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Tuesday, April 10, 2012

(Let There Be) Kitchen Light

Well, the ceiling is offically, completely painted white. This is normally where a picture of said ceiling would go but it was too dark to take one so you'll just have to take my word for it, 'kay? I'll post a picture of it in all of its white gloriousness soon enough.

For now though, let's talk lights.
I wanted to give you guys a quick update, I'll come back later with more pictures and a step by step entry.

Now I know I mentioned that we were going to recycle the radiator pipe that was leftover from when we took the radiators out. What a nice thing that would have been. Would have. Logistically it just wasn't working, though. I swear, we tried our very hardest to make it work. My mom and I stood in Lowe's for probably an hour yesterday - up one aisle and down another - trying to find some way to hang radiator pipe from the ceiling and still have lights hanging out of it. It was just adding up to be a big, clunky mess. Finally, we decided to just do separate junction boxes for each light (which we would have had to do anyway) and just attach the wire running to each one to the inside of the beams and then paint it all white when we're done. Clear as mud, right? Like I said, I'll come back and explain it step by step when we're all done.

For now, let me share my inspiration for the lights.
I wanted to have several lights hanging like this one from Rejuvenation


Pretty, right? $100 pretty? Not so much.

Like I said, we spent an insane amount of time at Lowe's (Rejuvenation catalog in hand) and came out with about $11 in product. This was the final(ish) product.


Not bad if I do say so myself.
This one is just sort of temporarily thrown up there so I don't have a lot of pictures of the process of making it but I will get some pics up as soon as we're all finished with it.
Fun fact: we ran out and bought an "Edison" bulb like the one in the picture up there but it was just too stark, at least for now so we put this sweet little guy in there.

Another chapter in the cheapskate-hall-of-fame?
I wanted to have nifty little antique trouble light cages but since those have risen in popularity recently they're anywhere from $30 to $150 (like these that Anthropologie used to have.)


from here



Did a little digging and found them for $3.88 each from 1,000 Bulbs.
I'm going to spray paint them (my favorite color ever) Rust-OleumMetallic Oil Rubbed Bronze.


So basically, no radiator pipe but I have something else in mind for it in the kitchen and frankly, this "Ooops, I remodeled my kitchen!" project is supposed to be two things:
1) Easy
2) Cheap
Neither of which, the radiator pipe lights were going to be.

Stay tuned for a step-by-step hack of those antique trouble lights and who knows, maybe we tear up the floor or take all of the windows out of the living room and re-chord them.
Who knows?

12 comments:

  1. so far, I love it. we haven't picked out lights yet, but this may be an awesome solution. I just saw this (http://pinterest.com/pin/216454325810680127/) and thought what an awesome "track light." I can't wait to see more of what you did!

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    1. Ooooohh, I like that light! That would be awesome!

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  2. oh i loooooove it. looking good already and i will be eagerly awaiting the step by step guide. yay! i love the edison bulbs... totally hard to get in germany {and way to expensive unfortunately}... katherine, i just wanted to let you know: i'm officially stalking your blog now. ;-) love your ideas, your writing, simply everything. please don't ever stop. {so enough of this cheesy-ness...} have a great day.

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    1. Thank you, thank you, thank you Helene! Knowing someone enjoys reading our blog that much just makes my whole day! Sorry to hear you can't get edison bulbs for (relatively) cheap. We are also considering plumen bulbs http://plumen.com/ Can't wait to share the final product with you guys!

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  3. On man I love this! I have been reading your blog for quite sometime now and I love the progress! I am actually from Wichita as well (though now I live in Chicago) which is another reason that I am so excited to see all of this! Wichita is GREAT!

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    1. Yay! A fellow Wichitan! Chicago is one of our most favorite cities, too! We got engaged there and have been meaning to go back ever since! I'm glad you like the lights, too. Hopefully you'll like them even more when they're all done!

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  4. Your version looks fab! I really like those Plumen lights. Hoping you can get those. I think it would look great with what you've go going so far.

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    1. Thanks so much! I think we might try a Plumen just to see how it looks before we take the plunge and buy 5 (those suckers ain't cheap!). They would definitely suck less energy than their Edison-y counterparts ; )

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  5. Don't know if the ship has sailed on your lighting project, but these may work to suspend the pipe from the ceiling. http://www.signaturehardware.com/product1524. Love what you're doing with the house.

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    1. Yeah, I think maybe we've settled on the kitchen lights but I still want to use that pipe for something else in the kitchen and I still need a way to hang it. Fantastic idea! Thanks for the heads up : )

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  6. TOTALLY stealing your light idea for my soon to be new laundry room!!! Love these! :)

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