Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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Adding Three New Kitchen Pendant Lights

Alternate title: spending a junkload of money on lights, but feeling pretty good about it.

You guys know we’ve been excited to replace the light fixtures in our kitchen, and, well, the time is now. Decisions have been made. Light fixtures have been bought. And dreams have come true. We’re planning to keep all three of the new lights after our big Phase 2 renovation, so instead of skimping on placeholders we opted to go all-in on three things that we really love – and that we’ll hopefully remain in love with for the long haul. We’d like for all three of the new lights to relate to each other and “play nice” but actually don’t want any of them to match, since they all serve different functions. Each of these three areas call for a different solution, so…

Lights Arrows

  • over the sink we knew we’d like a glass pendant in place of that mini fluorescent (won’t block the view, will gleam when sun shines in, etc)
  • for the larger and boxier fluorescent in the middle of the cooking area we knew we wanted a semi-flush mounted shade (the old fixture’s half-assembled here, since we popped off the cover to be sure the wiring was centered – but you can see the full wood-boxed glory here)
  • for the area over the table… well, we’ve had our sights set on a certain rope chandelier for a while now

Yes, we had been pining for this large 24 x 24″ rope chandelier for months (how sweet will that look over our weathered wood kitchen table?). So after a lot of hemming and hawing, we just pulled the trigger and shelled out the most we’ve ever spent on a light in the name of love and this forever home of ours.

Rope Chandelier

We originally saw it for $460 here, and then found it for $391 here, and then when it popped up on Joss & Main for $360 with free shipping… well, we figured $100 off was as good as it got. So we clicked “order” and felt pretty excited about going for something we’ve wanted for so long. I hope we’re 101 and still eating omelettes under this thing.

As for over the sink, we thought any glass pendant with oil-rubbed bronze hardware would be awesome – and would easily pair with our attention-grabbing chandelier (we didn’t want anything too busy or colorful over the sink fighting for attention), so one trip to Home Depot turned up our winner:

Pendant Light

He was $69 (not sure why it’s only available in silver and $79 online, but they had a “dark bronze” one in our store for $69) and we think it’s just the right amount of dapper but not too demanding.

Then it was down to choosing our semi-flush mount shade, which was by far the biggest challenge. In other words, if this post were a movie, the music montage would start here and you’d see us running into small shops, big box stores, typing away on our laptops, trolling craigslist, etc. There weren’t too many options that were big enough (remember we’re replacing a giant boxy fluorescent light, so a tiny boob lamp won’t do), and although we considered adding can lights, our kitchen is actually nice and bright – it has four windows to the outside world, which is 100% more than our last two kitchens (they both had a single window over the sink that looked into a sunroom). So we liked the idea of a shade to keep things cozy and casual. Here’s what all that searching turned up:

Five Shades

  1. This 15″ natural shade for $99 (John and I cut a 15″ sheet of paper out and held it up to the ceiling, which immediately looked too tiny… so we kept looking)
  2. This 17″ shade for $155 from Overstock (this one was a little bigger, but still not as large as we’d like)
  3. This awesome quatrefoil flush mount one from Circa lighting (it’s $693, so yeah… just for inspiration)
  4. This nice 17″ caged shade for $239 (it wasn’t any bigger than the second shade, but we did like the hardware around it)
  5. This bigger 24″ burlap quatrefoil-shaped shade for $130 at a local lighting outlet (the same one with brown trim goes for nearly double that at Shades of Light)

Wanna guess which guy we went with?

Words, words, words.

More words.

These words are just here so you can guess and don’t see the next visual.

More words.

Even more words.

Wiggedy words and verbs.

I probably gave it away with my descriptions anyway.

Yup, I definitely did.

Poker face Petersik, they call me. 

And the winning combo is:

Light Trio

Except of course the scale is all off. The shade is actually 24″ wide, as is the big rope chandelier for over the table, but the chandelier hangs down a lot more, so it gets to be the star while the quatrefoil pendant will hopefully add some warmth and interest while balancing the other side of the room (and the glass pendant over the sink will add a nice soft glow by the window). Here’s a shot of it in the store where we saw it. Ours is the one on top of the stack since we thought the color would tie into the rope chandelier nicely.

Lighting Outlet

Oh man, I hope they look good when they’re actually hanging up. Just have some ceiling patching and painting to do, along with a little electrical tweaking, and it’s GO TIME, BABY.

