When we began remodeling our kitchen, strategic lighting was a big deal for me -- choosing the RIGHT lighting, the right placement. Our kitchen having been gutted, it was a bit of a challenge to visualize the best placement for light, but with the help of the contractor having done this so many times before, I was able to plan for The Grand Illumination of my dreams.
“Let there be light,”
God
said.
And it
was good.
All can lights were relocated in the ceiling, aligned in two rows and moved more centrally. The three pendant receptacles were installed over the center island, centered, equally spaced -- after much thought and measuring, measuring, and re-measuring to get it just right. Accent lighting was placed in the glass-front cabinet and underneath all cabinets. And I asked the contractor to place receptacles on the walls of each space where the tall cabinets are staggered with shorter cabinets. This would allow me to have as much -- or as little -- subtle accent lighting as I'd like, depending on the season and my decorating moods.
I browsed Houzz, Pinterest, and other online retailers for months before choosing the island pendants and the chandelier over the kitchen table. I wanted simple, yet elegant, preferring an antique or oil-rubbed bronze finish. After collecting a gazillion images of lighting options in my design file, I finally found The Ones from LampsPlus.com. They caught my eye immediately and shouted: "Choose me! Choose me!" My search was over.
Dimmer switches (one of mankind's greatest inventions) were placed on both. I find myself fooling with the dimmers constantly, standing back and watching the light reflect off the warm hues of the granite countertops like candlelight. Ahhh. Illumination at its best.
Extending the hardwood from the kitchen into the family room area allowed for even more reflection of light, both in the day and at night. Amazing how that seemed to open up the space of the living area. After affixing felt pads to all the furniture, it's been moved back into the kitchen and family room area. I've placed low-wattage accent lamps on different pieces of furniture as I begin the decorating process, adding warmth and ambiance to the living space. It's starting to come together, just as I'd hoped.
Last Saturday I took advantage of the warm weather to thoroughly clean the kitchen windows, inside and out. The horizontal blinds had been removed along with the heavy drapes that bordered the outside of the three windows. I've decided to instead go with simple, ivory-cream, lightly textured linen-like grommet sheers to allow as much light in as possible when extra privacy was needed. I bought the extra long length so that I could hang them close to the ceiling. For the most part, the sheers are kept pulled to the sides to allow a flood of sunlight.
Now, as I sit at the kitchen table, I can look out onto the stone patio, my view totally unobstructed.
Drawn to the light...
Illumination of my senses.
Shed light, would you...please?
