Lighting update

We have been in the house just over a month now and I still haven't shown you all the changes we made to the lighting! Before we moved in that was the one thing that I told Zack I could NOT live with. I don't know what the builder was thinking, no wait, I do. He was thinking cheap. As cheap as possible. I couldn't. Like I could NOT stare at these awful boob lights everyday, so before we even moved in, like literally the day we got the keys, we went to the house and immediately changed half the fixtures and then on our next day off we changed the rest. Its a huge improvement and I'm pretty proud that they all look so great together.

entryway before

entryway after

dining room before

dining room after

island before

island after

So, this is where it gets a little complicated. 

Originally there were two lights in the kitchen: One over the island and one centered in the walkway between the sink and island...weird. We didn't like the second light and we couldn't decide if we wanted to move it over the sink or on the wall...

I love this one from Lamps Plus 

Zack likes something like this from Lowes

..so we decided for the time being to cover it with a plate until we decide for good. Then, there's the two lights on the bottom left of the pic. The one closest to the bottom is the living room and the one in the middle is the light that's centered on the bottom of the stairs. Here's a better explanation...

bottom of stairs, island, plate covered

So here you can see the island light and the light at the bottom of the stairs. For the island we added a track and 2 pendants instead of adding more lights, it was cost effective and I really like it! Then, we added the lantern lights [discontinued at Lowes] that we used everywhere else.

In the living room we opted for a ceiling fan because Zack and I are always hot and this is where we hangout the most, it was a no brainer. 

living room after

stairs before

stairs after

upstairs hallway before

upstairs hallway after

laundry before

laundry room after

master before  

master bedroom after

I am super happy with the lighting that we chose and we installed them all ourselves [except the one over the stairs, we had a professional come do that because...heights.] and it was super affordable. If you like what we used check below for a source list. 

Lanterns used in halls and entryway : Lowes

Pendants over island: Lowes

Track over island: Lowes 

dining room chandelier: Lowes

Living room and master bedroom fan: Lowes

Laundry room pendant: Ikea we left off the glass piece

---Jackie