Psst- A few folks were asking on Instagram for some specific info about how we introduced Burger to Clara, and how we tried to make the whole transition from living with a dog to living with a dog and a baby as smooth as possible for all parties involved – so we’re over on Young House Life chatting about that today.

Comments

  1. Karen says

    Kitchen is *sparkling*! Can’t wait till the cabinets are painted and floor is temporarily re-done! Ya know, men have sports, but this is the game I’m into, and I’m so rooting you guys on!!!

    Reply

  2. Ruth Abbott says

    Boom yeah! I guessed correctly, and yet there is no prize so I have nothing but bragging rights. I love the shape of the ones you have chosen. Are you planning on putting an interesting bulb in the chandelier (like an orb or a birdcage bulb)as it’s going to be semi visable through the rope or are you hoping to stick with energy efficients?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Good question! John is really particular about the color light that bulbs put out (he says edison ones are too yellow) so we’ll have to see where we end up! They make such pretty energy efficient ones (encased in a large glass bulb that looks decorative) so I hope we find something pretty and functional.

      xo
      s

    • Cathy C. says

      I am the same way. Although more expensive, I have reveal bulbs in almost all of my fixtures in the house. I tried to get on board the LED train, but am apparently going to be forced to wait until reveal comes out with LED bulbs, because none of the ones I tried are “right”.

      What bulbs do you all use?

  4. Claire says

    I feel very cool right now and thus had to comment. We bought that same pendant light for our kitchen a couple months ago at a store called “Bargain Hunt” for…are you ready for this? $12. Twelve dollars.

    Reply

    • Claire says

      It looks absolutely lovely. Even more so knowing we got it for a deal. We are thinking of changing the bulb though! It’s very…let’s just say, “romantic” 24/7 in our breakfast nook.

  6. Tasha says

    I can’t wait to see them all installed. Along with the rest of the kitchen happenings.

    Do you have any plans to use lighting from your own collection?

    PS: I know this is a home blog, but MORE BABY POSTS! :)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We love the globe pendant that we used over our dining table in the last house, so we’re thinking about that for the dining room or even the office when we put in a big center work island or peninsula in there.

      xo
      s

  7. Kelly {the Centsible Life} says

    Can’t wait to see hem up. I think they will play off each other nicely. I hung a ceiling light yesterday (my first one-my husband usually does the honors) to see how it looked, and I love it. So now I have to change all the other 7 lights that we need to replace.

    I’m opting for the same fixture in our hallways (upstairs and down) and have two ceiling lights in our kitchen I want to replace as well.

    Reply

  8. Katie Rose says

    Ha ha Sherry you are amazingly funny! The “words words words” section was hilarious. Thanks for making my morning :)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks to all those windows we don’t think we will this time, since the three lights we have are nice and bright along with the natural light (our last two kitchens didn’t have any windows to the outside world since one window over the sink just looked into the sunroom). So happy to have real views of the outside world this time!

      xo
      s

  10. Tash says

    Oh pls do a temp upgrade of those floors! The kitchen is looking so good now. It will be so great if u change the floors too. Have u decided yet if u will change it up or will live with it till phase 2?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Tash! That’s still on our bulleted list as a maybe so we’re certainly considering it! We did peel & stick for our first kitchen as a temporary in-the-meantime upgrade (even before we had this blog) so I can definitely see us leaning that way, we’ll just have to see where we end up!

      xo
      s

    • Diane says

      I used luxury vinyl tile (Trafficmaster Ceramica) in our foyer – grouted it – and would dare anyone to know it wasn’t ceramic. It might be a great cost-friendly short-term upgrade?

  11. Anele @ Success Along the Weigh says

    I cannot WAIT to see how they all look together! I’ve gotta be honest, that chandelier looks like something you guys would’ve put on the “dude get on that” list given how crafty you were with the last house’s laundry room light! But I understand y’all are busy bakin’ a bun and trying to get things in order for the new arrival. ;-)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      You know me too well, Anele! I stared at that chandelier and tried to figure out how I could get the twine to be stiff enough to hold those glorious round drum shapes (I essentially needed three metal shades with enough “spines” to hold the twine really stiff all the way around) but I just couldn’t figure out how to make it work (aside from buying a three regular shades and taking them apart, but I did that with an old one I had and it was way too floppy to hang straight and attach to two others). All of that’s so say, we would have LOVED to DIY this, but we just had to say “doing this poorly for half the price isn’t worth it, so we’re laying out the cash for something we love.”

      xo
      s

    • Nichole K says

      I was curious about this too but….up close, it looks like each horizontal “rope” is actually twine wrapped around a circular wire, then attached to the 4 vertical wires in a stack. That’s how the horizontal “rope” stays so taut – it’s not rope at all.

