House Happy

Heya! Happy weekend, whoooo! I’m ready for some rest, hanging with the family, a little shopping and some DIY, of course!

I’ve decided to do a “House Happy” post maybe a couple times a month – just sharing pictures from around the house or from out and about that make me smile. Some will be from Instagram or Facebook, some just from stuff I snap with my phone.

I found these CAUUUTE mason jar soaps at Bath and Body Works earlier this week:

They are plastic and I may have gasped when I saw them, too darn cute. They come in a few different scents.

I passed up the first fiddle leaf tree I’ve seen ANYWHERE around here because I can’t find a definitive answer on if they are toxic to cats:

I’ve read they are toxic on some sites but I’ve also found numerous people online saying their cats don’t even try to nibble (the leaves are really thick) or they do and are fine. Anyone with cats have one?

Speaking of cats, we got our latest kitty almost a year ago now and she is a HANDFUL. I’ve had a cat pretty much every day of my life and she is by far the feistiest one ever. But she makes us laugh pretty much every day, and she loves her Bub:

They fell asleep like that the other night. :)

I found this quote on FB and shared it this week:

I consider it one of the greatest blessings of my life that this has happened to me. :)

If you are looking for fun books to read with the kiddos we highly recommend the pigeon books:

They are SO funny. We all end up cracking up by the end, they are a joy to read!

I’ve been working on some storage for the laundry room – I had to come up with a way to make the cabinet taller so this is it:

It looks horrible there but I swear it will make more sense soon. ;)

I was browsing one of my favorite antique spots last weekend and laughed out loud at this:

This is so not me by the way, but it’s dang funny.

My kid is pretty much the most awesome kid ever, for so many reasons -- but one is that he likes going through model homes with me. He will see one while in the car and ask if we can walk through it – love him. And then when we drive by a regular house and I say how pretty it is, he’s like, “Can we go inside??” I wish my boy, I wish.

Anyway, I saw this in one of the model homes and thought it was cute – the faceless ballerina kind of weirds me out, but I LOVE the tulle tutu idea for a girls room:

Precious!

I saw this one on Facebook the other day too and could not stop giggling about it:

We had a sunny day here today for the first time in all of March!! It is melting away the snow and I can just taste spring!

And finally, best news in a long time for NKOTB fans – they’re baaaaack!! I’ve already got my concert tickets for this summer, aww yeah! The video for their newest song was released yesterday and I know I’m a little biased but it is the most entertaining video I’ve seen in a really long time. (OK, it’s been a really long time since I’ve seen any videos, but for real.)

I love how it’s shot, I love the idea behind it, the music, the guys (HELLO) – so fun. Check it out here Blockheads:

 

Have a GREAT weekend! Chat with ya Monday!!

Library lights (finally!)

So I mentioned last week that I finally ended what was a four month long search for lighting for the dining room bookcases I am finishing up.

Actually four months is conservative. I think it’s probably been more like eight. :) When I last blogged about the bookcases, this is where we were:

I said I was going to be finished with them in September. I was wrong. :)

Now, I’m aiming for end of October. I think I’m gonna be able to do it.

Anyway, see those spots at the top? Those are where the lights were supposed to go. The lights I. could. not. find. ANYWHERE.

Until last week. ;)

Now that I’ve gotten over the HUGE hump that was the lights, I’m SO ready to get this done! When we first started this project (ohhh, back in March), I showed you the lights I had picked out for the tops of the bookcases:

They were little plug in spotlights that I was going to hardwire in. But they were dinky, and my whole goal with them was that they would be directional, so I could direct the light down over the built ins. These didn’t stick out enough to really be able to cast light over the shelves.

So, I moved on to my next idea. Hardwiring a picture light, like this:

 

This one is from Lamps Plus, for like $70. You can find the exact same thing at Lowe’s for about $30. (I showed you how I used one of them here.)

Anyhoo, Dad and I were standing at Lowe’s one day, about to put four in the cart, when he noticed something – the arch at the top of the light wasn’t going to work. We put in a header at the top of the built ins, but it was only eight inches tall. These wouldn’t work because they were too tall.

Bummer dude. Seriously.

So that was forever ago, and since then I’ve looked online everywhere. This was perfect:

 

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Again, a plug in I believe, but they are easily hardwired.

But this one was more than $200. Each. I needed four. Not happening.

This one too…gorgeous:

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About $250 I think? Choke.

I loved the long arms on this, and I knew I could pull it out away from the wall so it would work with my clearance issue:

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But again…more than $300.

It was getting frustrating. I looked at sign lights (too big and expensive), I looked at lamps I could hardwire (way too big).

I considered something like this from IKEA:

Only $20! But it was too small, the wrong color and four hours of driving to get it. :)

I was starting to feel like Goldilocks. ;)

Lamps Plus had this:

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But the light part didn’t move. So when it was installed it would just shine light down to the floor. Not the look I was going for. They had another version I found over labor day that was $95, and I was thisclose to ordering them, but I held off cause I still didn’t want to pay that much.

Of course a few weeks later when I was so frustrated I was considering it, those were gone. :)

So the other day I had had it. I tried one more place -- a local lighting store and they carried exactly what I wanted. For $170. And a six week wait.

I was totally defeated. But I was determined to find something that day. I had already looked everywhere fifteen times, but something took me to Home Depot (again). I had a feeling I’d find something. (I really did…I have a weird sense about these things.)

This time, I had a different idea. I’d look at the outdoor lights too.

And wouldn’t you know it. I found the one:

They had two sizes, and I went with the bigger one. It’s a dark copper/bronze, which is what I wanted. The clearance was good for the ceiling, and it was the perfect size – not too big, not too little. The bracket was the perfect size for the header. The light didn’t tilt like I wanted, but that was an easy fix – I just bent them ever so slightly myself. :)

You can see this one online here, but the funny thing is that it’s listed for $90 online – they were only $35 in the store! So I got all four lights for $140 – basically $100 less than ONE of the fancy ones would have cost me.

I was thrilled but didn’t want to get too excited till I got one up to see how I liked it.

I LOVED IT:

They don’t stick out as far as I had originally wanted, but I realize now that may have bugged me to have them eight to 12 inches out from the wall.

Ignore the unfinished top. :) My plan is to add crown around the top and there is just enough room to get it up there.

They were a breeze to install – I just screwed the wall bracket into the wall and then wired it up. Light fixtures are usually my nemesis but these went up so easy and fast. That never happens to me when it comes to lights.

In the store they used the little round light bulbs instead of full-sized ones, and I loved that look. I don’t want to see the bulbs at all when you’re standing in the room:

With the little tilt that I added, they shine down onto the shelves beautifully:

Love them!! I couldn’t BELIEVE after all this time I found them at that price, and in the outdoor section of all places!

Of course this is just a peek – the painting and some trim isn’t done. The accessorizing and arranging isn’t done either. But I am thrilled with the lights – they are just what I imagined in my head when I started dreaming this up almost a year ago!:

I cannot tell you how great it is to have these up!! I added a dimmer, of course, so they are on all day long lately. And today was perfect for pictures because it’s a dark and stormy one. ;)

Of course my gauge on projects is always the Bub and the hubby – their reactions tell me a lot. My husband loves them and I got an actual “Ohhhh and ahhh” from the kiddo, so I always take that as a good sign.

Thanks for being patient with me on this bookcase project – they have been a labor of love but I had NO idea they would take this much time. I hope to have a full reveal for you soon!

Hooooolla!