One Room Challenge Week 3, 4, and 5: Lighting, Hardware, and Painting Cabinets
Note: if I did it correctly, this post contains some affiliate links. (That just means if you buy something from one of these links, I’ll get a few cents on the dollar.)
Lighting and hardware choices, oh my! This is so tough for me- it’s expensive AND it can be hard to source. I love tons of small business-style lighting and hardware companies (Sazarac Stitches, Dutton and Brown, Schaub and Co., Schoolhouse…), but I didn’t have the budget in this kitchen to go all in with those. Next time! Instead, I turned to Google.
Upon googling “sputnik chandelier”, I found a treasure trove of amazing light fixtures. They ranged from $1000 to $400, but as we know: that isn’t in the budget. West Elm had some AMAZING options, and even a little sale, but it was still a little higher than I wanted to reach. If you’re in the market for a Mid Century fixture or simple modern lighting fixture, that’s your spot, easily. My aim was $100-$150. (I know, its bold!)
Wayfair had some strong options, but most of them were dancing around the $150 mark and nothing was perfect- either it was too long, too small, had one small detail off, OR couldn’t ship in time, and I kept the hope that I could find something I was in love with. So, I ventured onto Amazon Prime.
After shuffling through dozens of fixtures, I stumbled onto it: the one. It was black and gold, gave lots of light… it was perfect:
And it was $95! WHAT! But guess what. It was backordered. So I went ahead and ordered, but kept on looking.
And there it really was. $83, somewhere a little less sputnik-y, and very similar to a higher priced one I had loved in my cursory google search. I ordered it, and one day later it arrived. (It was defective, so I sent it back.) And one more day later, it arrived:
I loved it even more. It works, too! Tons of light. I cancelled the black and gold one, and basked in the light of my $83 fixture.
Onto hardware: I’ve been searching for hardware for the better part of this year. I wanted something bigger, but sleeker and simpler, and brass. (Although I did look at some black options.)
Amazon won out again with a set of 4 truncated knobs for $14. I am impressed with them- they’re heavy, well-made, and seem like a great deal. For the handles, I turned to Etsy. I found these simple 5” pulls, and I couldn’t find anything like them for the same price. I finally got them after a hold-up in customs, and I am so pleased. They are definitely cheaper-feeling in weight, but once I installed them I don’t think you’d ever know. (The color is a little off from the knobs, but I don’t mind. Once they are on, you really can’t tell.)
Our biggest drama during this three weeks has been nailing down a contractor to finish the backsplash. At one point not so long ago (2 days), I was sure we weren’t going to be able to get someone here on time to do it! Lucky for me, a great contractor my real estate agent recommended had an opening and as I type this, he’s working on it. I think we’re going to pull this One Room Challenge off!
Let’s see… What else, what else?
- Cabinet painting is in full swing and I’m almost finished. By the end of this weekend, I’ll hopefully be thinking of painting cabinets in past tense.
- Soon, it will be time to start painting the table. I’ve got some ideas up my sleeve and I can’t wait to put them on paper… I mean table. This is a project I’m playing close to the vest, partly because I want the impact to be a huge surprise, but also because I want to see how it works out before I talk about it. It could go really well, or really not so well.
- Touch up wall paint. Since the walls were the first to get completed, there are a ton of small areas to touch up here and there.
- I want to get a pitcher plant and venus fly trap. I think both would be very cool, but I also love the added bonus of them attracting and eating bugs. (Because bugs we definitely have. I mean not us specifically- we’re not infested. But we live in South Carolina where cockroaches are the size of cats and mosquitos are the state bird.)
- Finish the doors for the pantry cabinet, mount the hardware for the trash can inside of the cabinet.
- Pull down tape, clean, and photograph.
That’s all doable in the next 5 or so days, right? Right.