We’ve been in our home for fourteen years, and slowly, I’m re-doing things the good ole-fashioned DIY (Do It Yourself) way. One regret I really have is that I didn’t prioritize new lighting fixtures sooner.
Yes, most of my rooms still sport the 90’s builder brass fixtures that blind me on a regular basis, and one of my 2012 home goals is to replace most of my fixtures.
For some reason, putting up new lighting just seemed a bit daunting, not to mention that during unemployment, fixtures aren’t a necessity. Even though I would see great lighting fixtures at yard sales, and know the power of spray paint magic. I have even updated my brass kitchen fixture proving to myself how simple it was, yet I still didn’t realize the huge impact that new fixtures would have on my rooms.
Last year, I did the first step of my DIY laundry room make – over. I always say that paint is the quickest, easiest and most frugal way to get a dramatic change in a room, but now I know lighting runs a very close second.
For the last few months, I’ve been on the look out at yard sales and thrift stores for a second hand chandelier to hang in our great room, but I haven’t found the “perfect” one for under $300 (new). I’ve raised my second hand budget now, and am willing to wait a few more months, and invest a bit more since I know exactly what I want and don’t want to short change that room just to save a few dollars.
On that same hunt, I came across an antique chandelier for $100. It was too small for my great room, but knew it was a perfect size for our laundry room, yet still more than I wanted to pay. I used my art of negotiating, and the owner came down to $60. It was still more than I am used to paying, but I realize that for something I love, and something I know doesn’t come around at thrift stores very often, I had to bite the bullet, and I am so glad I did.
I want my laundry room to be my happy place, but it just isn’t. The worst thing about my laundry room is it’s not really a laundry room. It’s our mudroom, shoe room, junk room and side entrance (which is really our main entrance since everyone comes through that door). Adding this bit of elegance into such a “catch all” area just makes me giddy. It catches the eye, so that hopefully it takes peoples eyes up and away from the disaster that is below. 🙂
Initially, I debated spray painting it white, but my desire is a white crystal chandelier for my great room, so I don’t want identical looks in both rooms.
I’ve spent a lot of hours over the last few weeks cleaning out our attic and literally, hours before my nephew hung this fixture for me, I found this white medallion in my attic. I bought two for only $1, over two years ago, and for once, I am glad I bought something I didn’t “need” at the time. It adds the perfect elegant accent.
I’m having so much fun now noticing lighting in different rooms. It makes such a HUGE difference and if you aren’t needing to make an immediate purchase, it can be a huge statement for pennies on the dollar if you find them second hand or on clearance.
And yes, don’t laugh at me, but this is the lighting fixture that has been hanging in our great room all these years. Now, that I have a picture of just my ceiling, I realize just how much it needs to go.
Won’t a huge grand white crystal chandelier look fabulous? I’m repainting the walls and softening the look of the entire room. I just can’t wait.
Do you have any rooms that need new lighting fixtures?
(Well, in reality this is a “want vs. a need,” but when this want has been put onto the budget and we’re paying cash, it’s sure is a fun “want.”)
Do you notice the lighting in rooms?
it looks great!!!!
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Yes, several rooms need new lighting! I have them on my honey do list for the year! I’m always on the lookout for them, like on Craigslist. Our ceilings are not very high, so we are pretty limited to what will work.
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Love it!! If my laundry room weren’t in the low-ceilinged basement, I would definitely be giving this idea some serious consideration!
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I actually just sprayed the second coat of oil rubbed bronze on my brass dining room chandelier! I can’t wait to hang it back up. Now, I just need some crystals!
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Love it! I’ve been wanting to do this in several rooms & the medallion adds just the right punch. Can’t wait to see the one you get for the great room.
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Jen, Love it! The medallion really is a nice touch. I really need to start a bucket list of DIY projects I want to do.
Sarah, I so want to do that to my ugly brass chandelier in my dining room.
