Light the Way

 

After hours and hours looking for just the right wall sconces, we decided to go with the cheapo Lowe's ones. They are kinda western looking, but we ended up really liking them. If I ever take them down and paint them matte black instead of the current brown "bronze" they will match our other fixtures better. Put that on the to do list... we were just trying to speed things up with the "temporary" install. 

(Note to readers: at this point wild laughter should accompany anytime you see the word "temporary.")

We put "Edison" bulbs in them since the the bulbs would be seen on the way up the stairs, and since they were some of the dimmest we could get (thinking of their use in the middle of the night, since they will shine into the bunk room). 

On one of the Electrician's visits, he left a long list of things we needed to buy. When I got to the store I saw items in the electrical department that I had wanted in the house, but didn't remember when the house was being wired. The boys were able to swap out some outlets and switches to accommodate my wishes (example: nightlight switches in the bathrooms!) but the little tiny side lights to illumine each stair at night? Too late. 

I thought that finding, choosing, and buying light fixtures would be the fun part of this whole construction process, but it ended up feeling like another big waste of life! Not because we were looking for organic, free-range light fixtures (thankfully, we know nothing about toxic light fixtures... yet), but because there are MILLIONS of choices, and NOTHING is matching the picture you have in your mind's eye. And, after hours of looking, when you find just what you want the items are out of stock. 

We toyed with making our own wall sconces out of wood, which would add yet another potential DIY burden to our list. 

Then one day out of the blue, a lighting consultant showed up! She had a list of new builds in our area and was visiting every single one offering free consultation. Was I ever impressed! Now someone else could spend hours on the internet finding our lights for us! What a luxury, so I thought. When her recommendations came in with NO prices, I had to get online yet again and figure those out myself. Alas! "Back to Lowe's we go."