Sarah’s House: Dining Room Part II

To read the initial post about my dining room click here.

Clearly I needed a new fixture over the dining room table,

 So I decided on this fixture,

* Note: this fixture is no longer available. Today I might go for something like this and with a bigger budget I’d definitely spring for this.

Because I wanted something linear like this,

via Pinterest

In addition to the chandy, there were some old plates that covered electrical boxes for sconces just like in the living room and I knew my electrician could get them working again. And the short version of the story is…he did. But the existing electrical boxes and wiring were old so he had to remove those and install new boxes and wiring. In the process of doing that he had to chip away some of the plaster around the boxes which left a void between the plaster and the electrical box.

This is the list I left for my electrician Chuck. I can hear him saying “smile Sara” with a thick southern accent, some sincerity and a hint of sarcasm. Chuck always makes it look easy but when you are fishing wire down through plaster walls the job can become frustrating. He didn’t have to cut any holes in the plaster to complete the job AND I think he might be some sort of electrical wizard.

Before ordering the sconces I measured the old plates covering the holes to make sure that the back plate of the new sconce I chose would cover the old hole. But what I didn’t anticipate was some of the plaster being chipped out making a larger hole.

So my carpenter applied some sheet rock mud with a trowel around the perimeter to cover the chipped plaster. Things were looking good.

To save a little money, my Dad and Dan being perfectly capable installed the sconces. So before installation I sanded the mud around the boxes and they looked like this,

And then once smooth, I touched up the paint with a small roller around the box and they looked like this,

And then my Dad arrived with a surfboard and after he & Dan began the install he said he was going to chip out some of the mud because the screw holes in the electrical box were covered over. I got a little worried thinking he was going to re-open the hole. But fortunately my Dad is so incredibly handy– he artfully chipped away the mud to reveal the holes and he and Dan got all six of them up in about an hour and a half.

So here we are with the sconces and chandelier up in my big empty dining room,

Just in case you are wondering, the bamboo shades are from Overstock and they are fantastic and they come in a million different sizes perfect for older homes with odd sized windows. Overstock is a great resource for window treatments.

They came with shades trimmed in brown. I thought the trim was a little unnecessary in this space, so I ordered some shades on sale from Crate & Barrel and they were around $10 each and anyone who has ever tried to track down some affordable & stylish sconce shades knows that is a deal.  Unfortunately I don’t see the shades I purchased on their website any more.

And here is the room with the new chandelier and new sconces.