Affordable Modern Lighting
Ever since moving into this house, almost every weekend we’ve donned our weekend warrior attire and gotten to work. This past weekend was no exception; we worked in the yard a bit, painted our hallway, and hung new lighting in the hall and entry. Saturday night while the boys watched basketball, Emmy and I had a Pretty Little Liars marathon until I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer, exhausted from everything we’d been doing. (We’re talking like 9:30 pm here, people.) To be honest, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love the sense of accomplishment being productive gives me. I am not much of a list maker, but sometimes I’ll jot a list down just so I can proudly check several items off; and I am not ashamed to admit that to you. OK, maybe a little. Today I am going to share with you some of the progress we made in our entry and hall featuring affordable modern lighting from My Mitzi, a relatively new lighting company. My Mitzi was kind enough to send me the light fixtures for this post after I approached them because I loved their fixtures. I was not otherwise compensated and all opinions are my own.
Just a couple of weeks ago I shared our freshly stenciled entry. In most of the photos, I cropped out the hideous nickel semi flush boob light, but now I don’t have to hide my lighting… Now I am ready to show it off! (Although I do need to hide the ceiling vent you will see in some photos… Note that it is NOT dirty, but painted white poorly over beige, so we need to take it down and paint it, but one baby step at a time!)
How sexy is that Stella fixture from My Mitzi? As we work through changing the lighting in this house, I’ve been gravitating towards clean and simple lines and shapes with a midcentury vibe to suit our 1960s rancher. So far we have changed our the dining room fixture as well as two bathrooms (here and here). As you’ve seen, all of my choices have been gold and black and I plan to keep that trend flowing from room to room. When I spied the three light Stella from My Mitzi, I knew it was exactly the look I desired for my entry.
In our old house, no one ever used our front door because the kitchen door was right next to the driveway. I didn’t change our foyer lighting until we had been there for over 5 years! This house has no side doors and no garage, and only one front door so that entry is the first thing people see when they walk into our house. I could not have a nickel finished swirly decorated semi flush boob light greeting potential new friends. I mean I could, but then they might never go from potential to real friends. Although if they’re judging my value as a person by my lighting I probably don’t need them as friends. 😉 Please see the offensive friendship ruining light below.
Additionally, our living room has no light fixtures and currently we have one lamp and that is all. I turn on the entry light sometimes to get a little light at my desk, so I wanted something that offered a bit more light, and this fixture does just that since it has 3 bulbs instead of 2. Below you can see where my desk sits just off the entry. Why don’t I get a lamp, you might wonder? Well, I need room for my millions of colored pencils and a plant, naturally.
I just love the statement this area makes now. At this moment, our front door is red (which is not at all me), but nevertheless I am thrilled with the entry that greets me upon entry. We’ll soon be getting a brand new front door installed and I can’t wait to paint that sucker something fresh and fun! I’ve got a running list of color ideas and have never been one to shy away from color on a front door.
I’m also planning to paint the interior of the front door a fun color and it may or may not be the same as the exterior color. As I’ve mentioned, I have several color ideas, but I would love to hear your thoughts on what would look great in this space. I should note that when we renovate the kitchen, these floors will be replaced with wood which will help warm up the black and white perfectly.
Just off of this entry is our main hallway and I since I wanted the lighting to be cohesive in the entry and all, I was thrilled to see that My Mitzi makes a single light Stella. It’s the perfect simple globe light for our hallway. (And there is that big poorly painted white-over-beige ceiling vent we need to paint… ugh.)
I don’t have a before of the lighting that was here, but just picture the entry before lighting without the “fancy” scrollwork. This light is so much more my style, and it suits the era of the house.
As you can see, we painted the once gray green hallway this past weekend, too, in my new favorite perfect white. Clearly, the hallway is currently a big white blank slate, but I plan to jazz it up soon enough. I am picturing a vintage or vintage style runner and perhaps some black framed artwork or photos. Hallways are always a challenge for me because I don’t like them to be too cluttered with artwork since they’re already pretty small and claustrophobic.
Aside from their gorgeous looks, the new light fixtures also function perfectly to give us the light we need in this space. The old entry light was a little dim, especially with a windowless front door, but the new fixture truly brightens up our space.
Our entry won’t be finished until our kitchen renovation (which we haven’t even started) is done because these vinyl tiles will be replaced with wood flooring which will make all the difference. Hopefully the new door will go in this week and I’ll be able to get it painted this weekend… fingers crossed! With the new lighting from My Mitzi, this space already feels so much more elevated and expressive of who we are.
Lighting is one of the easiest and most affordable ways to upgrade your home. Admittedly, Chris and I didn’t know how to change lighting until about 6 years ago, but now we’re pretty much unstoppable. 😉 (Slight exaggeration.) Be sure to check out My Mitzi for affordable and stylish modern lighting for your home!