One lesson I’ve learned from renovating two houses is that your first instinct isn’t always your best one. But I’ve also learned that that’s ok! Because I have perfectionist tendencies, it’s important for me to give myself permission to change something I don’t love instead of living with it and getting angry at myself for the bad choice. Of course, this sometimes means waiting until something makes financial or scheduling sense to make the change. But I’ve noticed things tend to bother me less when I know I’ll be changing it out at some point. And ultimately, it’s kind of comforting knowing that nothing is permanent and there’s always room for growth. It takes the pressure off a project to know you don’t need to get it 100% right on the first try. 

And now we arrive at an example of bad first instinct: the lighting in our kitchen. These are the fixtures we first installed in the kitchen. 

I honestly can’t remember exactly why I chose them. I think I saw all those lantern light fixtures that are so popular right now and liked the look of them, but wanted a modern twist. I ended up making a mistake that I’ve made many times. I picked individual pieces I like without imagining the feel I wanted for the whole space. In the picture above, they don’t look awful, but they don’t exactly fit the vibe of our kitchen, either. I didn’t hate them immediately, but I also don’t think they ever felt quite right. Now, for the second issue, the sconce lights on the tiled wall above the windows. Now, these I literally hated the moment they were installed (poor Nick). Once again, I saw them in the store and thought, ooo pretty. And honestly my train of thought ended there. I didn’t consider that they’d look a little ridiculous above the window. To be clear, I do still think they’re pretty! They’re just unbalanced, too small, and not at all the right shape for the space.

Even though I really didn’t like the sconces and the island lights weren’t perfect, we decided to live with the lighting choices for a while. At the time, we had a lot of other more pressing projects to finish (which is a phrase you’ve probably heard before and will definitely hear again). But the lighting problem returned with a vengence after completing another project in the kitchen – the open shelves. 

I think this picture really captures my grievance – the combination of the open shelves with the island lights was WAY too busy. We’d also finally added blinds which contributed to the issue, too. There was just TOO much going on. I loved the shelves but found myself really desperate to correct the lighting situation so they could be properly showcased. So, I started to consider my options. Clearly, we needed something less busy, so my first thought was glass lights. I thought some larger-sized glass globes could work because you could see right through them and they wouldn’t impede the view of the shelves. But I had trouble finding an option in our price range – larger glass globes can get pretty expensive. I put the project on hold for a while we worked on other things, including the mudroom. 

And the mudroom brings us to the breakthrough in this case. We were searching for a light fixture to go in our new mudroom, which is located right off the kitchen. Before we left the house, I stood in the mudroom and looked at the view into the kitchen to consider what would coordinate with the kitchen. Of course, the view made me sigh a little because I really didn’t want to think about coordinating the light in the mudroom with the lights in the kitchen that I disliked so much. But we had to find something, so we set off. We went to a local store called the Decorating Outlet. Anyone in the Richmond area should definitely check it out! They have tons of lighting fixtures on deep discount because of minor scratches, cut cords, or other small issues. As we were shopping, my eye caught some beauties that I instantly knew would be perfect for the scone lights above the windows. I was sure they’d do a much better job at balancing out the windows and I loved the colors. Spoiler alert: we went off mission and bought them. 

We knew we had a different purpose in being there, but they were a great deal and couldn’t be passed up! So, after deciding to buy the sconce lights, we tried to collect ourselves and get back on track. We needed a mudroom light. As we were searching, we came across a large stack of boxes each marked $16. If there’s one thing we love, it’s a deal. Looking at the lights, we realized they were Young House Love brand (we’re huge fans) and retailed for $185 brand new. Color me thrilled!! The lights were pendants that definitely hung too low for the mudroom, but…for an island….Now, as I mentioned, I was picturing glass globes for the island. But I was instantly drawn in by the color. They were a gorgeous taupe color that I thought would add some great depth to our mostly black and white kitchen. They weren’t clear, but they were a nice, simple silhouette that I was certain wouldn’t steal the show from my open shelves. As I pictured them in our space, I thought they may actually be better than glass because they could bring in some more warmth to kitchen than glass could. We decided there was no harm in trying, because the store allows you to return things within a couple days. We had to dig through the pile a bit because many of them had scratches or paint chips. But we got lucky and found 3 that were perfect. So, we left the store with 5 fixtures we didn’t need and none that we did need, naturally. But I was super excited, nonetheless! Here was our first look at them in our kitchen:

As soon as Nick held them up, I knew they were perfect. The color was something I’d never considered, but it was fantastic! It brought in all the warmth and depth that our kitchen needed. The only problem was the shiny chrome finish on the bar. It just didn’t match any fixtures in our kitchen. But the great thing about scoring something for $16? You’re not too worried about taking a chance at altering it. So, we took the bars and mounting plates outside and gave them all a quick coat of black spray paint. And it did the trick! The end result was more perfect than anything I could have imagined. 

And there you have it – a whole new look for the kitchen for a bargain price! And at such an unexpected time. I can’t tell you how happy I am with these lights. An added benefit is that they really change the way we use the lighting in our kitchen. We find ourselves constantly using the island and sconce lights instead of the overhead recessed lights because it creates a lovely ambiance. I just love the balance, warmth, and depth they bring.

There were some great lessons learned here. Firstly, that it pays to be patient. I was unhappy with both the original fixtures immediately and/or soon thereafter. But we both knew we should live with them for a while to see how everything else came together. And the replacements we found ended up presenting themselves when we weren’t even looking! Secondly, I learned how important it is to think about an entire space and not just the individual pieces. Both the island lights and sconce lights probably aren’t something I would pick out on their own. But they work so well together and so well in the space. The entire change has really inspired me to make other changes in the house that I’ll go into more later. But for now, I’m SO happy with this update!