Let there be (not ugly) light!

Admit it: if you've visited 83 Durant, you've thought, in passing, "wow, those lights in the front hallway are kinda ugly." You know you have. I have thought that roughly once a day every day we've lived here.

Today, that has changed.

For those of you unfamiliar with our now old lighting fixtures, here's a picture:



My main problem with these was with the glass, which was tinted a light brownish color, almost as if the fixture was made of sunglasses. Also, we were less than crazy about the brass/gold color. There were in fact two of these in the front hall, the first thing you see when you walk into our house.


This project was long delayed by the problem of finding and purchasing the actual fixtures. It's not easy to shop for lighting. We saw a few things that we really liked, but they were crazy handmade pieces of art and well beyond our budget. Most of the other things we saw left us feeling "meh." Finally, after several disappointing trips to look at actual lighting in stores, I actually ordered fixtures online. I went with Lighting Direct, and I'm happy with the service and product. I would not have thought that online was the way to go (I really felt like I needed to see them before I bought them), but the site had a good return policy if it turned out I didn't like them. Well, it turned out that I really liked them a lot. They're Energy Star rated (always a plus) and I found them on sale w/ a coupon, so it was a pretty good deal. Our wonderful next-door-neighbor the electrician came over to do the install for us today. And here's the new look of the front hall:

Here's a closer shot of one:

Sorry those aren't great shots, but really, the fixtures are SO much better. I really really like how they look! Hooray!