Happy New Year, folks! I took a two weeks off from work and my normal life and did my best to take full advantage of the holiday season. I visited, gifted, baked, decorated, and imbibed enough that there may have even been some spontaneous caroling. Jamie told me that to really make sure my time off didn't feel like it was over too fast, I must change habits to create new connections in my brain, which makes time feel like it passes more slowly. So, I tried brushing my hair with my left hand, and I did my best to avoid all glowing screens of technology during my hiatus. I also learned some new house renovation skills during this break, so now I can add light fixture installation and drywall compound spackling to my brain connections, and since it feels like it's taking forever to master these skills, this approach must be working!
Trying to decide on the best lighting for the kitchen and dining room has been creating some minor stress for me. Every time I looked online for lighting options, there were endless fixtures to chose from, and I couldn't settle on any of them. When I looked at Lowe's during our frequent supply runs, I never saw anything that I thought fit the space. I've had some ugly light fixtures in my life, but it wasn't until I was faced with selecting light fixtures of my own, that I truly appreciated the fact that I could always blame someone else's bad taste for my ugly lights.
Brandon didn't seem to have the same anxiety about light selection. Once the ceiling was finished enough that lights could be installed, he was ready to be able to see while we worked. Before we even made it half way down the first lighting isle at Lowe's, he identified these square florescent lights as possibilities. I never even gave these lights a second glance, but once he pointed out that they might look light the sky lights that I had wished for, I was ready to give them a try. What a relief!
I think Brandon was right, too. The lights do remind me of sky lights, and they fit the slanted ceiling quite well and make more than enough light. Now that they are installed and functioning, we are pleased. During the installation process though, we were frustrated with the shoddy workmanship of these lights and the terrible instructions. Junk! We didn't give up though, and after tinkering with them we managed to get them together.
We selected a deck light for the spot on the wall in the bathroom that will be near the toilet. The ceilings are too low in the bathroom for overhead lights, and most of the wall sconces available seemed too fancy for our funky room.
The first night we had the lights installed, Brandon, Puck, and I walked down the long driveway so we could admire our house with lighted windows from a distance. It looks... so alone! And the night looks so dark! It was a little spooky really, seeing the tiny lighted windows and realizing that there are no other lights around. It's going to be a change from what we are used to, for sure. Where we live now, there are lights everywhere -neighbors houses, cars, and street lights. At the little farm house, it's going to be just us and the stars, and whatever goes bump in the night...
2 comments:
The picture of the house with the lights on looks like a face. Weird.
Where did you install the new lights? For some reason I thought you were putting them upstairs.
I noticed that the house picture looks like a face too. Sort of a smiley jack'o'lantern face.
The new lights are on the sloped ceiling in the room we call the "dining room" and in the kitchen. The photos in the post are taken from near the main entry door, looking east toward the large rectangular kitchen window. Upstairs, there will be no lights on the ceiling, since the beams would cast shadows. Instead we will have a wall light on each side of the chimney in the middle of the room.
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