We’ve had a lot of fun in our new house figuring out the changes we want to make. We knew when we looked at the house from the first time that we wanted to change out all the lighting eventually.
I just love my “builder’s grade” lighting, said no one ever! It seems that every new house in normal subdivisions are always lacking in the interesting and unique lighting, doesn’t it?
Mark and I lean towards Traditional, but not stuffy in our lighting choices and we are going with a classic and timeless feel in this house, since that’s what the architecture calls for. When we started browsing lighting options, that’s what caught our eye and it was fun coming up with options that we both like.
From top left, moving to bottom right:
Kichler Larkin Old World Bronze
Witmer Black/Brass (no longer on website)
I’m super excited to be working with Lamps Plus as a sponsor on a big portion of our lighting and we really enjoyed putting together some lighting options from their online shop. They have a huge selection of great lights and there’s something for every taste.
You can check out their chandelier lighting and their close to ceiling lighting if you’re in the market for new ones. We had fun browsing all the options and coming up with a plan for our house. You can filter it down by color, size, price and more.
It’s really amazing how much lighting changes a house and I saw my previous house come alive with the new lighting I added in there. This house will do the same, no doubt! We took into consideration that many of these lights will be seen from room to room and so they all needed to flow well.
Here’s what we started with, the builder’s grade fixtures and I’ll share where the above lights will go.
You’ve seen this light fixture all over the place, no doubt. It’s cheap and fits hallways and closets just fine, but there is no pizazz to this type fixtures. This one is in our little hallway going to the guest room.
And this one is coming in from the garage. Boring, right?
This little cutie, the Charleston in bronze will go in both of these spots in the hallway and we’ve already gotten them installed. It has definitely changed the feel of these areas so much. As soon as they are all updated, I’ll be sure and share the after photos.
The foyer light is so important and neither of us loved this original to the house foyer fixture. The house was built in 2005 and this is what was popular back then, more of the Tuscan look. Not horrible, but not what we would choose now.
This stately 4′ tall lantern fixture will go in the foyer and I’m probably most excited about this one! We both love the classic features of lanterns and I have loved them for a long time. It’s a HUGE fixture and will look so grand up here. We are hiring an electrician to install this one because a real tall ladder is needed.
The current living room fixture is a traditional glass semi-flush mount, not bad but nothing exciting either.
This pretty blingy beauty will go in the living room and I really like the shape and color it comes in. I think it will be a nice addition to the living room with what we have going on and it’s bigger than the other one so will add some presence to the room.
In our upstairs hallway, we have more of the plain lights and we decided on something different up here, but we’ll use 2 of the same fixtures for this hall.
This Quoizel bronze with rope detail will look really pretty in that hallway and add a lot of interest. See what a difference lighting makes?
This is the current dining room fixture and I can’t wait to replace it either. We have our eye on a couple of fixtures and I’m going for brass in here for an elegant and classic look, so stay tuned to see what we do in here. It will be after Christmas before we get this one done, I’m pretty sure.
Out on our front porch, this is the current fixture and I’ve got a plan in mind for a switch from my old house, so once this is done, I’ll share it too. I had some really nice fixtures at my old house and one of them came with us too.
You may remember that this pretty fixture was in my living room and the new residents (Mark’s daughter) wanted to add a ceiling fan in that room, so when this one came down, we brought it to our house and Mark installed it for me in the breakfast area. I think it looks great and it replaces a fan, so a much better look in here.
Once this new lighting is installed, I’ll be back to share all the difference it makes in the house and give you a new tour. Hopefully some other areas of the house will be finished and I can share more of that too! It’s really exciting to get things updated and moving forward.
How about you? Are you itching to update some lighting?
Note: This post is sponsored by Lamps Plus and they provided these lights for us.
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Lighting makes all the difference! I have the Witmer Black Bronze 20 1/2″ Wide 5 Light Pendant in my dining room (the “big sister” to the one you are putting in your living room). I ordered it from Lamps Plus Open Box last year when I remodeled our main level. It is stunning!! You will love it. I also purchased our outdoor sectional from Lamps Plus. Great company to order from, quick delivery and I thought excellent prices.
HI, Shawne, I’m glad to hear such a positive experience with Lamps Plus, they do have a great selection.
I’ve followed you forever, Rhoda, but am really enjoying seeing how you and Mark are combining two households into one. My Johnny and I married a year ago (second marriage for both) and we are STILL struggling with way too much stuff! I so understand how much time it takes to sort through stuff.
Thank you, Terri, it’s been fun for us to choose things together and most of the time, we have similar taste on the big things.
Nice changes!
Rhoda, I sent this post to my sis who works for Quoizel Lighting. She sent it down the pike and now their company is interested in following your social media. Thought you might be glad about that.
HI, Melanie, thank you, they just followed me today on Instagram, so I will follow back. That’s great!
when I was building my house last year, i opted to get almost all of the lighting fixtures myself: either I already had it bought (waiting for the right moment!), or I hit the antiques malls and thrift stores..I got it all myself (except for utility lighting) and am immensely pleased with them all. I just love LOOKING UP!
Good for you, Gilda! That’s the way to get what you want and you really enjoy it then.
Love all your new light fixtures! It will make such a difference!
Dear Rhoda,
your breakfast area looks great!
I bet the light of all these fixtures will be as great as the one you have in your heart!
From cloudy Athens
Sophia
Thank you, Sophia, we are really enjoying putting the house together and looking forward to the coming Holiday season!
Lighting can make such a difference. Thank you for sharing these pretty fixtures.
I am wondering what style door handles/hardware you recommend these days. I know everyone has different taste, but what are the trends these days and how do you choose the metal. (Maybe a topic for a future post.)
Best wishes, Lindy
HI, Lindy, that’s a good question and I think it’s all over the place these days. I think it depends on architecture in a home and style, whether you’re more contemporary or classic. We are going to change out all our doorknobs and hinges too and pretty sure we are going with oil rubbed bronze. We both love the dark color for door hardware especially with lighter doors. I’m still planning to paint all our interior doors a coordinating shade of something that will go with our colors throughout the house, so stay tuned for all of that. I’ll defintely do a blog post when we get to the doorknob changing part. My last house, I went with all antique brass and loved it with my darker doors, but this house calls for black/bronze, I think.
Yes, new lighting for the win! When I moved into my hubby’s house after we married, I had him change out a bunch of the fixtures. In this house there is only one room that hasn’t been changed out and I want that switched as well, lol. It does make such a huge difference.
I just love Lamps Plus too. I haven’t bought any ceiling fixtures from them but a lot of my table lamps were purchased from them & several of my end tables. Yours look awesome.