Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Kitchen Lighting

My husband and I purchased our home back in 2005.  It is by no means our "forever home", but we want to keep it nice and leave it better than when we purchased it.  We're on a budget, though, so it's taken five years to get most of the improvements completed.

Our home was built in 1997.  Most of the fixtures (faucets, lighting, carpeting, countertops, appliances) were builder-grade (aka cheap). We've slowly replaced the cheap-o stuff with nicer upgrades, courtesy of my handy husband.  He can't do everything, but I'm so happy with what he's learned by watching web videos and reading internet articles on home improvement.

Our latest project:  finally changing the light in the dining area of our eat-in kitchen.  After five years of living with a frosted glass and brass cheap basic light, we settled on a brushed stainless steel casual fixture with a beige drum shade.  I've been looking for an affordable fixture with a drum shade for nearly two years and we finally found this one for less than $100 at Lowe's:

It may not seem like a huge deal, but we got rid of our '90s-style beige appliances and flourescent lighting a few years ago, but we were still working with this super basic light fixture.  The new one looks like a real lamp and it makes me feel like I'm eating at a cozy restaurant or coffee shop, even when I'm just eating cornflakes at 6:30 am.  Plus, E installed a dimmer on this fixture, so we can have some ambiance when we're enjoying our evening meals.  I love it.  Little improvements make a big difference.  What do you think?

8 comments:

  1. Oooh I like! Your builder grade lights look A LOT better than ours. We still have to change our foyer light, kitchen light and put a fan in our living room.

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  2. @Latoya: It's pretty easy to change fixtures (as long as you don't have high ceilings). I like the selection on overstock.com, but you can also fine great stuff at Home Depot and Lowe's.

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  3. Ohhhh I likee!!! Overstock is GREAT for lighting. The chandelier I have wanted for the master bedroom for almost a year is from there!

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  4. I think it's a gorgeous lamp!!!!

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  5. I think your new fixture is perfect for that area. It is really quite stylish. I hope you are having a wonderful day. Blessings...Mary

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  6. I like it...we need to do the same with our house.
    ~ingrid

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  7. We bought our house in 2005 as well and it was only built in 2000. It was only 5 years old but we were the 3rd owners of our house. When we moved it, we cheged EVERY single light fixture including the ceiling fans, indoor and out. Then we added lights to the garage cause we couldn't see. ha!

    All this to say that I like your updated lighting- it's pretty and soft!

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  8. Looks very pretty - we too have been slowing upgrading our little Rancher and making it more modern. Good choice on the drum shade chandelier - we upgraded our dining room light fixture and it makes a huge difference!

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