Living room lighting plans

I feel that lonely light fixture’s life story should be narrated by ze frank.
The more improvements and updates I make to our rental, the more ideas I get to make slightly more daring changes. Slightly. We don’t own our apartment, but we’ve been living here for 7 years now so I’m getting a bit cheekier about making changes. Changes I will say, that can be undone with a bit of filler and paint. Like hanging our mahogany mirror, painting our bedroom and the spare bedroom [both white], re-caulk the bathroom and do something about the lighting in the living room are a few things on my list. 

Here’s what I’ve had in mind to add to our living room ceiling to make things a bit fancier, while sticking as much as I can to some of my environmental resolutions

1. I’d love to add a ceiling rose to our sitting room. It’s a big room, so adding a bit of interest might make the ceiling feel less vast. I’ve seen some second hand for fairly cheap, but a) I’m terrified of not installing it properly and a giant piece of plaster moments away from landing on our heads, and b) I don’t know how easily it would be to remove.
2. At the moment the light is positioned in the centre of the room. When we sit at our couch, the light is slightly behind us, therefore anything we’re holding or looking at is in shadow. It’s incredibly annoying. So adding a swag is the most obvious option. I’m hoping to acquire some wire much like our upcycled bedside lamp to keep cost [and waste] down.
3. Should we securely fix a ceiling rose to the ceiling, I’d like to also add a pretty hook for the swag. 
4. I bought a couple IKEA ledare bulbs when I was updating our hallway, and have already added one to our living room. They’re brilliant and light an entire room [unfortunately, IKEA don’t seem to be stocking them anymore. Welp].
5. Said IKEA bulbs are lovely, but there are times when it’s a bit too much. It’s either all or nothing at the moment in our living room. I’d like to hook the light up to a dimmer switch so there can be a happy medium. While I’m at it, I might as well get a pretteh one. I was thinking of getting a G O L D dimmer, but then that would make all our other switches jealous. We’ll see. The jury is still out. I’ve not had much luck finding one second hand, so this may have to be a new buy.

I’m still not sure on whether or not I’ll get an actual light fixture as I get very indecisive about them and more times than not end up returning them. I have bare-bulb syndrome. But having a bare bulb in our living room [like we do in our hallway] isn’t particularly obvious, so I’m fine with it. For now! 

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9 Comments

  1. January 30, 2016 / 12:05

    Yes to all of this!! A plaster ceiling rose, however, will be difficult to remove (they are essentially glued on to the ceiling) so when you take it off, there might be some filling/making good on that one. Not that it can't be done obviously, but just be aware there will be a little bit of work to make it look like it was never there. I LOVE the idea of the swag though!! xxx

    • February 22, 2016 / 11:55

      That's exactly what I was thinking Kimberly – if we do put one up, it's probably going to stay up there for good. I don't think our landlord would object to one being kept up and if I find one for a good deal second hand, it won't hurt our pockets. However, the swaggage is definitely happening! Whoever put the light in the centre of the room should've been shot on site.

  2. February 1, 2016 / 18:34

    Ooh, this is going to be good! It'll make a massive difference to the place feeling more your own as well, rather than just the taste of the landlord. A thought I had… there is a good chance that the landlord will like some of your improvements, so you may not necessarily have to make good. For example, rather than the hassle of removing the ceiling rose and making good, when you come to leave you can ask him whether he's happy for it to stay, or if he'd prefer you to make it good. He might just say to leave it – saves you any more work and he gets to keep an improvement to his property.

    Oh, I hope Ikea haven't stopped selling those bulbs – they look so cool. I don't have any, but I may want one at some point – they seem to work really well as a bare bulb. I like the look of them in your hall. xx

    • February 22, 2016 / 11:59

      That's it exactly Maria! I'm hoping he'll like a ceiling rose and if I manage to get one a bit more low-key than the one above, I don't see him having a problem with it at all. Fingers crossed! Because that ceiling is so damn cast. You should know, having stared at it for an entire night! 😛

      I also hope IKEA bring those bulbs back. I really don't know why they weren't on their site because I bought one in store a couple weeks previous! I hate how IKEA discontinue the good stuff.

  3. February 24, 2016 / 00:56

    The ceiling medallion could be very interesting! I am curious what you will end up doing. I don't think you should worry about attaching it to the ceiling; it is not irreversible.

    • February 28, 2016 / 10:04

      You're right. I think whatever I end up doing (as of now I am still on the fence), I'll just commit to it. Medallion or not. We'll see.

    • March 3, 2016 / 02:51

      I should take my own advice. I've been thinking of putting up a sliding barn door in our TV room for, like, 3 years. It is a large opening, and it would help quiet the room after Millie goes to bed, and serve as a visual interest on an otherwise blank wall. It is not irreversible. Do it Pat!