Operation Home

Ya know when you finally decide you want something, and you think you’re gonna just bite the bullet and get it, but then a bunch of stuff happens and you never get around to actually purchasing said item, but then it’s Christmas time and your mom buys it for you anyways?

I do.

Because that’s how these pretties ended up in my possession…

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A post shared by Christina Viola Spragins (@christina_spragins)

They’re the Lucas Wood Grain Accent Chairs from Overstock.

And I LOVE them.

I will say, that when they arrived, there were a few surprises. Not necessarily bad surprises, but just aspects that I wasn’t expecting. First, the “wood grain” that they speak of is not on the legs as I’d assumed.

It’s the texture on the seats…

At first, I was sort of put off by this as I was expecting smooth plastic, but it’s actually kind of grown on me and now I’m totally fine with it.

The second surprise was that it turned out that the wood legs are much lighter than they appeared in the pictures online.

I was expecting more of a walnut tone, but they’re almost blonde. They’re not offensive by any means, Thus, I’m living with them as is right now. I might consider darkening them with Polyshades at a later time… or possibly even lightening them with the Sunbleached Polyshades that I purchased in this post to make them blend more with the table. Right now, they’re slightly more yellow than the table. I’m not sure if you’ve gathered this about me by now, but “accidental yellow” isn’t really my thing. Either way, something will eventually get done. I’m fine with them for now, though.

Functionality-wise, the chairs are pretty comfortable. And they’re lightweight which is nice. The one issue we’ve had so far was that Lucas sat on the edge of a chair, and it tipped right over. Hopefully, this isn’t an ongoing thing with stability. It’s only happened once, so maybe it was random.

In any case, stylistically, they’re EXACTLY what I wanted for this space. I can’t wait to show you!!! But before the grand reveal, let’s take a look at the evolution of this space, shall we??

After moving in, the nook consisted of a mish-mosh of stuff we had from our last house. And the layout confused me as the lighting fixture wasn’t centered (It was too close to the doors, so a table couldn’t be directly underneath it while still allowing the doors to open) and I wasn’t certain of the traffic flow as of yet, which lead to this uncomfortable weirdness…

After a few months, I realized that a table could easily be centered and still allow adequate flow in the space. We installed a new lighting fixture and swagged it farther away from the door so that it could be hung directly above the table…

Next, I found a beat-up pedestal table for $40 on Craigslist and refinished it a lovely sunbleached color. I’m still completely enamored with how it turned out. Plus, the circular table GREATLY improved flow and the pedestal helped to reduce visual clutter in the space….

But those red bird chairs, just weren’t doing it for me, so as an interim step until we could afford new dining chairs, I recovered the seats with a neutral fabric (and added a thrifted pot and awesome sauce vintage shoe mirror)…

And now, the piece de resistance, the cheese to my macaroni, the peas to my carrots… Our new dining chairs…

I have to say that I’m pretty happy where we’re at right now with this space. I love the dimension and style that the chairs offer.

And the black metal accents on the chairs really tie into the lighting fixture nicely.

I pretty much want to stare at these pictures forever like a total creeper…

Aerial shot!!!

Heart bubbles are coming out of my eyes right now.

That’s strange, right?

I KNOW.

🙂

Anyhoo, now that this area of the room is close to completion, we’re hoping to set our sights on the outdated kitchen portion of the room that I’ve conveniently not included in these shots. Hopefully soon we’ll be getting estimates for new countertops. Then, FINALLY we’ll be replacing the appliances.

So, wish us luck with that! In any case, we’re LOVING the breakfast nook where it’s currently at and can’t wait to create a a kitchen that compliments it.

You guys have a great weekend and stay warm!! 🙂

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Or two.

Yes, definitely two.

Alright, my friends. This post may not come as much of a shock if you follow me on Instagram since I already spilled the photographic beans over there. But, I know that it may be new to some, and I wanted to share the details of these changes, as well as the process that I went through to achieve both functional and pretty lighting.

Let’s start with the most welcome swaperoo I’ve made so far…

I know, right??? No more boob light!!!!

SO much better…

This little beaut is the Scout 3 Light Flushmount from AllModern and I couldn’t be more thrilled with it. It was $118 and when I purchased it they didn’t charge me for tax or shipping. I’m not sure if this deal exists all the time or if I just happened to catch a promotion that they were offering, but I was grateful nonetheless.

