Here’s something I did last fall that I meant to write about at the time, and… didn’t. Forgot, maybe. Or got lazy. Anyway, it’s no big deal, just a little change that makes me smile on a daily basis.

The hallway that leads from the big, open living space (kitchen/dining/living room) to the bathrooms and bedrooms had some dim and dated light fixtures–

They aren’t terrible, I guess, but they aren’t great, either.

I picked up three dark blue industrial-style pendant lamps at a thrift shop and decided to try them out in the hallway. The ceilings in here aren’t really high enough to be ideal for these lamps, but I think it works–and at $5/pendant, it won’t hurt if I want to switch them out later.

Since these photos were taken, I also bought half-chromed (incandescent) bulbs, so the light reflects back up against the bright white interior, and gives off a bright glow without shining in your eyes. Perfect.
Does anyone know if you can get half-chromed CFLs anywhere? I haven’t found them, but eventually these incandescents are going to burn out and I’m going to be sad.

Anyway, this little change definitely made the hallway seem less neglected, but I’d still like to weave a long runner for it–I’m thinking black and gray, so as not to add too much visual clutter to the small space–and I’d like to find some art for the opposite wall, which is just a little bare:

Of course, long-term, I’d also like to install nicer doors (these are hollow-core and cheap) and hardware, plus remove the carpet and install wood flooring, probably. But that’s years away.

(In case you’re wondering, the first room on the left is the bathroom, the second room on left is our bedroom, which has its own bathroom; the first door on the right is my office, and the last door on the right is our guest bedroom/my craft room; behind the double doors at the end of the hall is a linen closet).

Now the question is whether to use the third of these blue pendants in the kitchen.

Previously there were two fluorescent lamps in the kitchen, one of which I subsequently replaced with track lighting. One fluorescent lamp remains, and boy, is it ever from the seventies:

Oh, yeahhhhh.

So what do you think? Could the third blue industrial-style pendant work here? It would sort of mirror the one in front of the linen closet at the end of the hall, since the pantry doors are the same as those linen closet doors, and it might kind of pull the kitchen and the hallway together, visually.

Anything would be an improvement, but of course, changing out fluorescents takes a little work, and then it’s a pain to recycle the tubes… plus I’m certain there will be yellow ceiling paint behind the fixture (there was behind the other kitchen fluorescent), which means painting the ceiling, which is also a huge pain. So it’s not a quick fix–still, totally worth it, right?

February 17, 2014

Comments

Awesome! I think the third pendant could look great in the kitchen – it would tie them in with your lower cabinets. And changing out the fluorescent seems worth the work to me – even if you end up not loving the pendant there, it wouldn’t be wasted effort.

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