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Love it. Hubby and I call lights like that one in your great room “boob lights”. I’m sure I don’t have to explain why. I LOVE the idea of a chandelier in the laundry room. Why shouldn’t it have nice things, too?
Great job!!!
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Funny you should put a post on about this, because, over the past few months, I have been replacing, well, actually, getting my husband to do the physical part, the lighting in our house to chandeliers. I have found two, so far, on Kijiji (Craigslist), one at an auction, that needs to go up by an electrician, because of our vaulted ceiling, and I’m still on the lookout for a few more. I love, love, love them. My husband, well…he’s more of a practicaly guy. Yours looks great!!!
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Oh my goodness – we have almost the *identical* chandelier which is original to our home (built in 1925) and I live in Southern Ontario 🙂 I have been planning to spray paint it white for a while now. Actually I’ve been hoping to find a second matching one as we have a very long dining room and I think the “double chandelier” look would suit it well, and also provide much better lighting! The medallion looks fabulous with yours, now I’m thinking I want to do that with mine, too.
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Beautiful!! We replaced 2 light fixtures last year – the hallway and my daughter’s room. We used white versions similar to what is in your great room. They aren’t beautiful but they are MUCH better than the 1970s fixtures that were there. Now if I can just get hubby to replace the fluorescent circle fixture in my kitchen! 🙂
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Jen Reply:
January 9th, 2012 at 1:40 pm
Oh, I bet the white looks great, and yes, I am with you on the two from last year. Hoping for five this year. 🙂
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We remodeled our entire house last year, and I was surprised by how much I wrung my hands about the lighting. It wasn’t just about the expense, though the budget was certainly a factor, but about finding original, unusual fixtures that suited our personalities. My favorite fixture is an antique copper ship’s lantern that my husband found on ebay. We took out the kerosene lantern inside, dropped a bulb through the top and hung it over the dining room table. It still bears the imprint of the HMS PS (paddle steamer) Waverly, an English ship which is still in operation.
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Jen Reply:
January 9th, 2012 at 1:41 pm
oh Kristina – I bet that ships lantern is unbelievable. HOW FUN!
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This reminds me. When our neighbors moved away, they gave us a wonderful Hunter ceiling fan with a baseball theme for our son’s room. Of course, I put off putting it up, and the other day the kids found the baseball shaped light cover and broke it. 🙁 I was so excited about my free fan, and now I don’t know what to do, because the fan is somewhat old (their son is a Senior in High School, so possibly 10 years old) and i have no idea where to get a replacement cover. Any ideas?
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We recently replaced the chandy in our dining room/eat-in kitchen as part of a remodel that we’ve been doing (new tile kitchen floor, repainted cabinets, new counter-height dining table/stools & bamboo floors throughout our first floor!). Now, we’ve decided that the huge, ugle fluorescent light in our kitchen needs to go – we’re struggling to figure out what to put there since it SHOULD match the eat-in chandy and I need a replacement for over the sink (we installed a pendant there, but need a different shade). I found our eat-in chandy on ebay for less than $100, shipped! Ebay & Overstock.com have great lighting buys!
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Oh, it’s lovely, Jen! I’ve been wanting to hang a chandelier in our laundry room as well (which doubles as our second bathroom). Your chandelier looks absolutely elegant and I’ll bet it makes you smile whenever you’re working on laundry. 🙂
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Love It! I am slowly changing the fixtures in my house too! This summer we replaced the Tacky brass chandelier with a ceiling fan and it is way more functional and looks great too ! I want to do my kitchen next and change all the knobs too.
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Oh my gosh! I love the idea of a chandelier in the laundry room! How wonderful! My husband gave me one for Christmas for our bathroom. I LOVE it! It makes me want to keep it super clean just so I can hang out in there are look at it! I work in an antique shop and we frequent auctions. It is fun to find chandeliers and refinish them exactly to our liking. But I must admit, it was fun to receive a chandelier that was not in need of refurbishing!
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Have you thought about spray painting it turquoise? It would be so cute! But then again, I love about everything turquoise.
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