Nursery Diaries #5 - Lighting Part 2 & Misc

Well, unfortunately, not all my ideas are winners...but actually, this story doesn't end up as big a fail as I initially thought.

So as I mentioned here, I ordered two "small" outdoor sconces for the walls in the nursery.  Honestly, I'd go without sconces altogether if that was a semi-easy option, but J has informed me that we can't just patch over or remove the wire box.  So sconces we will have.  Anywho - said sconces arrived and lets just say that they are not what I would consider to be small - even for outdoor use.  They're pretty imposing in size, and I picture Bean using it as a jungle gym, so I clearly didn't pay sufficient attention to the measurements on the website's description.  My bad.  I was bummed that not only would we have to pay to ship them back, but I'd have to find new sconces that would coordinate with the fisherman's style ceiling light {and still be inexpensive}.

I set out the next morning to find some new sconces, and find some, I did!  Shockingly, J and I agreed on them immediately.  That's a true rarity.

They're definitely different than anything I was considering, but I like that they look soft and pillowy and that light comes from both the top and bottom without sticking way out into the room.  The finish is called bisque, which seems to be the unfinished paintable version.  So if the color doesn't look right in the room as is, I figure I should be able to do them in a glossy white myself.  And just in case you're wondering, I checked the measurements and think they'll be appropriate {I hope, I hope!}.

The next morning, I was talking to our painter about the progress of the outside {more on that later}, and he tactfully recommended that we get new sconces for the garage.  {Light bulb!}  There are four sconces on our garage.  It's a two-car garage so there is one on the outer side of each door and then one in between the two - these will definitely need to match.  Then there is a fourth light at the back of the garage next to the door that opens to the back yard, which isn't visible from the view of the other sconces and therefore doesn't need to match.  So I decided {and J agreed}, instead of spending $19 to send the two failed sconces back to Shades of Light, I would order one more.  And then we can get something cheaper for the back door sconce in the near future.    

Reminder picture of the sconces that will be outside:

 

I should point out that while this picture suggests a smooth finish, they are very matte {almost rough} in person.  I'm not sure if I have a preference so for now, I'll leave them as is.  Can you picture it?  The house is now Galveston Gray with white trim and white garage doors.  I can't wait to post the final product once the painting is complete, but for now, don't you think these will look nice? 

Other nursery progress:

- Painting is entirely done.

- Crib is up, and I love it even without a mattress or bedding...  

- Bookcases are back in the room but need to be anchored to the wall.

- Bamboo shades have been received, and we'll be hanging them tonight if all goes well so my fingers are crossed that they fit. 

- Crib bedding was a disaster, then it was resolved, then it was unresolved, and now I'm back to resolved. For another post though...  :)

- Glider was ordered awhile ago and has an expected delivery time-frame of early September although I've heard that they arrive early at times.  I hope so!  Here's a picture of the chair although it will be upholstered in a white cotton twill, not dark brown. 

 

- DwellStudio Draper Stripe Rug is on back-order, but hopefully, will be here before the baby arrives.  Either way, not really concerned since it's a 5' x 7' and we'll just have to toss it on the floor.

- Dresser is painted {by moi!  My first attempt at painting furniture so I'm pretty pleased with myself. :)}  I also ordered some very ornate hardware to replace the less-than-exciting wooden knobs.  They're actually not quite as shiny as this picture because I ordered the "distressed antique brass" instead of "dark antique brass".  I love that they're not something you'd expect for a nursery. 

 

That's all I've got for now.  Hopefully, there will be big progress over the weekend...  Happy Friday! 

{photo credit: Justice Design Group via CSN Lighting / Shades of Light / Overstock / Land of Nod / DwellStudio via Layla Grace / Pulls Direct}

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Nursery Diaries #4 - Lighting Part 1

So I was contemplating two lighting schemes in the nursery.

One:

I don't love ceiling fans because I have yet to find one that's attractive, and they just get so dirty - partly my fault because, frankly, I don't want to clean them.  All that being said, I've read that it's really good to have a ceiling fan to stir the air around for Bean's breathing comfort, and the one in this pic is pretty unique.  {Plus, isn't that ceiling perfect?}

Or two:

A pretty chandelier-type fixture could give the nursery a touch of girly style with a little fun too.

Well, the reality is that our upstairs ceilings are not very tall.  I haven't measured, but I'm guessing 8 feet.  Now I'm only 5'4" so neither option would be a major issue for me, but my husband is about 5'11", and various other family members and friends are above 6'.  So in that case, a ceiling fan could be quite a hazard, and a chandelier would just be annoying.  {Dang you ceilings - just be taller!}

 

Obviously, ceiling fans are out altogether, but after hours of scouring the internet, I found a semi-flushmount that I thought would be perfect!

It has a width of 18" , but a drop of only 12".  I don't know many 7' tall people so I was thinking this could totally work!  Sadly, even with the largest markdown I could find, it's still $370 less maybe 10% if I'm lucky.  We have to replace two sconces in the room as well, and I wasn't particularly interested in spending that much on all three together let alone on just one.  So I finally admitted to myself that it wasn't going to happen.

Back to square one, I decided I needed to allow for more wiggle room in my vision so I set out to find something with a style that's maybe not so girly but has a much more reasonable price.  Since I wasn't having much luck, I went back to catching up on my blogs, and Reichel from CopyCatChic unexpectedly saved the day with this one perfectly-timed post!  Enter our new light:

We just received it last night, and I'm debating on painting it gold a la Isabella & Max rooms.  It would give it more of the girly flair that I'm looking for while still being low-key and cost-effective.  Then I found coordinating sconces that I think could work as well. 

       

I don't want things to be too matchy, but at the same time, I don't want to have the sconces be a completely different style than the ceiling light so I think this will be ok.  Once those arrive, I'll decide if I'm doing the ceiling light or all in gold or not.   {I decided to order these in matte black as opposed to the stainless steel because they were cheaper than the stainless, and I most likely wouldn't want all three to be the same anyway.  And bonus, I found a coupon code over at younghouselove for 10% off through August 2nd! Go check it out if you're in the market for something at Shades of Light.}

My fingers are crossed that this really does tie into the room once we have it all together.  :)

And to girl-ify the space, I may do a wall decal like this if I decide it won't look odd:

And in case you missed my twitter update, here's a sneak peek {literally - the pic quality is not good on my very old iphone...} of the wall/trim/ceilng color:

If you take a look at the before, I'm sure you'll agree J really killed it with the new colors.

{Photo credit: Pippa's nursery via Cozy Little Cave / Emory's nursery via Projectnursery.com / Dolce Capiz via Lamps Plus / linked above / linked above / linked above / my own}

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