I'm having one of those moments when I'm antsy about the things that have not been fixed or the projects I haven't started around the house. Looking through this blog helps me feel better when I can't tackle something right away. I always realize we've come farther than I thought...considering our circumstances.
I discovered there were a few projects I finished but never posted. For the time being writing about what I have finished will make me feel better about all the things I haven't.
The living room had these uglier than ugly sconces since the day we moved in. For some reason Dave and I decided it was something we could leave for later. But every month those suckers bugged me more and more. The other factor is that we are planning on tearing down the wall where those sconces live. It would be pointless to spend money on beautiful lighting fixtures when they would only be temporary.
Image from The Brick House
I was inspired by a post both on The Brick House and on Remodelista. They had a cost effective, easy, DIY solution to sconces. I thought this was the perfect solution. Problem was that neither the simple light fixture or the bulb were found at the usual Home Depot or Lowes. I had to adventure out to industrial lighting supply stores to find what I needed. I have to admit I love these kind of adventures and I love taking our 3 year old daughter with me. It's of course harder with her but I love that she learns so much from these "non typical" stores.
The bulbs cast a nice soft light. It's perfect for this room.
On the flip side, when these guy guys see a mom, with a toddler, pull up in a Volvo they think I must be lost. Some are dismissive and rude. Others are impressed by my efforts and thankfully most are quite helpful and teach me the lingo and the lay of the land in these HUGE warehouses. I also found a killer, Mid Century out door sconce for $5 at one of the places. Man! What a score. Even Dave was impressed. I still haven't figured out where to put it.
My project turned out great. Each sconce was less than $5 so for $10 I fixed the ugliest problem (except for the couch) in our living room! Funny thing: someone who use to come by always had a passive and rude comment about the ugly sconces. Then they didn't even notice once they were changed out! Lovely huh?
Here is the semi-before picture. I remembered to take a picture when I was half way through changing the fixtures.
Here you can see the door behind the wall we plan to tear down. In there are another two rooms. I'd like to open up the entire space. It would allow us to have the current living room for entertaining, the room on the other side of the wall would be the tv room and the room past it would be the play/craft room. And, true to the home's original design we would get our cross ventilation back with windows on both the front and back of the house.
Labels: hardware, lighting, living room
