Light Me Up!

While the light fixture above our dining room table wasn't terrible, I really wanted something that fit the design aesthetic of the room a little more. This is what was hanging there.

Sorry so dark

 I searched for a really long time. I mean months. Every time we were at a home improvement store of any kind, I made John look at every single fixture available hoping to find one that was beautiful and reasonably priced. My search also extending to hours and hours online. I love buying things online but with something like this, I really wanted to be able to see the fixture in person.

I really wanted an Edison light but John said no dice. However, I kept coming back time and again to the Carriage House Chandelier from Ballard Design. It comes in two sizes (small and large) and two colors (cream and oil rubbed bronze). The large is 14" whereas the small is only 8". This is $199 for the large online. Not terribly expensive although a little more than I wanted to spend because I'm cheap when it comes to house stuff. I probably shouldn't be but house fixtures are not as fun to buy as purses or jewelry.



Buy this online here



Luckily for me, we live about 30 minutes from a Ballard Design outlet. We ventured down there a couple weeks ago to see if we could find a light fixture that might work. There were actually a few others that I liked too like this one and also this one. The orb ended up being far too expensive and the Eldridge was too much like an Edison light which had already been nixed by my other half. So, after much discussion, we ended up with the Carriage House for $150, a full 25% less than they're still currently selling it for online. We won't talk about how 8 days later we received a 20% off coupon for the outlet. And we certainly won't talk about the rough language that came out of my mouth when I saw the flyer in the mail that day. It would have saved us $30! But, I'm not really over it.

Some assembly required

It took us an hour-ish to put together the fixture, take down the old one, have me whine about holding up the new fixture while John monkeyed around with the screws and re-attaching the electrical wires, and turn it out for the first time.

Ta-da!



All lit up - love the shadow it casts on the ceiling



Extreme Close Up 

We were worried the light wouldn't be enough for the space. Max wattage on those bulbs is 60. Well, I'm here to tell you that there is PLENTY of light. So much, in fact, that we are going to install our first dimmer switch (and by we, I mean John) in the dining room. Yes, I could just buy a lower watt bulb but I like the ambiance of a dimmed light in a room that we only use when we have guests.

One more thing to cross off the list and we've already completed a house-related project in the first week of this month. That means I'm upholding my household resolution so far for 2012. And yes, we've been doing a better job of keeping things clean too. Thanks for asking!