I think a great way to update a home without doing major renovations and has quick results is modernizing the lighting. Our house was built in 2004 and when we moved in it still had all the original fixtures. If you think back to home décor in the 2000s, there was a lot of rod iron and everything was very ornate. Our neighborhood was developed by a handful of builders so it seems like a lot of the fixtures in the houses from this era are all very similar (which is also true for new-builds today!). Light fixtures are a great way to have something unique to the home and tailored to your personal style.
Now, I will admit, I had the advantage of John being able to change out the fixtures and not having to call an electrician every time I bought a new light, however, that didn’t come without complaint from the hubs! lol Here are the before and afters of the light fixtures we are have updated (so far!)…
Kitchen Lighting Before (this is a pic from Zillow – not our furniture!)
Kitchen Lighting After
We updated the pendant lights with brass and clear glass fixtures and Edison light bulbs which are nice and bright. These have a more nautical look to them but not over the top and, if you know me at all, that is def my style! I cannot find the link to these exact ones but these are similar. We also changed out the chandelier in the dining area for something a bit more linear and modern. The finish is called “antique gold” and is sort of a speckled, brassy-gold which I love. I have never been a fan of silver on anything so I guess I got lucky that gold is coming back in style! I will say, now I kind of wish I had done something different here since this fixture seems to be very trendy – I see it everywhere! But I like it, so I guess that’s all that matters 🙂
Making an Entrance
So obviously having a nice chandelier in the entryway of your home is important. It’s the first thing people see when they walk in. The previous one was just not my style and I really wanted to find something unique. I also wanted to play around with the finish because I didn’t want all my light fixtures to be gold or too matchy-matchy. All of the doorknobs and hinges in our house are black with the doors and door frames all painted Bone White. I wanted to find something that played off those tones. In my search for new lighting and furniture I came across Kathy Kuo Designs and I became obsessed. If she could design my whole house that would be a dream… but then I would have to definitely have to win the lottery, ha!
But while perusing her site I found the perfect light! It had the darker bronze finish I was looking for and very unique. It didn’t overwhelm the space but became a nice accent piece.
Reflecting Room
Formal living rooms are going by the wayside these days, especially with open floor plans being all the rage. We had a choice of making ours into a formal dining room or another more “grown-up only” living space. We decided to go with the latter (mainly because my bar cart needed a home! #prioities). Once again the chandelier in there was something else… it had everything! It was huge, it was rod iron, it had crystals, and lampshades… a lot going on! We replaced it with a more whimsical/french-country chic chandy and couldn’t be happier!
Hallway Sconces
Once you enter through the front door there is a hallway that goes to the back of the house and with the previous wall sconces, it was pretty dark. The sconces matched the rest of the old house decor so they also had to go. And surprise, I fell in love with fixtures I found on the Kathy Kou site. I did not want to love these. In fact, I spent months trying to find the look for less but without success. So I justified the purchase since this is our “forever house” so realistically I should at least get 10 years out of them, right?! Also adding to the price is that these were the only fixtures that John could not install. I forget why but it something tricky (or he was just over it)… but I had to hire someone to come and hang them.
The Office
The last fixture I will cover in this post is in my office. Surprisingly, this was the last light we updated which is weird since I sit in my office 5 days a week. I had been eyeing this light from Serena and Lily for a while but was slow on pulling the trigger – mainly because I felt like I needed to slow down a little bit if I didn’t want John to murder me 🙂
There is no “before” pic but you can just imagine a flush-mounted fixture that looked like a boob! lol
And this concludes the lighting upgrades, I hope you enjoyed the tour 🙂
Until next time… keep it on the sunny side!
