Blinded By The Light

Who doesn't like this song? Even if no one really knows what the lyrics are.



When Jon and I were painting in the hallway we noticed how gross our hallway light was. Its a bad photo but you can see how cloudy and dirty it is. It kind of looks like this. But it had a huge bubble on it where the lightbulb had gotten too close to the plastic coverings and melted it. Gross.

So I asked Jon to take it down so we could at least clean it. But we couldn't figure out how to get the stupid thing down. After a few tries we got frustrated... and decided to take a hammer to it. Poseidon and I ducked into the guest bedroom while Jon swung away. The frame still wouldn't come out... until we realized that all we had to do was stick something into between the ceiling and the frame. Then it just popped off. Oops.

Once we pried it off we discovered that we had an attic! My mom and I had been wondering about that when Jon and I did our final walk through when we bought the place.

Broken light fixture = Home Depot run. Much to my delight and Jon's dismay.

Initially we wanted to replace the tray and the acrylic sheet but we quickly discovered that the tray (the metal thing in which the acrylic light cover lays) didn't match any of the ones in the store so we think it was a custom job. Since we couldn't replace the whole thing we settled on at least replacing the acrylic sheet. $10 and half an hour later we were on way back home.

Jon used the old one as guide to cut replacement sheet down to size with a box knife. Quick and easy!

While the thing was open we replaced the old bulb with an energy efficient one. We flipped on the light and exclaimed "woooow!" We were amazed by how much brighter the hallway was.

We were so impressed Jon did the same thing to the similar smaller one in the entryway. Here's the before:

Jon and Poseidon cut it to size...

... gave the frame a fresh coat of paint...

...added an energy efficient bulb and installed it!

You can tell that new light coverings are clearer and let through way more light than before. And it looks a lot cleaner. No more dead looking bug things being illuminated. Thank goodness!

But we didn't stop there. While Jon was painting the highest corner in our stairway I asked him to clean the chandelier. He noted that the chandelier had old white bulbs instead of the new energy efficient ones. So he changed those too. Bright lights, big change! I think we said "wooooow" again. Who knew light bulbs could make such a big difference? We had actually wanted to replace that fixture because we thought it was too dim so we're definitely reconsidering that now.

The best part? We only spent $10! We already had the energy efficient light bulbs. Those were a gift from my parents when we moved in. Our only expense was the new acrylic sheet and we used that for two different fixtures. I LOVE cheap and fast upgrades and this one brightened up our home and my day!

Welcome

Consider our entryway done!

Jonathan had already painted so all we needed was some kind of art on the wall.

Remember how we originally wanted to frame out the old mirror in the half bath but totally failed? Well, I didn't want to throw it out. I hoarded kept it in a closet because I wanted to reuse it. It's been in there for about six months just hanging out. Waiting. And then inspiration struck!

I had the mirror and some leftover trim from our framed monogram project so I decided to make a welcome mirror. I've seen a lot of vinyl sticker crafty things all over Pinterest and decided that would be perfect for my project. Most of the people who do those vinyl cutouts have a cricut or special die cut machine. I don't. So I shopped around on Etsy until I found one that I liked.

Another visit to my BFF, Home Depot and I picked a can of frosted spray paint. Then I gathered up my supplies and got to crafting.

First I centered and applied the sticker. I eyeballed it and as a result its a bit crooked but that just gives it character. Right? Getting the sticker onto the mirror was a little tricky. You only get one shot so I tried to go super slowly... BUT I messed it up a bit. I accidently stretched out one of the letters but managed to drag it back into place.

Then I taped off the middle part that was going to be frosted. I initially eyeballed that too. Thankfully my sister was here to tell me that it was really off and I was about the make a huge crafting boo boo. So I redid it the right way.

After that it was time to spray paint. I totally overdid it with the spray paint. I should have done thin even coats and waited for them dry. I didn't. Blame it on the heat and my impatience. As a result there are some drips. I thought that I had completely ruined the whole thing. I told Jon that I was going to have to scrape the paint off and start over. Jon said it was fine but I was feeling pretty bummed (and dramatic) about the whole thing.

When I looked at it in the sunlight the next day I felt a million times better about it. Jon said "Babe, I told you it was fine!" and I left it on the dining table for a few days....

Then I peeled off the sticker using tweezers. I had tried to use my nails and accidentally scratched off some of the paint. It's not that noticeable but I would like it better if its wasn't there. I don't really know how to fix that. I don't want to spray paint more because I think it would ruin the whole thing. So it will remain as is.

Then I built and assembled a frame for the mirror in the same way we did the monogram one but this time I did all by myself! Naturally since Jon wasn't there to help/oversee I cut the wood a little short because I measured off the broken corners of the mirror. Oops.

Next it was Jonathan's turn. I asked him to hang to the mirror but we had no way to do it. It had previously been up in the bathroom with cheap clip things. Obviously that wasn't going to work since the mirror was so much thicker now. I found these hook things at (where else?) Home Depot and got Jon's seal of I-think-this-will-work approval. He measured and marked when the holes should go.

The way they are supposed to work is by hammering in a plastic pin that acts as a nail to hang the hook. It looked really easy to do on the instructions but, of course, it wasn't. Jon had trouble with the first one and punched a hole with the second one.

Once Jon got all the yelling out of his system and patched the wall, he finished the two on the bottom.

Then we added two on the sides instead of on top. We did it that way so we could slide it in and out. It took us a little bit of effort to jam it in there but its there and we've checked off another item on our to do list.

Come On In!

Behold! The power of paint!

Check out the boring before:

Jonathan and I finally started working on the main living space of our house. Its an open space thats divided into four spaces: the living room, dining room, kitchen and entryway. Obviously we've already started in the dining room but we wanted use a different color living room and entryway.  After much debate we selected this light neutral from Behr paint. It was actually pretty hard to chose a color because we plan on using it throughout the downstairs. We want it to complement the deep gray we have in the dining room and whatever we decide to do in the kitchen one day. 

We decided to start by our front door for a few of reasons. One, we didn't have to move any couches. Two, it's a small space so it wouldn't take the entire weekend. Three, once we add a piece of artwork in that empty space behind the door we're done!

I gathered all the painting supplies and Jon did his thing.

After he was done I cleaned up. I removed all the tape, cleaned and reattached the switch plate and replaced our "S" wreath. Isn't that a pretty wreath? It was a wedding gift from a crafty coworker. Normally it's  on the outside but when I hang a holiday wreath I move it inside. Right now its been temporarily replaced by our 4th of July wreath.

I've just been staring at the corner. Out of all the paint colors we used so far this is my favorite. And since the half bath is right next to it I can pretend our house is actually all done. If I'm looking at from the right angle from our couch.