This Little Light of Mine!

I find choosing lighting for our homes one of the most difficult things in the building process. The reason being, lights are so style/taste specific. It is like jewelry for your house. Some people just like the simple stud earring with dainty single charm necklace. While some love a chunky bib necklace and a chandelier earring. That is how I feel about lighting. I am your simple stud earring girl, but every once in a while I want to bring out the chandeliers! I like lighting to be simple and classic, but it is always fun to have something a little funky.

Since our house will be re-sold in a few years, I need to keep my opinion of fun toned down a bit so it will appeal to more buyers. Then again, I spent countless hours selecting what I thought were classic light fixtures that went with the style and architecture of a spec house only to see the home owner change just about every light. It was totally fine with me. My choices did not fit their style at all and their replacement choices went fantastic with their furniture.

I wish there were rules to follow as to what goes and what doesn't, but there isn't. In today's designs you can mix and match traditional with contemporary and chrome with oil-rubbed bronze. Due to this this the choices are endless. I have come up with a list of resources I use when trying to make those choices.

OVERSTOCK
www.overstock.com
I have purchased several light fixtures from Overstock. Their selection is pretty decent and the prices are great! (Shipping is free on purchases over $50) For the spec house we needed a large light in the two story high entry way. Large scale lights can be really expensive. I found this 21-light chandelier for $313 and spray painted it matte black. It was one of the lights the homeowners did keep. To make it even better, I recently found this same exact light on a lighting store website listed for $1200.

JOSS AND MAIN
www.jossandmain.com
Joss and Main is a daily deal type of site that features only home décor and gift products. You can sign up to receive an email with several events going on that day. The events are categorized by style, theme, product etc.. Every once in a while they feature a lighting event. So, if you check everyday you may stumble upon a great deal. For example, I fell in love with the Mercer sconce from Pottery Barn for our master bathroom selling for $79 a piece. I found the same light on Joss and Main for $30. With a little time and patience you can find what you are looking for. There are no returns on this site, so if you do end up getting something you don't love, sell it on ebay or Craigslist. You probably got such a screaming deal on it you can re-sell it for the same price.

SHADES OF LIGHT
www.shadesoflight.com
I stumbled upon this site through my favorite blog Young House Love. (The couple that writes the blog has their own collection at Shades of Light.) Shades of Light has a lot of fun, funky and unique type of lights. Their prices are some-what reasonable. There were several lights I loved the look but not the price. If I had an unlimited budget and I was staying in the house, I would probably buy all my lights from here. I found this pendent light I like to call "something a little different."

HOME DEPOT & LOWES
www.homedepot.com
www.lowes.com
You can always depend on the ol' bread and butter of Home Depot and Lowes. As I had said in an earlier post, both stores have much more of a selection online. You can order online and return to your local store if it doesn't work out. Both sites also have a lot of popular styles for less, though the quality and details may not be the same. The good thing about lighting is that it will likely be hung high, therefore you can't really see the difference between the Restoration Hardware version and the Lowes version.

CRESCENT LIGHTING
www.mycrescentlighting.com
This is a local store that Joe has been working with for years. I love this store for the contractors discount we get! Just kidding, not really. Seriously though, they do have a great selection of styles. It is always important to support local businesses in your area anyway. The majority of our lights will be coming from Crescent Lighting. Here is a vanity light that will go in the basement bathroom.

Other lighting resource sites:



Wayfair
Ebay
Lamps Plus

*I am not getting compensated by any of the sites or stores listed. As always, these are just my non-professional opinions.


What sites or stores do you like to find lights?

Have Tools...Will Travel

Okay, I am back. Things got a little crazy around these parts, but we are climbing out of the hole of ciaos and getting back into a routine. It is all part of life, right?

As I had mentioned in an earlier post, the building industry is booming which makes subcontractors hard to find and hard to afford. As our move-in date keeps creeping into the holiday season, I become more anxious. Trying to find subs at an affordable rate is adding to my sleepless nights and I am not even the project manager.

Don't get me wrong, construction continues to move along, but we were in need of a little push. So, Joe and I called in for back up. My 'little' brother, Matt, just happens to be a carpenter. He remodels kitchens and baths for a living. Only problem, he lives in Florida! Joe came up with a plan... if we flew Matt out to set all the cabinets, it would free up money and time for the carpenters to do all the other stuff (doors, wainscoting, base/casings, crown molding, etc). When we discussed that plan with Matt, he was immediately on board and said, "Have tools...Will travel."

We scraped together the airline miles and put Matt and my sweet little niece, Finley Frances, on a plane for Seattle. While Matt worked on the house, I got to have some Aunt Carrie and Fin-Fran (that is what I call her) bonding time. It was so much fun to really get to know her cute little personality and see the kids play together.

Dancing at the construction site.

 

Hiking through the woods.

A fun picture opp on the hike. Olen didn't think it was that fun.

I think there is a picture just like this of me with my brother and sister.

Showing Finley our city ducks.

 

 

Unfortunately, the week Matt and Finley were here, a plague of sickness hit the family. Thankfully, Matt and Fin-Fran escaped back to Florida without a trace of sickness! Because of the nasty bug we weren't able to do as many fun adventures as we had planned. The positive side of it all was having the cousins spend quality time together, even if we were in our jammies all day.  

 

We are so thankful for Matt working his tail feather off to help us move one step closer. The other subcontractors on site were very impressed to see one guy set upper cabinets by himself.  

Hard at work.

 

Working on the kitchen island.

The basement bar.

The Fun-ctional laundry room. I can't wait to use those laundry basket cubbies.

The master bathroom.

 

The man, the myth, the legend...Matt 'Mr. Lucky' Ryan. 

 



Progress Update

The summer is coming to an end. Each day I feel the warm sun on my face, I make a check off on my mental count down to say good bye. Good bye to the sun. Until then there is no place in the country like the Seattle area in the summer. The sky is bluer than blue and the temperature is perfect. Though I have heard a few complaints on days it reaches over 80, but to me it is perfect!

The roof is on, the siding is up, the exterior doors are installed and the sheetrock is hung. You can see Fall trying to creep it's way in with the occasional rain shower. These little showers are pushing back our window of opportunity to paint the exterior.

Here are some pictures of the progress...

Both of the pictures above are of the back side of the house looking from the backyard.

The entryway. We decided to frame a little pop-out (not sure of the technical construction term) in the entryway for a little separation from the great room. I think it will make it feel more like a real foyer. We will see.

Basement bar.

 

Master bathroom tub area.

 

Bonus room window seat. There was a little indent in the framing where the window pops out on the front of the house, so I decided to make it a window seat. Note: This window will never be unlocked or open due to the fact I have a son who thinks he can fly.

The preparation for the box beams in the Dining Room.

The great room looking from the living area into the eating and kitchen area.

 

Olen's bedroom / gymnastics balance beam practice area.

 

Our Junior Project Manager.

 

The front exterior ready for paint.

 

Lila, Olen and I made up a new song we like to sing..

."Rain, rain, go away, we would like to paint our house today."