      Probably the best DIY option would be to buy a bunch of circles of wire in three different diameters and wrap them all with twine, then attach them to vertical wire also wrapped in twine. Then figure out how to attach the three different diameters. Then rig up an electrical box cover and a way to hang it….whew! Sounds doable, but a huge pain.

      I don’t blame you one bit for getting the “pre-made” version ha!

      Love your choices!

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Yes up close it’s like the fibers of a basket. I think you’re right that it’s a whole metal frame or wire wrapped with jute or thick thick twine or something!

      xo
      s

  12. caroline [the diy nurse] says

    The combo is perfect!Sometimes you just have to drop some money on those pricey pieces but I’ve never seen that light fixture. It’s such a one of a kind and interesting find- I’m sure you’ll be talking about it and showing it off for forever ;)

    Reply

  15. Iz says

    Nice choices, but I was wondering about their suitability for a kicthen? Won’t the burlap get greasy and dirty from cooking fumes?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thankfully we’ll have a range hood going right over the stove (we haven’t had grease issues even on nearby white cabinets in our past two kitchens), so we think it’ll be ok! Will keep you posted though!

      xo
      s

  16. maureen says

    Love the fixtures. The one you picked for over the stove is similar to the one i have in our dining room. Just one thought you may not have considered, since it is fabric and cant be cleaned easily….you know where I am going right????? Grease from the stove top might be more than you bargained for.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thankfully we’ll have a range hood going right over the stove (we haven’t had grease issues even on nearby white cabinets in our past two kitchens), so we think it’ll be ok! Will keep you posted though!

      xo
      s

  17. Nima says

    I have to admit I wouldn’t choose those lights myself but I can imagine they are going to look awesome in your kitchen, especially the rope chandelier. :)

    Reply

  18. Charmaine says

    OMG,OMG,OMG, they will look so amazing together! I’m totally in love with that rope chandelier and your table! I may have to “borrow” these ideas as build my mom’s new beach house! I can’t wait to see your painted cabinets and Sherry’s pops of bright colors when she starts accessorizing!

    Reply

  20. Angela N says

    Love, love, love, love (you get the picture) that chandelier! I can totally see it hanging over your table. Can’t wait for the pics!

    Reply

  21. Michelle says

    Great picks. Can’t wait to see them up.

    Technically, your kitchen has infinity percent (not 100%) more windows onto the outside world, since your last two kitchens had zero. :)

    Reply

  23. Stacey C says

    Really lovely. I can’t wait to see the three together. I’m jealous of all of the awesome outlet places that you have around you!

    Reply

  24. Tania says

    Our kitchen originally had ONE light when we moved in…this narrow, tiny, scary florescent. Needless to say between that and the lime green and wood paneled everything…it was scary. We added 9 potlights and 2 pendant lights (and fixed everything else)- it is so much nicer now!! I love having bright lights everywhere!
    I love the flushmounts you all picked…I need hallway lights and number 3 on there is a definite contender! So cute.

    Reply

  25. Regina says

    Hi, I have two of the exact same pendant lights you chose (sink) over our island with the old-timey bulbs. I receive tons of compliments but just be aware they do not provide a ton of light. But they look great!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Regina, so good to know! We don’t use the light over the sink at all now (just the main ones in each half of the room) so I hope it’s a nice little twinkle as an added extra when it’s on… if we ever end up turning it on since we’re so used to ignoring the current one!

      xo
      s

  27. Kelly says

    Oh how I know about the dilemma and not being able to find anything for the flush mount kitchen light! I have looked for 1 1/2 years! I also have 3 lights I need to replace; one over the table, one over the sink and one in the “work” area. Ugh… it’s hard work to find something that will work… and it’s all because of that crazy flush mount work area.

    Reply

  30. Lisa says

    Hard purchases but so worth it…can’t wait to see these things up and hanging.

