A Little on Light

When we built our house two years ago, the builder decided in their infinite wisdom (and tight purse strings) to fill our home with what I call "mushroom lights."

*Shudder* I despise mushroom lights. In fact, I can sum up my basic philosophy on lighting with, "Mushroom lights: bad. Nearly anything else: good."

I wasn't terribly fond of the light they put in the breakfast nook either, but at least it was tolerable.

I am slowly fixing these affronts to the lighting industry.

I replaced the light in the breakfast nook with a coffee filter pendant. (You can see one version of how to make this light here, but I did mine slightly differently. Writing up a tutorial on how I did mine is on my to do list.)

And the parlor didn't come with a light--at all. The original house plans only had one switched outlet for a lamp in that room. Are you kidding? So we had the builder install the wiring for a ceiling light. After staring at the empty ceiling for two years; fruitlessly searching stores and the internet for a light the right size, style and price; I came up with a way to construct my own drum shade. (Writing up a tutorial for it is on my to do list as well.) I wasn't sure if it was going to stay in the parlor or if I would finally find something to buy that I liked, but it has really grown on me, so I'm going to shorten the chain and leave it for the next several years.

The dining room is another matter. As I mentioned in this post, I haven't even started on the dining room. It currently looks like this. Much more office/greenhouse than dining room.

See that light fixture? 

Yeah, I'm not a fan. I am planning on replacing it with one of these beauties one day. I'm waiting for a sale price to agree with my allowance. There is also a version that Z Gallerie makes, which is less expensive, but it just doesn't rock my socks like the this one does.

I could go on (and on and on and on) about what fixtures I would like, but this is enough to be getting on with.

Did you recently replace a light fixture in your home? Any fixtures on your wishlist? Do you share my distaste for mushroom lights? Leave a comment and tell me about it.