Let There Be [Kitchen] Light

Have you ever heard someone tell you that it is best to live in a space before you start making any changes to it? The idea is that this way you truly know what you like, dislike, and how best to change the space. Now that I am a homeowner that has renovated several spaces in our home I think this is really good advice. Although it can be tempting to start changing things immediately, it rally is best to wait so you have a good sense of what is working and not working so you are in the best position to make changes.

This was definitely the case with our kitchen light and ceiling fan. It took us over three years of living in this house to decide we absolutely needed a new kitchen light and needed one bad. The main problem was this – it simply did not produce nearly enough light. Not even close given the size of our kitchen. Oh, and it was pretty ugly too.

Can you tell how dinky it was? It made it very difficult to see anything when you were cooking. Here is another picture of it, turned on this time.  Not much better.

So for $60, we just recently swapped the light out for one that matches the rest of our kitchen much better as well as functionally provides more light. We opted to keep the ceiling fan concept as I really like turning on the fan on hot summer nights. Here is a look at the final product.

It is definitely a better fit for the space. I love how much more light it produces and I love the way the black blades ties in with the rest of the space.  It only took my husband about an hour to install the new light so for $60 and an hour of time, it was an easy fix with a big impact.

But let me back up for a moment and share with you the progress we have made in the kitchen over the past three years.  Here is what the space looked like the day we moved in – March 2009. Although not really my style, the oak cabinets and formica counter tops were in pretty good condition.

The first thing we did before we even moved into the house was painted the baby blue walls. I just couldn’t live with the blue.  The space felt so washed out I knew we had to fix it fast. We opted for Valspar’s Tropical Nut. I absolutely love the color to this day. It is a real good cross between a red and an orange.  Here is what the space looked like post-paint:

Oh, and do you see the stain glass rose insert in the center cabinet? I replaced that immediately as well. Just not our style. I simply had a local glass company cut me a piece of frosted glass to size. I brought in the actual door and they replaced the glass for me in no time. I then sold the rose insert at a garage sale for a few bucks.

Following the paint spruce up and removal of the stained glass rose cabinet insert, we let the space be for about a year until our refrigerator died. If you can tell from the pictures, the appliances were all different colors when we moved in: white dishwasher, cream oven/stove, black microwave, and cream refrigerator.  I was waiting for the right opportunity to swap them all out and the dead refrigerator was the perfect time. So I sold the dishwasher and stove on Craigslist for a few hundred dollars and we used the money to purchase all new black appliances.

The matching black appliances made a huge impact in my opinion.

The next kitchen project came a few months ago when we decided to get rid of the white back splash. Again, not our style.

We tried to find a glass mosaic tile that would work with the black appliances and the oak cabinets. Here is what we ended up with:

The whole backsplash only cost us about $250 dollars.  We also switched out the white electrical outlets as well to go with the new tile and the appliances.

With the backsplash project complete, the only other immediate “to do” item in the kitchen was replacing the ceiling fan/light. And with this problem recently solved, we are finally starting to like the way the kitchen has come together. Of course there are still things we would love to do in the future (switching out the hardware on the cabinets, painting or replacing the cabinets, getting new countertops, oh the list goes on), but for now we are happy with how the space looks after some relatively easy and affordable upgrades: 1) new paint, 2) a new cabinet glass insert, 3) all new matching black appliances, 4) a new mosaic backsplash, and 5) a new ceiling fan and light.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

What do you think of the new kitchen light? Do you agree that it is best to live in a space for awhile before making any changes? Thanks for reading. Have a great day.

~Kara