LANTERNS IN THE KITCHEN {AGAIN}

Ok, so I've never claimed to be a "real" decorator or designer.  This blog is solely an outlet for me to share what I'm doing in my own home.  That being said, my home is totally my place to experiment with decor, and I change things often.  Many times things are done on a trial and error basis.  It helps that I do a lot of the work myself and when I get the itch to change I try to do it on a budget, and if I make a mistake not much more is lost than my time and effort. Sometimes I get it right, sometimes I don't... and I try again.  

I think that's the key for anyone making their home a place that they love.  If at first you don't succeed, keep trying.  Don't be afraid to admit that you might have made a decorating mistake, move on, and start over.

When we did a kitchen refresh about a year and a half ago, I replaced the large lanterns that we had installed over the island with brass lotus flower pendants.  With the lanterns I learned, only after the fact, that it's not a good idea to have a fixture with glass in it over the stove.  The glass will get greasy/dirty/grimy super fast and it's not fun or easy to clean.  See? Trial and error.  So, I replaced the lanterns with the new pendants.  Honestly, I knew all along that they were probably too small for the space, but I loved them and didn't care.  I knew they would be a place holder until something better came along, and at that time I would find a new spot for them in our home.

I continued to have a soft spot for the lanterns, though, and since looking at beautiful photos all day is part of my "job", I started noticing a trend.  I'm seeing more and more lantern type fixtures WITHOUT GLASS, and a lightbulb went off in my head.  Duh!!! Why didn't I just remove the glass from my fixtures?

Once the inspiration struck,  the wheels started spinning fast.  If I was putting the lanterns back, I wanted them to be a bit more playful, so I started entertaining the idea of painting them a bold glossy color (shocker, I know).  And although green has been my BFF for a while, I wanted to mix in something new.  I'm really starting to want to broaden my color palette to a point where anything goes.  Green, blue and white, black and white will always be there, but what if I want to throw in some yellow?  I want my house to say "Sure!"  Red?  "You bet!"  A splash of hot pink somewhere?  "Awesome!"  

I'm sure my neutral loving friends think I've gone cuckoo... It sounds crazy to just throw any color in, but some of my favorite designers and bloggers do just that, and it totally works.  So, my experiment is just beginning.

When deciding on a color for the lanterns, green was a possibility but I knew I wanted to branch out.  I considered just about every color, but really?  Red has always been one of my first color loves.  Almost every house we've lived in until this one has had a red color scheme, and even here I got my red fix in my daughter's room. 

I'm such a visual person, I had to see what they might look like, so I did a very crude mock up... and I kinda loved it!

My only hesitation was with so much kelly green around my house, I didn't want it to look like Christmas year round.  However, I think with all of the blue and white and other patterns and colors around, hopefully everything will live happily together without screaming Ho Ho Ho.

Once I decided on the color (one of my favorites, Sunrise Red by Rustoleum), we providentially had a day that was warm enough to spray them, and my sweet husband hung them the next day (I was a little nervous to tell him of my plan at first because this would be the THIRD time he's switched those lights out... ;)  It was actually a breeze, though.  Without those huge panes of glass, the lanterns were light as a feather (another bonus of removing the glass!).  

Although they're completely different styles, I also like how they relate to the vintage crystal chandelier that is in the breakfast nook.

If you've been around for a while, you might remember that I originally purchased the lights at the Habitat ReStore, and gave them a makeover from their original shiny brass finish.  And, we had to reconfigure the lighting in the ceiling because we originally didn't have any fixtures over the island.  If you happen to click on some of those older posts, I can't believe how much our kitchen has changed.  Here's a little progression over our 8 years here (and that first photo isn't even the original of when we bought the house with all of it's wallpapered and orangey oak cabinet goodness!).

Now, I have a feeling I'm going to need some new pillows in the living room.  If you give a mouse a cookie...