New Lighting!

I've been searching for the perfect entryway light ever since we moved in. I knew I wanted something simple, modern and farmhouse to match the style of the rest of my home. While I love the ever so popular farmhouse look, every day I tend to lean more towards a combination of farmhouse and minimalism. Give me clean lines and keep it simple; less is more.

There were plenty lighting options at the local home improvement stores, but they weren't quite what I wanted. It was a challenge to find a good entryway light, with the style I wanted and that shines light downwards, away from our popcorn ceiling. Here's what I'm trying to avoid:

Then just recently, I saw some home design bloggers with schoolhouse pendants in their hallways and kitchens, in old and new homes. I fell in love with simple style that was a modern twist on a retro style. Sold! Better yet, Home Depot sells them, meaning my Home Depot credit card came to the rescue with 18 months no interest financing!

I love this light because it's perfect for my entryway and the neighboring hallway. I wanted to have the same light, or one with a similar style, to keep a seamless look throughout our open concept living space. This does the trick! I also purchased

a schoolhouse light kit for our ceiling fan in the living room. One light down, two to go! Easy peasy, right? Wrong.

Installation was by far the WORST. Nate spent hours trying to get the screws to line up with the mounting plate and then the caps would not hold the light in place, causing it to sag on one side. It was 10pm on a Sunday night and we were over it. I ran to Walmart to buy superglue and Nate glued the screw cap onto the fixture. Good, right?

Well...

The next day while admiring the new light, I couldn't help but notice that it hung at a slight angle. Upon further inspecting it, there was still a gap between the ceiling and mounting plate on one side. To make matters worse, and to literally drive me insane, super glue was all over the cap and the mounting plate!

No more than 2 days later, I couldn't stand the flaws. I thought I could potentially fix the gap issue by sanding down the popcorn ceiling so the plate would sit flush. It helped but alas the screw cap that was glued needed to be tightened in order to get rid of the gap. -sigh-

I ended up googling how to remove superglue and found out 100% acetone loosens it so that it can be removed. I spent the next 3 hours working on ungluing and unscrewing the whole fixture. It took multiple attempts to realign the screws with the holes on the mounting plate. I finally thought I was finished and as I went to screw on the second screw cap, it wouldn't tighten! I was going through the same nightmare installation as Nate. I nearly lost my mind. Luckily I thought it through and figured out that the real issue was that 1) the screws were a quarter of an inch too long and 2) the screw caps wouldn't tighten because the screw itself kept moving despite having a nut fastened on it. A quick trip to Ace Hardware and I had the perfect screws. About another hour later (I was really over it by now) I had the plate flush against the ceiling and was putting the caps on. I continued to have issues with the nut not holding the screw in place, but FINALLY I was able to get it to stay and got the cap on.

Now I have a beautiful light in my entryway and I absolutely love it. Neither of us have attempted to put the same light up in the hallway yet. While I have the right screws this time around, I'm not looking forward to the cap/screw/nut issue. Hopefully it will go up soon, but I'm okay with taking a break from it for a few weeks...to be continued.

#schoolhouselight #update #lighting #diy #entryway