Light Changes

     So we're still working on Phase Two of the Guest Bedroom Remodel (I really hate painting door trim because you have to be really careful when painting the place where it meets the wall so it's a veeerryy slow process), but in the meantime we have made a few more changes in other places around the house.  I haven't posted any pics of our foyer to this blog just yet, but it's one of the rooms my hubby worked on today (along with the hall). 

     The foyer was the same orange-y/gold-ish color as the living room (seen here), so when we repainted the living room Harvest Brown by Behr, we also painted the foyer the same color.  We also updated the foyer light fixture after finding a great oil-rubbed bronze light fixture in excellent condition at a garage sale (I believe we purchased it for $10! I love garage sales for that kind of thing!).

This is how our foyer looked this morning before we changed the light

     Unfortunately, what we found out when we updated the light fixture was that the light was off-center big time!  We just couldn't tell that it was off-center when it had the little bitty original light fixture up there (plus we rarely come into our house through the front door).  The light stayed this way for a long while because we weren't quite sure how to move the light over without leaving a gaping hole in the ceiling from the original placement (You can't really patch popcorn ceilings without having to re-popcorn the patch).  We've figured it out now, and here's what we did:

1.) First, my hubby removed the current light fixture (after turning off the electricity to this light fixture, of course).
2.) Then he cut a new hole (that was actually centered!) for the light fixture.

3.) To hide the old hole from the original off-center placement, he purchased a white medallion that can be used with pretty much any light fixture (it can also be painted, if needed).  He had to measure the hole to make sure that we purchased one that was large enough in diameter to cover/hide the old hole. 

4.) To make sure the medallion sat flush to the ceiling, my hubby traced the medallion on the ceiling, sprayed a bit of water inside the traced circle, and then proceeded to scrape off the popcorn ceiling with a putty knife.

5.) He then installed the medallion as well as a new (never-been-used) oil-rubbed bronze light fixture (we also purchased this one from a garage sale.  This one was $30 at the sale, but it still had the price tag on it from when it was on sale for $69 and I found it online for $129 here and $88 here! Wohoo! Great Deal!)

TaDa! New, centered light fixture in the foyer:

Seen from the front door entrance

(The original installation had the light near the left edge of the medallion! Waaayyy off-center!) 

Here's the same view as the "before" pictures

And here's a closeup

And another closeup

     Don't worry, we didn't waste the other oil-rubbed bronze light fixture we had previously hung in the foyer.  We just felt that it was a better fit for the hallway since it was shorter (which needed a light fixture update of its own - just not as complicated).  Here's the before (this is before we painted the walls Harvest Brown by Behr, painted the trim & doors Polar Bear by Behr, and updated the doorbell chime and actually put a cover on it!):

  

and the after:

Closeup of the Hall Light

Here's the short version of the before's and after's:

Foyer Before

Foyer After

Hall Before

Hall After

     Much better!  Isn't it amazing how much changing a light fixture can update a space? What do you think?  Have you found a great deal at a garage/estate sale lately?

Den Room Drama

When we first moved into our house, this is what our den looked like:

Lots and lots of brown!

So our first attempt at updating the room was to paint the walls a beige color and one accent wall a burgundy color. Like this: 

(These pics were taken right before we tiled the room)

  It was okay at best with the old floors, but then we updated the floors and the color combo confirmed its place on our redo list.:

 We moved on to other projects while we considered our choices.  After about 4 grey paint samples and at least 5 different blue ones, we finally committed to two finalists, and we haven't looked back since.  The blue/teal is called Hallowed Hush and the grey is called Dark Granite.  Both colors are Behr Premium Plus flat enamel.  Here's the new colors with the new tile floor (these pics actually have the trim painted Behr Polar Bear and put back into place, a new TV - Merry Christmas to us!- and a black curtain which I made):

Ahhh, much better.  Now onto curtains, lighting, and furniture for the room...