One Room Challenge Fall 2019 Project Coast to Coast: Getting Lit

THIS WEEK I’M ALL ABOUT GETTING LIT

Maybe I’m getting lit too much lately. Maybe I need to cut down a little. Maybe not. I am talking lighting, people! Well, actually I have been sampling the plentiful California specialty (WINE) a little too often then days as I plop down at the end of the day. I mean, it’s just EVERYWHERE around here. And it’s so tasty. What’s a girl gonna do? 

For you out of staters, I actually got a great source to buy wine online (and they even made me an affiliate- more on that down below). The prices are really good, and they put together fun specials all the time. I haven’t had a wine I didn’t like, and it ships so fast you don’t feel like you have to run to the store. Click the bottle here to see about this one, then browse their other offerings. I love their package deals. I tried a whole case of mixed rosés before, and they were all great!

But Really, It’s about Lighting.

Rentals usually have some boring lighting and this house was no exception. Normally I would just live with the boring lighting and suck it up because why invest in a place that’s not your own? I lived in a rental in NJ for a year before moving out west and in that case I really did not want to make any investments in the decor because it truly was temporary. Here in this house in CA, I feel like we might be here awhile. We really don’t plan on spending ungodly amounts on purchasing a home while we are here, so we are going to make the best of a rental situation to make it feel more like a home. In this case, I might be willing to spend a couple of dollars to make it a little prettier. I can always take the new lights with me when I go. Matter of fact, everything has to be returned to the original state when we leave so whatever I do has to be swapped out anyway. Unless, of course, the landlord/homeowner loves what I did and wants to keep things (ahem, buy them from me).

That being said, I’m not going to spend money on lighting like it’s my own house. I wish I could, but it’s just not where I want to spend a lot of money. My past clients know I can hunt for some cool lights on a budget so I figure this is now a challenge for myself as well.

Honestly, if I owned this house, I would definitely spend the money on upgrading the wiring and the lights throughout. There are 8 million switches to who knows what around here. One of them shuts off my TV in my bedroom for some reason. Some are broken, and a lot of them are dimmer switches that are incompatible with the LED lightbulbs scattered throughout.

Fun Facts

If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, these are dimmer switches that work with any lightbulbs, including LED. If you’ve ever put in LED bulbs and noticed that they are flickering, especially when dimmed, it’s typically the switch. Also worth noting: this will happen even with “dimmable LED bulbs”. Non-dimmable LED bulbs might not adjust at all and just be full brightness no matter what the dimmer is set at, and Smart Bulbs do not work in dimmers at all. So an easy fix is to swap out your old dimmer switches to an ELV (electronic low voltage) dimmer and you should be all set. Like this one here:

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But It’s Not My House

So unless I become best friends with an electrician around here who wants to do all of that, it is what it is! What I can do is find some fairly inexpensive lighting that might make this place look a little better, flickering lights or not. LOL. I don’t love using recessed lights in living rooms and bedrooms anyway so I probably won’t turn them on if I have a nice fixture and lamps.

I might trash all of these options but I am considering something for the dining room and these are some possibilities. Which one do you think I would end up with?

Options for the ORC Bedroom

I don’t know how many times I have said it, so I apologize for saying it again, this room is on a TIGHT BUDGET. I can’t just get any light I want. And since the vibe in this room has morphed, the lighting options have as well. Here are some that I considered. You can also click HERE.

Of course you already know which one I chose because I already showed you a picture of it! Besides the cost, the scale of this one is why I got it. The others were fairly typical in size for a flush mount and this one is a little larger. It’s hard to tell from the line up of all the lights but it really is a good size. You know how much I like big lights! Remember the big balls kitchen? Those were pretty big.

You will have to wait until later to see it in the whole space, since right now the whole space is upside down. 

What Do You Think?

So, what do you think so far? I think that the walls came out pretty good. They aren’t perfect, but I am ok with that. The light is a nice addition to the room, I think. The wooden beads give a nice, casual, natural element to the room and if you look closely there are glass beads in there as well to add just a little sparkle.

I got the light up over the weekend but since then I’ve been forced to wait for all of the other things. To kill time, I made the bed, then stripped the bed because I hated the sheets and now I’m waiting for something else (hopefully better than the last) to arrive. I am still considering taking out the head board and swapping it with the one in the other room, and I want to kick myself because I have since found other headboards I like way better but I was in a rush! Something I would NEVER want my clients to do. Grrr. I need to get the mattress and box spring out so I can fix the rug which is so crooked but the heavy bed is making it impossible to move!

What else? I need to get the dresser and sofa set up in there, and I still need a nightstand and not sure about the lamps. Wait, almost forgot window treatments. The hardware I had didn’t work so I now I’m waiting for another one to arrive. Oh, and I need to get photographs NEXT WEEK. Yikes. Please let me know if I forgot something. Oh, the little stuff like accessories and throw pillows. Ok, let me know if I forgot anything else in the comments below.

You can revisit the last 3 weeks if you’d like:

WEEK ONE || WEEK TWO || WEEK THREE || WEEK FOUR || WEEK FIVE || WEEK 6

Suddenly Down To The Wire

Maybe I do need to get lit after all. Crap, I need more Sauvignon Blanc. Maybe it’s for the best that I’m out of it today. (OH yeah, don’t forget to tell me if you bought some wine from Wine Awesomeness above!)

Whenever I start thinking about the To-Do list I start sweating, and my project is kind of lame in stress levels compared to what I’m seeing over on the ORC page. So many amazing projects being done right now. Click the image below!

AND HERE ARE THE TWENTY FEATURED PARTICIPANTS

At Charlotte’s House | Design Addict Mom | Erika Ward Interiors | Erin Kestenbaum | Girl & Grey | Gray Malin | Hommeboys | I Spy DIY | Jewel Marlowe | The Learner Observer | Making it Lovely |  Nicole White Designs | Old Brand New | Oscar Bravo Home | Place of My Taste | The Rath Project | Room for Tuesday | SG Style | Undecorated Home | Veronica Solomon 

WHAT IS THE ONE ROOM CHALLENGE?

The One Room Challenge is a bi-annual event hosted by Calling it Home  showcasing 20 featured participants and many guest participants as they renovate a single room, documenting all of it over the course of six weeks. The One Room Challenge kindly shares all of the blog entries and the finished spaces at the end of the 6 weeks. Many of the entries end up being featured in places like these:

And this season, look who is the official media partner: