Friday, March 18, 2011

Landing on a Light

I've gotten a little Craigslist Happy during the past few weeks.  I woke up one morning with an intense desire to get rid of anything from our home that we didn't love or have a place for.  That included light fixtures that we were currently using.  Hardwired ones.  For background, we moved into our current home last May and loved so many things about it.  One of the things we weren't keen on were the light fixtures.  Our home is only 4 years old, and the light fixtures were of good quality.  They just weren't our style. 

For example:
Stairwell Landing Sconce x 2

Foyer Light

Kitchen Island Chandelier x 2

To make a long story short, we replaced our dining room fixture within the first couple months of moving here.  That light fixture was the first to go on Craigslist 3 weeks ago.  We found a buyer within two days, but she also wanted the coordinating fixtures above our kitchen island, ones that we were currently using.  I hesitated, but Bill knew that we wanted to get rid of them eventually and eagerly took them down, while the woman waited and our kids ate dinner.  The funds we made by selling those three lights paid for the replacement pendants over our island.  We did live without kitchen fixtures for a couple weeks, but the recessed lighting made it more than doable. 

Since that worked out well, I decided to post our foyer light and stairwell sconces also.  Again, they sold relatively quickly, along with several of our vanity fixtures that we replaced late last year.  We are without lights again, however, and it's starting to get a little annoying.  Our kitchen pendants are hung, and we've chosen a foyer fixture, but we are still struggling to make a decision for our lightless stairwell landing. 

Our kitchen pendants are the Overstock version of Pottery Barn's Hundi Lantern:

Antique Copper Finish Glass Lantern Chandelier


Hundi Lantern, Bronze finish

We chose the Overstock version because it's identical to the Pottery Barn fixture and it's about half the cost when you include shipping. 


I actually prefer Overstock's version over the Camilla because of the dark candle holders, it's larger, and again, we saved roughly half the cost of PB's Camilla with an Overstock coupon. 

Here is our stairwell leading from the main level upstairs as it currently appears:



These future stairwell lights will be visible when standing in our family room, and from the same vantage point, our new foyer light and kitchen pendants can be seen.  Continuity in lighting throughout the home is important to me.

Here are a couple fixtures we are considering for the space:

 Rustic Glass Sconce, Clear
Courtesy of Pottery Barn
I love the simplicity and according to the specifications the dimensions should work out well for our space.  My concerns are that they may seem too narrow for the space because of the clear glass.  Also, they stick out a foot from the wall, which seems pretty far for a stairwell area.  In reality, we never step closer than 2 feet to that wall and they would be up high enough, but would they look weird hung in the middle of the window frame (where the electrical boxes are) rather than higher up?  They are currently on sale for $179 for two fixtures plus shipping.

Another option is this guy from Overstock:
Copper Patina 2-light Wall Sconce
Courtesy of Overstock

I love that it's rustic and mimics the glass pendants that we went with for above the island.  I'm a little worried about the finish, as the rest of our fixtures have dark brown/black metal finishes, and this one appears more grey/brown in the image.  We're not afraid to use a little spray paint to make it work though.  The scale is right on with what we are looking for in the space.  I'm not sure I love the scrolliness of it, but it may look nice.  Reviews are good on the fixture, and I love the price...$78 for 2 lights, by going through http://www.ebates.com/
Thoughts? 

3 comments:

  1. I would try the rustic sconces. Scrolliness of the Copper ones would probably wear on you and I don't think they go as well with the kitchen sconces.
    Love the fixture in the foyer!

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  2. I agree with Marie. What did you decide?

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  3. Thanks for the feedback, Cadence. You'll just have to keep checking back to see:). Maybe they are installed already. Maybe they're in the mail. Maybe, more likely, we haven't decided quite yet:).

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