me that much.
The first light fixture was a bear to get installed.  But then Rob looked at the mounting box and realized there was a better way to do it.  So the second one went up easily and quickly (thank goodness).  I asked Rob if he wanted to redo the first one and he quickly declined.  It's up and it's mostly stable so it's staying put.
I quite like the light and shadows that show up when it's on.  

So, then we moved to the basement.  We kind of forgot to order light fixtures for the family room.  Ooops.

It was pretty easy to choose a fan that we liked and decided quickly on a small semi-flush fixture to mount in the area where the pool table will eventually be.  It was on sale and we thought "good enough".  BUT, once it was installed we realized it just did not put out enough light for that end of the room and it was way too small.  
So we took it down, moved it to the unfinished bathroom, moved the light from the bathroom to the unfinished walk-in-closet (which we had forgotten to buy a light for - so it all worked out even in the end) and hung up a larger fixture that works much better.

The size works better, the amount of light it puts out works better and it looks better.

I think Rob likes doing these little projects in the house.  I just hope he keeps it up because we have a lot of little projects (and some not so little) that need to be finished once we close.

2 comments:

  1. Oh light fixtures... why does something so seemingly simple have to be so hard? I like your choices. I always like looking at these kinds of things and notice, "yep, that's them." It makes your house look like you. Good work!

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