    One of the hardest things for me to do in my home is decide what to invest in next…I know you’ve done a post on that, but it’s always a thing for me. I don’t like to spend either, so that tends to slow things down, lol. :)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I’m with you Lisa! Sometimes it’s hard to figure out what’s worth the splurge when you have these instincts to save pennies on every step of a project! One thing I just try to think about is how much I love something. If I see it and forget it, not worth the splurge. But if we both love it and keep coming back to it… that makes me consider it more.

      xo
      s

  31. kim says

    I love the combination – are you thinking about maybe a dusty /greasy /cleany/ issue with the rope? I have a small kitchen and that would be a problem for me .

    Reply

  32. Brittany D says

    Sherry, you made my day with your “Wiggedy words and verbs” line. You’re hysterical. I LOVE your choices, but am pretty surprised you guys didn’t attempt to DIY that rope chandelier!

    Reply

  33. Katie says

    Have you considered upgrading that large burlap shade to have some ORB mount (in the picture it looks like one of those plain cords)? I think it would look really cool if you could find a mount like the ones in options 1 or 2.

    Reply

  34. Carla says

    I love these three lights together, but I’m having a hard time understanding why the rope chandelier is priced so high. It’s just hoops and rope, right? It’d be fun to see if your DIY community can come up with something similar for under $100.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I’d love if someone could DIY it! A few comments back I explained how I tried deconstructing a shade to use for twine and it was too floppy and unsteady (it’s not just hoops it’s spines around it that need to be strong). Sure enough now that the chandelier is here, it’s more of a woven basket type jute material. Just like those fiber baskets, so it’s firmer and thicker than twine so it holds it’s shape better! I thought about starched twine (how people make those twine ball fixtures) but still think it might get floppy since three shades have to be attached. Please send pics if anyone DIYs it though!

      xo
      s

  35. Sara says

    Love your blog and I love how these look, BUT do you actually do any cooking in your kitchen? Cause it is bright during the day, but it can’t be at night. There is no way that would be enough light for me to cook without chopping off me fingers! Maybe you are going to do undercounter during phase 2?? Love the progress!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Yes we do think about adding under counter lights too! The quatrefoil pendant is also a two light 120 watt fixture and we currently cook every night in the kitchen and don’t use the light over the sink at all, so we think we should be ok. Will keep you posted!

      xo
      s

  36. Trevi says

    So excited to see how your lights turn out! I have an awful, awful, awful fluorescent light in my kitchen that even after 7 years (yes, 7!!!) of living in my house, I’m super scared to touch. It’s the only lighting in my kitchen and screwing up the install and creating a blackout in my kitchen is the stuff my nightmares are made of! Can’t wait to see the step by step. :) Good luck Petersik’s!

    Reply

  37. Leanne says

    So I know you chose #5 for the pendant, which I LOVE, and you mentioned that at Shades of Light it cost twice as much as you paid for it, but you didn’t actually mention the name of the local lighting outlet where you bought it. Would that be possible? We’ve been searching for something similar for over our kitchen table. Also, are these just the shades or are they the whole fixture? When I clicked on some of the links it looks like it’s the whole pendant and shade. Thanks!

    Reply

  38. Lil says

    Do you guys have a reason for always painting the ceiling last? Is it because it’s more fun to put paint on the walls? I always paint the ceiling first.

    Just curious.

    Oh, and nice teaser post…can’t wait to see the lights hung! :)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We love painting ceilings first but have also had luck doing them later, so in this case we just were over the raw drywall and spackle marks above the sink so we just said “that’s it, we’re tackling the walls!

      xo
      s

  39. Terresa says

    Very nice!!!! I was just wanting to share something in case you were to ever feel that your 24 inch shade needs a little something for contrast. I have a big round shade that I am going to stencil a Moroccan trellis design on the inside of the shade. I am so excited about this. However. Mine is metal so the design won’t show through when the light is on. So maybe that wouldn’t be so great for yours. My other thought was painting that edging with fabric paint in a dark color for contrast. But it’s very pretty as-is. I’m just throwing stuff out there:)

    Reply

  40. Lara says

    They are all beautiful. But $300+ for ONE 60 watt bulb? At least that’s what it looks like to me in the rope chandelier. Hopefully there’s more than one bulb in there!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We might go up in wattage (CFLs allow for that and can look like Edison bulbs now with glass outer shells) but we only have one bulb in the boob light that’s there (one has been out for months) and it seems to work. Will have to see when we hang it!

      xo
      s

    • Jess says

      This was my exact thought too. As much as I like the chandelier, one bulb would not be enough light for me. Hopefully since you’re used to just one bulb it won’t be a problem for you!

