decor | Operation Home

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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Woot!

I’m totally back!

And happy to be here!

We got a brand spankin’ new laptop last week and I couldn’t be more stoked to be typing, uploading, and saving at a normal, nay, dare I say… rapid rate thanks to this fine piece of machinery.

It’s been so long since I’ve blogged that I’m almost overwhelmed as to where to start to catch you guys up. If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you probably have a good general idea of what’s been happening decor-wise, but for the sake of continuity, I decided to take some (waitforit) non-grainy shots with my trusty ole’ camera. You have no idea how long I’ve waited to type those words. Wait. Yes you do. Two months. That’s how long since I’ve been able to UPLOAD PICTURES. All caps really says it all regarding my excitement level here.

So, in organizing my thoughts here, I’ve decided to basically brain-dump all the decor stuff that’s gone on over here lately over the next few posts. I’m gonna start with a project that I recently finished in the living room. After that, in no particular order, I’ll be showing y’all some dining/foyer updates as well as our nearly finished breakfast nook. I just took all the pictures I need and am SUPER excited to show you guys everything. GIDDY, even.

So, let’s get started, shall we??

It actually took me quite a while to get to this project even though it wasn’t super difficult. You may remember from my last post that I herniated a disk in my back a few months back, which was a huge reason for my recent break. For a while, even the easiest of tasks felt insurmountable, but after a few months of physical therapy, I’ve had a pretty decent improvement. I’m still not running or anything, and I occasionally have exacerbations if I’m not conscious of my movements, but for the most part I’m feeling WAY better. So, you can say that getting started on this project was like a breath of fresh air (aka. normalcy).

Remember this blank wall over the TV??

Well this wall stumped me for the longest time. I had no idea what I wanted to do with it.

Then, one fateful day at Ikea, I spotted the Pugg wall clocks, and it was all over.

I had a plan. I purchased my clocks and went on my merry way. See, what I wanted was to hang four clocks to designate each of the time zones that mean something to us. Oregon (where Joey’s from), Texas (where we live), New York (where I’m from), and Paris (one of the coolest trips we’ve taken).

Now, please excuse the next few progress shots. They were taken in a rush (and many at dusk) with my phone.

Anyways, once I got started, the key was getting them lined up perfectly. And I’m proud to say that I managed to do it without punching a single excess hole in the wall. And here’s how…

First, I traced the clocks on wrapping paper, cut them out, and used these templates to determine roughly where I wanted them above the TV…

Then, I used a laser level and a yard stick to measure the exact center (at the location where the hanging holes in the clocks were). This is where I would punch my holes. It turns out that my holes were exactly 18″ apart from each other, so I simply measured and marked along the laser level line every 18″ and marked them on my templates…

Then, I hammered my nail in through the paper. I tore off the paper and hung my clocks…

They turned out perfectly aligned and straight. I couldn’t believe I’d actually succeeded in this the first time around. That almost never happens. See that blue painter’s tape in the pic above? This would be the next part of my project. And this was the part that I had to wait FOREVER to get to because of my back. It was literally up there for about 6 weeks. And weirdly enough, it started to grow on me. Heehee! So strange.

Anyways, once I felt well enough to go for it, I went to Home Depot and had a 1″ x 4″ cut to the length of my painter’s tape (73.5″). I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out, then gave it 2 coats of white paint. I mounted the wood to the wall using 2 claw hangers. Then, I waited.

Because this was the point where I needed to print, but we hadn’t replaced our computer yet. Oy. So many blogging barriers that I’m happy to have busted through lately.

So, basically that blank piece of white wood hung in place of the painters tape in a state of limbo for another 2 weeks.

But then, BAM….

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And it was on. I’ve seen this technique on many blogs before, and have always wanted to try it, so…

I chose a font that I liked ON MY NEW COMPUTER (:D) and printed my labels on plain computer paper in my preferred color, cut them out, then scribbled lead on the back using a pencil…

I perfected placement of them on my wood with scotch tape, and chose the color of oil-based paint pen that I wanted (as seen in the scribbles above the wood)…

I removed the wood from the wall, then traced the outline of my font with a ball-point pen, giving decent pressure…

Which left this…

Then, I used this navy blue paint pen to fill it in…

And cleaned up the excess lead with a gummy eraser. Once this was done, I rehung my wood, which left this…

And as per usual, I can’t NOT put a before shot from when we gained possession…

Gosh, I’m a fool for before and afters. And here’s the other direction…

You can see that I replaced the Fort Worth print above the chair with a vintage painting that I found for $7 at a thrift store. It’s PERFECT there and helps tie in the hanging planters on the other side of the doorway. Plus, I love that the vintage style contrasts with the more modern clocks.

A view of that entire side of the room….

And a before…

And a few closer-up shots of that newly revamped corner…

I scored that plaid pouf at Target in clearance for $14.98. That was a happy day for me. #andcheaposrejoice

Here are some more close-ups of the new clock wall….

I LOVE that technique for transferring font. Now, I want to monogram everything in my possession.

Now, I just need to actually put batteries in the clocks and set the times. Joey keeps joking that for a room with so many clocks, we never seem to know what time it is. Haha!

Anyways, I am super thrilled with how this turned out. It’s exactly what I wanted. Something a little different that suits us and is actually meaningful to us. I think finally deciding on this project as our wall decor was well worth the year long decision-making process. Yes. It took a YEAR. And many, many ideas until this one came about and stole the show.

Oh! And just to update y’all on the last issue from my last post… The roof patch worked!!!!!! (fingers crossed that it continues) AND we had a new drain system with industrial-strength sump pump installed in the backyard, which meant ZERO flash flooding with the last storms we experienced. So, although our roof is old and will eventually need to be replaced, we’re now hoping that we can hold off for a while (please) and get to some other fun projects instead. So, it’s good news all around!!!

So, anyways, I hope y’all have had a fabulous holiday weekend! And thanks for not giving up on me. 🙂