project DOMO [21]
july 28, 2007
the month of july probably was spent more on lighting than anything else. since DOMO is done in phases depending on when our subcontractors are available, i usually don't find out who is up to work this week or next until a week or two beforehand. so when my dad told me sometime in the middle of june that i better start getting my lights together, i really went at it. nearly every weekend was spent at home depot, lowes and great indoors in addition to a few other places. i spent countless hours online looking for lights, fans and lamps.
the first thing i did of course was walk around the house and noted what kind of lighting i wanted in each room and then made a list of what was needed. from that point on, it was a treasure hunt looking for the right lighting within my budget.
probably nothing was more stressful than looking for ceiling fans because for some reason it seemed like there were only UGLY fans on the entire market. i really didn't want fans with those 4 lights in the center. i didn't wants fans with wooden blades. i didn't want fans with extraneous and unsightly details. i just wanted something modern, clean lines and with a single light in the center.
for the great room, we have two areas for ceiling fans - one is over the living room couches and the other is over the dining table. we ended up getting this one from lowes that was special ordered. i love its titanium look in a dark charcoal color. the blades are also slanted as well to give it interest. throughout the whole process of DOMO, my parents were bitching about why i needed 2 fans downstairs. but i won out and got what i really wanted. i'm one of those people that during the summer, i really don't turn on A/C unless it's absolutely necessary. i've always loved ceiling fans and this worked out perfectly for the look against the perfect pear wall color and swiss coffee ceilings.
over the kitchen peninsula, we had installed 3 pendant lights. i figured it doesn't have to be anything fancy at the moment since a lot of construction will still be done in our home so i got these orangey red glass shades for the time being. i initially thought about getting blue or green but thought this would really POP out against the wall color and the other future fixtures such as the black granite counters and kitchen cabinets. i can always change the look of the kitchen area by changing these pendant shades once we have moved in and settled down.
we also have 6 recessed lights in the kitchen area and 1 over the sink. you can see what they look like lit up at night (see below). damn, my walls are really green at night. i wonder if that's a good thing or not. some people who have visited have commented that my house looks like a cafe. not sure if that's a compliment or not. ha.
this light fixture is for our downstairs guest bathroom. i had seen some lovely ones at home depot expo but the price was ridiculous. so i figured we'd get some decent ones from lowes. you can probably tell that i am going for a modern look but sometimes the modern looking stuff is either too pricey or there aren't any to choose from! i was lucky to find a lot of the lights from lowes at a reasonable price. the funny thing about lowes is that i only go to this one in chino hills as i think they have the best selection of stuff. it's like going to a GOOD nordstroms....you girls know what i mean!
since the guest bathroom is pretty small, i figured a single light would be sufficient. although there's a shower in there and all, i have a window as well to let in additional lighting.
we only have two lights for our staircase. one is at the bottom of the landing and one is at the top. my parents went to costco one day and came home with these. from the picture on the box, i HATED it. but once they were up, it looked ok. i'm still trying to learn to love them with each passing day. but i guess the main thing is that they work and they kind match the decor. and of course the $15 price tag doesn't hurt. i'm sure pretty soon, i won't even know they are there. :p
for both of the upstairs rooms, we have outlets ready for a ceiling fan/lamp. again, it was another torturous search for the "right" fan. i really didn't want these to be the same as the ones downstairs so my search led me to great indoors where i found these really nice minka aire ones. again, they were special ordered fans so i had to wait for them to ship it to me before the electrician could install them. i also had to take into consideration the slanted ceilings so i bought 24" downrods to accomodate for the blade clearance. in the end, it turned out great. i have to say that pictures don't do these fans justice. they are so amazing in real life.
for the office, we had 2 ceiling outlets for hanging lamps but after some consideration, we decided to not go with hanging lamps for the office and instead to just install ceiling lamps.
from the beginning, i was pretty adamant about "NO IKEA" but in the end, our light search took us there and we got a few lights from them. yes, i broke down and had to get something there. don't get me wrong, i do love IKEA but just didn't want things that everyone who walks into the house will say "hey, is that from IKEA?" or at least i didn't want the entire pad furnished in IKEA i should say.
2 of them are displayed in the office. they work as kind of a spotlight but with the milky glass covering it, the room got a really nice soft glow to it at night.
i'll take night pics later on when there's more things to look at in the house aside from shocking wall color. i'm already SO loving this room. i can't wait till we move in and my computer will be here where i can spend hours and hours in here. clearly, the upstairs is catered and personalized for us while the downstairs is more for guests.
oops...almost forgot this pic of the master bathroom lights! it's in the same style as the downstairs lights but in a trio. our master bathroom is quite small for a master bath but it's large considering we eeked out 2 bathrooms in this place. also with a window in the bathroom, there is additional natural light to enhance it better. we ended up with this one because i think we were really sick and tired of seeing those ugly bell shaped lights at every store we went to. this one at least has some character to it and the light is illuminated upwards giving it softer lighting.
the master bedroom also has the same ceiling fan/lamp as the office. the nice brushed silver fan worked perfectly in both rooms. again, i had to install a 24" downrod to account for the slanted ceilings. this room also had two ceiling light outlets available in each corner. these lights are courtesy of ikea again but we really like them because they are retractable and can move up or down depending on the need for light source.
the far right light will hopefully be able to hang over a reading area. i'd like to put a book case or two there with a nice reading chair and ottoman. but we'll have to wait and see after the bed is put in. the bed of course still hasn't been sourced yet but i'm looking into west elm for that. one step at a time baby. it's amazing how overwhelming it is to make so many decisions.
people often remark that is must be so much fun decorating your own place from scratch. to a certain degree i have to agree with them but a lot of times during this journey to DOMO, it's more headache than fun. i think anyone who has renovated, built or is in the industry know what i mean. it's fun to have a "vision" of what you want or would like to achieve in terms of look or atmosphere but it's another thing to go searching for those components and find items that are suitable to fit your budget. that is the not so fun part. but overall, it *is* exciting to go from nothing to something. and really an achievement once you do find those components to "fit".
as you can tell in some of the pics....electricity has been wired. it wasn't officially wired up until a couple days ago. we ran into all sorts of problems with electricity and had to resort to plan b. i'm glad it's behind us now so we can concentrate on the next tasks at hand. i have yet to go over there at night to see all the lights on. will have to do that soon.
and finally, a shot of our meek little closet light. it's a simple light that's for sure. my "walk in" is very shallow and i don't even consider it a walk in once i get the shelves put in. i'm just worried about closet/storage space more than anything but we'll see what happens as we move in. i have a lot of purging to do beforehand though. maybe a garage sale?
so this brings me relatively up to date with what's going on with DOMO. *whew* we have a shipment of the floor tiles, garden blocks, some appliances coming next week. i'll post those pics and more ideas for DOMO in early august.
i also need one more lamp to install in the downstairs corner where the couches will reside. i've already got it picked out...just waiting for it to be shipped to me. it's the george nelson cigar lamp (large). i figured i saved some money by going to ikea and lowes that 1 really amazing lamp is required. it's art you know? and you always have to invest when it's art. i just couldn't bring myself to get those paper lanterns. so i splurged and it's so worth it. will show pics once it's up!
and btw, if you were already smart enough, you can see these pics and MORE over at my project DOMO flickr set. there's a lot more pics that aren't posted here in addition to ideas that i'm posting for DOMO as i come across them. check it ou and feel free to make comments if you have a flickr account. :)
currently listening to: céu, malemolência