  41. Stacy says

    Ugh, I am doing this same thing right now, but my lighting is for a living/dining combo. I have the “statement piece” for over the dining table, but I’m having such a hard time finding a pendant that doesn’t compete with that OR the fireplace that’s on the opposite end of the room, but still looks nice on its own. I love your final selections!

    Reply

  42. Erin @ The Impatient Gardener says

    Excellent choices! That rope chandelier (how have I not seen anything like that before?) is amazing! (I almost said totes amazeballs, but I giggle too much when people say that now after watching the latest Sprint commercial with James Earl Jones.) And I love, love, love the quatrefoil pendant. Damn, you guys have some good stores down there in Richmond!

    Reply

  44. Vickie says

    The new lights look lovely together! But, (not trying to burst your bubble) I don’t think you will love them for the long haul. No one does. For instance I have a “dangling boob light” very similar to yours that I picked out when we built our house back in the 90’s. We all know that it isn’t very stylish at all anymore, but there it is nonetheless. And, nope, I’m no longer in love with it, or any other of my lights. The replacing of lights has begun in less than two decades.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Yeah that’s true. We just figure no matter what we chose we might tire of it someday, so we just tried to go with the ones we liked the most. We’ll have to see how long old ropey lasts :)

      xo
      s

  45. Evie says

    OH, GOOD!!!!!!!!! Yeah!!!!! LOL I haven’t read your post or looked at the pics yet, honestly, but I came right here to comment. I’m so psyched that you’ve done the lights!!!!! That is what I’ve been waiting for! OK, gratification delayed long enough–I’m going to read and look now! But already you’ve made my day!

    Reply

  46. Kristen says

    Ok, I gotta ask–you say above “this forever home of ours”–does that mean you guys are committed to stay put in this home forever and ever? I’m wondering because it seems buying houses and fixin’ ’em up awesome-style is your MO. :)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We have wanted to be in this neighborhood for so long and love this house, so we want to stay here. We might take on other people’s houses or do a rental or something after this, but we’re sure this house will keep us busy for a while!

      xo
      s

    • Larissa says

      I was just thinking about how I hope you guys do stay in this house for a long time and continue to blog about it. When you’re in a house for many years there’s a whole different set of challenges that present themselves after you’ve fixed things up the way you like them. I’m curious to see how you’d handle those. I realize that’s not necessarily full-time blogging material, but maybe a yearly maintenence post or something.

      My husband and I stayed up until 1am (on a school night!) hanging a curtain rod because the only time we can get it done is when the kids are asleep. I felt like I was channeling my inner YHL. I’m exhausted. :)

  47. lauren says

    Love them!

    I love the trend of rustic light fixtures like the rope one, and we have a couple. BUT, it drives me crazy how you can see the bare lightbulb. I find it kinda ugly and also either blinding (bright bulb) or not illuminating enough (dimmer bulb because of said blinding). Does that bother you guys? What do you do about it? Thanks Ps!

    Reply

    • lauren says

      Oops, I just saw your reply about pretty energy efficient bulbs. I’d love to see those mentioned in a post sometime (or in a comment, hint hint! haha).

    • Sarah says

      I agree with you about the bare bulbs. “…a nice soft glow…” is exactly the opposite of how I’d describe bare bulb fixtures haha. I love how they all look when they are off :) Different strokes I guess!

  48. Nicole says

    Love what you’re doing with your new house! We have those ugly fluorescents in our home and are excited to see your end result. Are you worried about oil residue affecting the light near the stove? Is your shade wipable? Can’t wait to see your results!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I think with a vent hood we should be good (didn’t have issues with grease in our last two houses on our white cabinets right next to it or anything). Will keep you posted!

      xo
      s

  49. Amy says

    I love your choices! One thing, though – we bought that pendant from Home Depot with the Edison bulb and the light was too dim for over the sink (for us). It’s beautiful though!

    Reply

  50. Larita says

    Oh you tease! I was reading/scrolling as fast as I could, headed for an after pic. And there was none! Please tell me those lights are going up this week!

    Reply

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