GIY: Goth It Yourself: New Lighting

Monday, March 27, 2017

New Lighting

I needed some electrical work done in my basement (more on that later), and decided to have the electrician replace some light fixtures while he was here. The fixtures in the hall, entryway, and stairwell were essentially ugly white blobs.

For the hall and entryway, I chose to use the same fixture that had taken the place of my gold UFO-like ceiling fan in the dining room. It's black, resembling wrought iron, with a swirled white glass shade.

https://www.amazon.com/Hardware-House-544882-Lighting-Textured/dp/B0018OXZGS/ref=s9_simh_gw_g60_i1_r?_encoding=UTF8&fpl=fresh&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=&pf_rd_r=WANS86ZP5ZKZQHRXP6CM&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=781f4767-b4d4-466b-8c26-2639359664eb&pf_rd_i=desktop&th=1

For the stairwell, I chose the matching sconce.

The new fixtures don't create a dramatic transformation, but they certainly do look prettier than the old white blobs. They also provide much more light as they hold two bulbs instead of one.

hall - old light

hall - new light

entryway - old light

entryway - new light

The sconce in the stairwell isn't very visible, which is too bad because it's pretty. And it's a legit wall fixture, unlike the white blob fixture which was never meant to be mounted horizontally. It was mostly luck keeping the glass from falling off.

stairwell - old light

stairwell - new light

While those fixtures are very nice, what I'm really excited about are the three new pendant fixtures in my dining room.

https://www.amazon.com/Nuvo-60-386-Hang-Straight-Alabaster/dp/B002MR4H1W/ref=pd_sbs_60_19?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B002MR4H1W&pd_rd_r=YQQF7VDXEZ6691RYK77W&pd_rd_w=FTzoz&pd_rd_wg=mGTc0&psc=1&refRID=YQQF7VDXEZ6691RYK77W

The two-bulb ceiling light was the only lighting fixture in my dining room/living room, leaving the area rather dim. To get enough light at the dining table where I craft and sew, I hung three IKEA "light bulb on a string" type lamps. They solved the lighting problem perfectly, but I didn't love the cords strung across the ceiling and down the wall. And the only switch-controlled outlet was on the other side of the living room, requiring a 40-foot (about 12-meter) extension cord run along the bottom of the walls.

dining room - old lights

Now, I have upgraded to hardwired fixtures. :D The electrician installed three hardwired pendant lights which are controlled by a switch in the dining room.

dining room - new lights

Of course, habit still causes me to walk across the living room to turn the lights on or off... But I'll soon get used to this radical concept of having the switch in the same room as the lights it controls. ;)