I Need More Light!

I've been thinking about light fixtures lately.  Not the most exciting thoughts I've ever had, but as the evenings are getting darker I'm realizing that we need more light around here.  Plus the fact that our dining room chandelier looks like a Halloween decorations.  (See photo above.)

I know several of my readers are in the process of building or remodeling homes so I thought I'd ask your opinion about lighting.  I want to do more than just stick lamps around.  

Last week I found a website called ShopWiki.  It's a little different than most shopping websites.  Traditional shopping sites show you stores that have paid for ads, ShopWiki collects data from all the stores they can find on the internet so they have more info for you.  I'm all for that.  Especially since I'm a 'small business owner' myself!

I like that I can just move my mouse over the item shown and see the list of stores that carry it -- and the prices.  Oh, and if you're not shopping for light fixtures, they have lots of other categories.  I searched books, movies, music, clothing, accessories, toys & games, video games, and health & beauty while I was there.  A really fun category right now was "Trick or Treat."  Cute costumes!!!

OK, so above the dining table should be easy.  I want a more modern pendant light.  Here are some examples I found.  Of course, the one I like is the $510 one.  :-)  There are a few on the website with colored glass but I'm thinking that I should stay neutral.  The walls in the kitchen/dining area are a neutral color so I can change accent colors without changing the whole kitchen.  Some of the Forte Lighting pendants are nice & in my price range.  They also had fixtures from companies that our local stores don't carry:  Thomas, Sonneman, Renoma, PLC Lighting,   Nulco, Leucos, Maxim, & others.  So... that gives me a lot to think about for over the dining table.

Now, for the kitchen.  I need some under-cabinet lighting.  This is not quite as exciting as picking a chandelier, but I'll use this much more often!  I'm thinking that I just want 'plug in' fluorescent lighting since I'm not much of an electrician.  That sounds so much easier to me.  I could probably do that while Glenn's gone this weekend.  (You know we always do home improvement projects while he's gone.)

In the living room I might just do reading lamps so we'll have light right where we need it.  Plus, we have no light fixture in the center of the room so that would be some major work.

Now I just have to convince Jo that the real spider webs on the scary black chandelier can not be considered Halloween decorations!