Light your own way

While sitting in the living room yesterday with my newly engaged sister we discussed what it would be like when she moves into her own place with her soon-to-be husband. She asked all sorts of questions about my home, which has changed tremendously since she was last over, what with the endless projects and the ever-changing home decor. 

During our discussion it occurred to me that every single light fixture in my house has been changed in the last 6 months, with the exception of the bathrooms. Admittedly, it wasn't easy deciding on fixtures to replace the out-of-date and original ones that came with our home. But we're pleased with the ones we've chosen. 

Here is a look at how a little light can change the whole ambiance of your space: 

If you look closely you can see the faint white line from where the original track lighting was in our kitchen. The three-light unit was dated and look out of place on our slanted ceiling. So we invested some time and money into putting recessed can lights in the ceiling. We put the lights on a dimmer switch and it was one of the best decisions we've made yet. 

The second best decision in our kitchen was adding this piece: 

Our kitchen is a little awkward in its layout, and lacks the necessary cabinet space to store my fabulous Calphalon pots and pans that I received as a housewarming gift! After much debate, my mother finally saw our need for a pot rack, and blessed us with one as another housewarming present! 

This fabulous lighted pot rack hangs over our kitchen sink and is the best!

Our living room and kitchen share the same slanted ceiling, which you can see in the mounting of this ceiling fan. We were pretty nervous at first that the slant would cause some issues. We knew we wanted a ceiling fan in the living room, and we also understood that we needed to make sure it dropped down far enough for the fan blades to avoid the ceiling. 

With this Hunter ceiling fan purchased from Our Towns Habitat ReStores we avoided this issue all together! The new ceiling fan, pictured below, lights up the room and provides some great circulation in our house!

And while we love our living room ceiling fan, we also hate the glare that it produces on the TV we have mounted above the fire place. Plus it can be so bright! A little soft light never hurt anyone... and with that I'm thrilled with my latest purchase!

This table lamp, while you can't see it now, has a speckled mercury glass look to its base, and a great big wide canvas shade. I love the mixture of the two textures and I am in love with this addition to our living room. Eventually I'd like to get another and move this lamp into the bedroom....

 ...to replace this lamp and it's twin. Don't get me wrong, our Whiskey Lamps are pretty cool, very unique. I've never seen anything else like this come in to the Habitat ReStore (where these lamps were purchased from a few years ago). However, the shades are a little large for the bedroom, and the labels don't match the decor of our room. 

My favorite light fixture, in the whole house though, is definitely this chandelier that I bought at Our Towns Habitat ReStores about a year ago. It is a pewtered silver look with white shades (which I will probably change out eventually), with crystals hanging from each light and down the shaft. It was love at first sight with this beauty! and it remains hanging in my entry way!

The last little bit of light that I'm excited about in our house is a bunch of white stranded Christmas lights stuffed into one of those fabulous glass blocks that you can buy at the craft store for about $12. I have two that sit on a buffet that we refinished. At Christmas time I decorate the blocks with bows and ribbons, and during the year I remove them for a classic look.

I am amazed at the difference that our new light fixtures make in our home. When wanting to change something, and you're not sure what or you work on a limited budget like us, check out simple lighting solutions. You'll be amazed at how you can "light your own way" by making a few small changes!