Lighting: The Jewelry of the House

I just wanted to start this post by saying thank you for those of you reading this blog. This time has been a little stressful, even though all these changes are long wished and hoped for, and all for the positive. I'm grateful for everything, but not being in my home is still a little wearing and frustrating, so writing this blog has given me something fun to do. It makes me feel even more gratified to know that anyone else is getting some enjoyment from it!

If lighting is the jewelry of the house, then our lighting, purchased after blowing the majority of our budget on paint and flooring, is much like Target jewelry purchased to wear with a designer dress! We really wanted to replace 12 light fixtures throughout the house. My mother-in-law (whom Danny astutely called our fairy mother-in-law in the comments!) also managed to find 5 light fixtures from her basement storage to gift to us. So once again, she saved the day. I had initially budgeted about $100 per fixture, but quickly realized that wasn't doable. We halved our budget and were able to replace or refresh everything we wanted to for less. The only tips I have to share (other than beg family members for awesome old light fixtures) are:

• Spend more money on public areas and/or high-impact fixtures that matter; save and skimp on others.
• Hit the garage sales and antique stores. Ian and I found lots of cool stuff in the $20-$50 range at the City Market Antique Mall. . .if you're willing to do a little electrical repair or painting. This is a good option if Vintage or Farmhouse describe your home's style.
• Look beyond the lighting stores for fixtures. We have a fair few Home Depot and Lowe's fixtures, but I ended up scoring at Urban Outfitters' website and Land of Nod.

The format of this post is a little different--lots of pics, so bear with me. I'll start with photos of the existing fixtures, then show the room inspiration of what we want it to look like when finished. Then I'll show the fixture I wanted, and the one I actually got:)

This is our original entryway fixture

This is the matching upstairs hall fixture

Here's an "inspiration" pic of what we're thinking for our entryway

Check out these awesome candle covers from Kaarskoker. For a few bucks, you can switch them out on an older chandelier. I'm hoping this gives us a hip look for the old brass chandelier, which we are keeping.

This is our existing Dining Room fixture

Dining Room Inspiration

Here's an "inspiration" pic for the Dining Room

Again, some Kaarskoker Candle Covers and some white shades should really update this old brass chandelier!

The lovely fixture over the eat-in Kitchen area

The dream fixture--out of our price range! From Crate and Barrel

Guess where this is from? Urban Outfitters! The first one shipped was broken, but I think it's going to work just fine, after all.

Our original kitchen ceiling fixture

Some Kitchen Inspiration

More Kitchen inspiration

A light I'd love, but out of budget!

The new flush mount fixture for our kitchen from Lowe's

The Fancy Pants Kitchen Sink Pendant I wanted to order online

The new over-sink Pendant Light from Home Depot

Our original Living Room Fan

Some Living Room Inspiration

The Light Fixture I'd buy if money were no object

The light fixture (with a hidden ceiling fan!) We got at Lowe's

The bedroom fan/light combo original to the house

Some Master Bedroom Inspiration

I don't have an actual photo (they are in the POD) but one of the three wrought-iron chandeliers will go in the Master Bedroom. We're going to do small black chandelier shades on it.

The original downstairs hallway light

My dream light--a Moravian Star 

Another Urban Outfitters deal--it arrived and looks great!

I know it's just a closet, but I despise this light!

Something very close to this, purchased at Home Depot, will make a good replacement

I think these lights were the original ones installed by the contractor throughout the house when it was built. This one, in a very non-public area of our Master Bathroom, will be replaced with the one from the powder room, below.

This current powder room fixture is actually fine, but we're going for a different look in this room.

Here's some Powder Room Inspiration

More Powder Room Inspiration

And once again, I don't have a real picture, but one of our donated lights is a beautiful 1930s black and white glass lamp, much cooler than this one, but this is a sort of idea of it:)

This light is the one in Charlie's bedroom. It is AWFUL!

Here's the inspiration for Charlie's Star Wars bedroom

And he's getting another one of the wrought iron chandeliers to go in his bedroom. I'm not sure if we'll do shades or not.

Charlie's bathroom light will be updated with a very simple pendant light from  Home Depot

In the girls' room there's a light over the closet and that terrible track light fixture

Here's a little Princess bedroom inspiration

This is another princessy feel

The girls will get a beautiful chandelier from my MIL, yet again no pic. I think it looks somewhat like this. It's going where the track light currently resides.

This was the light fixture I loved but it's about $89--too much for a low-impact area

Here's a much more affordable one--about $9 from Home Depot. Not silk, but it'll do!

This desk area in the girls' room could use some cute lights

There are so many cute kids' room lights I don't recommend looking. These fairy godmothers would be so cute  in a fairy princess room, but again, at about $100 a pop, it's not realistic.

Land of Nod is a good resource for more affordable, cute, kid's stuff. These lights were within budget.

The Upstairs Hall Bathroom before

This cute, mod light is super cheap and available at Lowe's

The guest bedroom has this lovely fluorescent fixture. The 3rd iron chandelier will  go here.  Not sure with or without shades.