When this guy arrived, I was ecstatic. He’s great quality… solid. And he looks it, too. I was actually MORE enamored with him in person than I was when I saw him online which is always a good thing. I’d initially wanted to try a semi-flushmount in this space for more of a “grand chandelier” feel, but our ceilings are just too low for that. I’m really glad we went with this one. It adds style and nice, bright light without being cumbersome.

Here’s a “before” of the space when we moved in for reference. Remember when our old front door just fell right off??? …

And here’s a “before” of the other direction which shows El Boob in all it’s glory…

And now…

And that’s Lucas perfecting his “Oh, I didn’t realize you were taking a picture” pose. He literally walked over as I was taking pics and froze with that “surprised” expression on his face long enough to allow the slightly longer exposure to capture it (it was pretty cloudy when I took this). Dude knows what he’s doing. Haha!

Here’s a Lucas-free shot of the same view…

I still have to address the wall directly across from the door (not shown), but aside from that, the foyer is slowly getting close to completion.

Now, onto the other new member of the fam… My pride and joy of the illumination world: Sputnik….

I.AM.OBSESSED.WITH.THIS.FIXTURE.

Did I say obsessed?

Yes, definitely obsessed.

How does it feel to be the prettiest gal in the room, Sputnik?

This baby is the Style Selections 18-Light Brushed Nickel Chandelier from Lowe’s. And it was a steal at $198 plus tax considering that it came with 18 Edison bulbs which typically run about $7-10 each.

But wait… There are no Edison bulbs to be seen, right??

Well, allow me to explain.

After we installed the chandelier, we screwed in the Edison bulbs that came with it and turned it on. And BOY… were we blinded by the light. Literally. And we were hot. And not in a good way. Lemme tell ya, EIGHTEEN 60-watt bulbs within close proximity feels a bit like being a hair to close to the sun. That was a TON of wattage to be just mere feet away. We quickly realized that there was no way we’d be able to host comfortable dinner parties with the current bulbs installed. NO WAY.

It was a total bummer.

And Joey and I stared at each other in sadness.

So, the next day, I went to Lowes and purchased a bunch of 25-watt globe bulbs in both clear and white, which was the lowest wattage I could find. I put both in to see which was better (as shown in this iphone pic)….

And I LOVED the clear bulbs when the fixture was off. They were just so elegant and gorgeous. I even liked their round shape better than the elongated Edison bulbs in this space. The white bulbs were a bit too “mod” for what I was going for and the stark white color of the bulbs made the other white in the room look dirty. And I don’t do dirty white. Dirty martinis, yes. Dirty white, no.

The problem was…

…once the fixture was on, even the 25-watt clear bulbs (at less than half the wattage of the Edison bulbs) were still too blinding. That filament was harsh on the retinas for sure, leaving you seeing spots after glancing directly at them. The white bulbs, on the other hand, were easy to look at and much better tolerated when lit.

I was SO torn. I REALLY didn’t want the white bulbs, but they seemed to be the most practical option function-wise. And what’s the point of a pretty fixture if it impedes function?

So, I slept on it.

For about 7 nights.

Then, it hit me! A dimmer!!!! We’d install a dimmer switch which would allow us to use the clear bulbs and have control over the light!!!

So, we installed this one…

I’m wanting to say it was about $30 from Home Depot.

And all was right with the world. I could keep my clear bulbs, but the fixture was no longer blinding since we could adjust the light as needed. Total win-win.

And now we’re set in terms of Edison bulbs until the END OF TIME. We have several fixtures that need them, so they’ll be used. Eventually.

Here’s a view of the dining space looking into the living room…

And a “before” shot of this view (because I can’t resist)…

And a “before” of the opposite view…

And now…

That fixture is my new favorite thing. I couldn’t love it more. Now, if I could just find a rug for this space. I’m on the hunt but haven’t found exactly what I’m looking for yet. Hopefully the shopping gods will bestow one on me shortly.

So, that’s where these spaces are currently and it’s safe to say that they’re feeling more like us day by day.

For some reason, lighting is always the last change we make, but it always seems to make the biggest difference. What are your experiences??

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