Let There Be Light!

Another project that Eric tackled while I was away was installing not one, not two but three new light fixtures around the house! There have been quite a few light fixtures that I've been planning to replace for a while but as usual I never got around to it. I did quite a lot of online research to find the fixtures I wanted for the right price and ended up getting all three from Ikea. We are seriously so lucky to have an Ikea in the area. It's pretty much the best source for cheap, well designed household goods. When comparing prices on light fixtures nothing else even came close in terms of value and aesthetics.

The first replacement (and biggest improvement if I do say so myself) is in the kitchen, here is what the fixture used to look like,

And here is the new fixture! Oooh!! Track Lighting!!!

This has really worked out soooo much better for our kitchen. We had a real problem before with getting enough light to all our work areas and this has really solved it. We now position each individual light so that is goes right where we need it to be.

For example, this prep area used to be super dark. Not anymore!

The next light fixture Eric replaced was the one in the hallway, before it was just a bare bulb hanging out there,

The updated fixture isn't crazy exciting or glamorous but it certainly looks more finished and it's a huge improvement over what was there before. Also, it only cost about $5!

The new fixture, a little hard to see here but trust me it looks good. 

You can see it a little better here. 

Last but not least He replaced the light in Baby Echo's room. It was a ceiling fan with all the blades broken off of it, not very functional or pretty. We picked out something a little more whimsical for this room since it will be for the kiddo :-)

The light turned off so you can see the pretty paper shade

And the light turned on so you can see the nice diffuse light it provides. It makes the room much more cheery :-)

So those are all the big improvements that were made while I was away on vacation. Eric can be so handy when he gets in the zone. It's really exciting to make some progress on the house again. Maybe after this baby gets here I will have some time and energy to actually help out on a few house projects. That's probably just wishful thinking though since I'm pretty sure that after you have kids you will never get a good night's sleep again. Oh well, we have all the time in the world to finish our house projects :-)