Post 10: Let There Be (Lots of) Light

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Champagne wishes

Lighting was another area that I purchased a few versions before I landed on the ones I installed. I knew I wanted two pendants installed over my island as well as a chandelier over my table. I landed on a satin brass/champagne tone for all my fixtures pretty early in the design phase, so had a fairly narrow search criteria for my lights. I found my Steven and Chris Artcraft pendants at Concept Lighting in late November, but they were back ordered till early January (after my renovation had started). Luckily, they came right before the Electricians from Hammer Electric were scheduled to arrive. The pendants I chose are simple, but just what I wanted as I don’t have a long island or a really large kitchen. Spoiler alert: sneak peek of the cabinet handles and backsplash in photo below.

Breaking the rules

The chandelier was another story. Once I had the pendants, I purchased a Sputnik chandelier from Wayfair. When the order arrived, the colour was a lot different than the picture. It was a very dark gold almost orange. I loved the design and kept it as a backup for months, but ultimately decided to get the chandelier that matched my pendants. Many people would say I broke lighting rule as pendants and chandeliers should not have the same look in a small room like mine. I am a “matchy-matchy” person and I could not make any other combo work. I ended up getting my chandelier at Lowes, so that I could return it easily if needed. It is pretty close to the pendants, but it is light and airy with the large glass shades, so I decided to install it. It was called satin brass, but this is definitely more of a champagne finish. Excuse the plastic table in the picture below. It was a stand-in so myself, and all of the crew did not hit their head on the chandelier, a lesson learned after we all hit our heads on the chandelier. 🙂 I did get a custom wood table, but that took 13 weeks after the renovation finished to be delivered, so the plastic table was with me for a while. As I didn’t know the exact dimensions for my future table, we had to do a little guess work to determine where the chandelier would go. It is off a bit, but I don’t think it is super noticeable. Spoiler alert: sneak peek of my dining table, cabinet hardware and backsplash in photos below.

Handle with care

As much as I love the pendants and chandelier, they are very fragile and a few of the glass shades came broken. Luckily, Concept Lighting was able to order one replacement glass shade for my broken pendant light, so I went ahead with the installation. When I discovered two of the six chandelier glass shades were damaged, I ordered a second chandelier from Lowes so that I could still go ahead with the install. I have to admit; my pendant and chandelier are difficult to clean. I have taken off the glass shades once, but they are so delicate, I have to be really careful I don’t damage them during the glass removal, cleaning and reattaching processes. It’s definitely time to clean the glass again, but I am procrastinating out of fear of breaking them.

Rookie Tip: Make sure you open all the boxes (for any item in your renovation) ahead of your install. I didn’t realize one of my pendant shades and a few of the chandelier shades were damaged till my Electrician was on site. Luckily, I was able to proceed with installation and replace the broken items afterwards, but it could have been a blocker.

More lighting on the menu

I had some existing pot lights in my kitchen, but they weren’t placed very well and quite dated. I had these removed and added new ones that have a white border that blend nicely into the ceiling. As I was installing an under-cabinet wine fridge and I also needed a place to plug in my laptop (since I work from my kitchen), I added a plug to my island. I chose a black outlet instead of white. I didn’t have an option with placement (due to the drawers in the island) but wanted the plug to blend in with my Hale Navy island cabinets. I also added USB ports to a few of my plugs, so I could charge my devices. I have under-cabinet lights with a little frame under my cabinet so that you cant see the fluorescent bulbs, as well as some in-cabinet lighting for my glass cabinets on the pantry/coffee bar. I thought all these lights might be overkill in my small space, but at night I just use the under-cabinets lights and they provide a nice warm glow. All my lights are also on separate dimmers so I can control the level of lighting.

Rookie Tip: Have your Electrician install the different types of lights in your space on one panel, each with their own switch, so that they can be controlled separately. Also add dimmers where possible, especially in a small space, so you can control the amount of light for each of your switches.

How much is too much?

There are 5 different types of lighting in my kitchen: pendants, chandelier, pots, under-cabinet, and in-cabinet. The pendants and chandelier are probably closer than most people would have wanted. Overkill? You decide, but I love them all 🙂

Rookie Tip: I definitely overshot my electrical allowance, so be careful when developing your lighting plan and budget. Make sure you understand the number of lights your allocated lighting budget will allow for. This is one area I had to increase my planned spend for…just slightly.

Next post, my cabinet hardware was finally released from being stuck on the bridge during the Trucker Convey protest over masks being required during the height of Omicron.

Happy reading,
LA