Renovation Life…Questions? Questions? Questions? and Great deals on lighting fixtures!

Our contractor Vinny and our electrician Matt, came to do some work on our addition/renovation yesterday. After getting all their equipment in and set up, the questions started to come! How many plugs do you want in the kitchen? Where do you want them placed? Where do you want the recessed lights in the ceiling? Where would you like the pendants over the island? Every time a question was asked my husband and I looked at each other and mumbled I…uh…um…we aren’t sure. The contractor and electrician offered suggestions, but we looked at them like deer in headlights. We quickly did a search on the internet, and all kinds of answers came up. Which confused us even more. We finally pulled ourselves together and took the contractor’s, electrician’s, and internet suggestions and then added a little of our own opinion, and hoped it would all turn out all right! It is true. There are a lot of decisions to be made during a project like this. Luckily for us, one area we have a leg up on is lighting. Many of the lighting choices have already been made.

Before the renovation started we began looking for lighting in architectural salvage places. I really wanted to bring character into the renovation and save money at the same time! Architectural salvage places are great places to do both! As luck would have it, on a trip to Pittsburgh to see my son, we struck gold! On the visit, we went exploring and found a salvage place called Construction Junction. It was a really cool salvage place with some amazing lighting (link to “Great Finds In Pittsburgh” Post). The fixtures we found there were in great shape. We would have to rewire some, but for what we paid, it is worth it. The trip was very successful we were able to find lighting that we know we are going to love.

These gorgeous globes will be going in the hallway.

These sconces are earmarked for the dining area. They are really solid pieces!

That left lighting for over the island and the laundry room. In all my white kitchen dreams there are large oversized lanterns above my island. I have always loved that look. I saw exactly what I coveted on an episode of Nate and Jerimiah by Design on theTLC channel . Below is a photo of their kitchen just beautiful! Look at those lanterns!

Unfortunately, our ceiling height quickly put the kibosh on my beautiful white kitchen lanterns over the island dream. So with a reality check in place, the search started for kitchen island lighting that would actually work in our kitchen. We found a couple we really liked, but were surprised by the cost of $250-$300 on average per light. Times three that’s close to $1000. I hate to say it, but all the time I had dreamed of lanterns for the island, I had never really priced them out. I really was in dream land. Even with this newfound information I was still determined to find something comparable at a reasonable price. I scoured online sources, went to local lighting stores, and looked for coupons. I did everything possible but to no avail. I conceded and started looking for other possibilities. I found pendant cord kits in a variety of finishes and different style shades to go with them at Ballard design.

They were at a good price, but I still wasn’t ready to give up on my design. I decided to keep trying. I sat myself down and starting entering different descriptions of what I was looking for. I kept doing it until I hit the right combination and a bunch of sites came up that were not there before. Surprisingly, Walmart was in the mix. It was actually Walmart’s online marketplace and they had some very nice options. They had a fixture that was very similar to one I had seen from another vendor, but at about half the price . I had to say, I was a little skeptical though. But I had nothing to lose. If I did not like them I could always return them.

The fixture below is from Wayfair. I like it, but the price was around $200 for each pendant.

This is the one I got from Walmart. I actually like the shape better than the other one. The price was only $129.

I also needed a light for my laundry room. I have always loved the look of old school house lights. This one is from Rejuvenation Hardware. Just the shade costs $169.

I Got this fixture at Lowes. It had a silver top, but the globe looked just like the school house light but at a cost of $40.

I spray painted the top of the fixture and I think it looks just like the one from Rejuvenation Hardware.

Lastly, I needed a light for over the utility sink in the laundry room. Instead of buying new, I repurposed our old light from over the kitchen sink. I painted the stem from silver to black and replaced the shade with a new one from Lowes. Funny story, we saw this glass shade hanging on a light on display at Lowes, but I couldn’t find any on the shelf. I asked an employee about it. It turns out it was completely out of stock and Lowes did not carry it anymore. So the Lowes employee took it down from the display and gave me the very last one for just $10. What a deal. I think it is going to look great. It was meant to be!