Anyone who has dined at our house has noticed a big problem we have. It's in the form of a gaudy chandelier, which I have to admit, in the second picture, doesn't look as bad as it is.
The problem with it, is that it belongs in a room with a ceiling AT LEAST two feet higher. It is just too big for the room, and it does not match our furniture style AT ALL. You can't tell from the pictures, but it's actually a brownish color with pinkish/mauvish highlights. GAG!The whole two years we've lived here, it's been a source of frustration for us. Inevitably when we sit at the table, at least one person hits their head (hard!) at least one time. That, and the mount for the light is in the stupidest place. Most options we've considered would involve Murphey moving the mount and wiring, which creates a ton of work. We've been trying for the past two years to figure out how to fix this problem. Another chandelier? No. A flush mount light? No. Last weekend I said to Murphey "How about we take care of that light for next weekends project?" He agreed AND MADE IT HAPPEN!!!
Not only did he make it happen, he suggested we look at track style lighting. I was at a loss what to do with the light and he had a vision, that we actually followed!! Talk about impressing me! So today, he installed and wired the lights (with a little help from me for layout) and even cleaned up afterwards!! Oh, and we rearranged the furniture a bit (moved the piano) and I now LOVE my new dining room. Dinner anyone?
Because it is a flexible track light system, we were able to bend the 10' line to fit however we wanted. The hardest part about installing the light was laying it out, evenly. The track is heavy, so Murphey had the brilliant idea to use a 10' piece of rope on the ceiling to mark where everything would go. That made it easier.Ok, now for the before and after pictures...
Before
After
Before
After
(with a celebratory popsicle)
Can you see why I'm in love? With my husband and my new dining room, of course!
6 comments:
One week the man is making FANTASTIC gravy and the next week he's wiring the lights! Murphey is truly a renaissance man!
Must be that UVA Engineering education! The lighting looks awesome. Talk about making a room look different with just a few changes. You guys could start your own show for TLC or DIY (do it yourself).
p.s. My favorite picture is the before picture with Murphey...his head totally blocked by the light fixture!
Wow, where can I get one, and I'm not talkin' about the light fixture :)
I notice that Murphey changed from his "I'm too pretty to work" Tee to a basic black model in the transition from the before-work-being-done to the after-work-was-done shots. Is he now in mourning that he worked? ;) BTW, I really like the change & only wish that you had done it before I went & replaced the hanging light fixture above my dining room table with another hanging model. I think that your solution or something like it would have been a better choice than what I chose. Oh well, live & learn!
Mike,
Yes, Murphey felt since he had worked, he could no longer feel as pretty, so he changed shirts. Not really... the first shot he is in his pj's and he probably would have stayed in them through the completion of the project, but he had to go out to get his hair cut in the middle of it, so he changed :)
Sorry we couldn't help you out sooner with the idea of these lights!!!
Post a Comment