sprucing up

Well, we've finally given in to the fact that really, it is just going to be best for us to live in our home for another three years, until we figure out where Chris is going to be working.  I know many of you are thinking 'what the heck is wrong with your house anyway?'.  I think I've touched on that a little before, but here is a recap.

First of all, it turns out Ryann is an incredibly light sleeper.  Therefore whenever Ryann is sleeping, we are generally confined to our family room.  Not a huge deal, but not great for productivity either.  Her room is right off the kitchen (which of course is usually a disaster) making it impossible for me to clean or cook while she is napping or in bed for the night.  And even though our house has a semi open floor plan, the kitchen lacks a view to the living room and the dining room, so I can't do anything in there unless Ryann is with me.

Also in regards to this house not being suited for Ryann... everywhere but the family room has wood or tile floors, and the majority of the house is small rooms, so she is always at risk of hitting something hard or pointy.  That phase will soon pass, so it isn't a huge deal, but it is annoying right now.

Add on to that an old roof, old windows, an old a/c unit, a crumbling driveway, and water/drainage issues, and this house is starting to lose it's luster fast.  BUT, it is our house for the next three years, so I'm trying to love it.

Knowing that we will be moving in three years, I obviously don't want to do anything else too costly to the home.  We used up all of our funds and energy on the kitchen :o).  So we are finding little things we can do to make the house look a little bit better, and make me a little bit happier all at the same time.

Enter the dining room light fixture.  Here is what the dining room looked like shortly before we moved in:

After we had moved in:

And now that we changed out the dining room light fixture:

not quite the same angle, but you get the idea

I never really thought that light fixture was all that bad, but my mom maintained that it was pretty ugly.  Shortly before Ryann's birthday party she decided the light really had to go, but we couldn't find a light I liked in a price range that we all liked.  Until we were randomly wandering Lowe's and stumbled upon this $79 beauty.

it was too dark to take a picture of the fixture with the light off, and I have no idea how to get a decent picture with it on.  so there you go :o).

It may not be my dream light fixture or anything, but I'd say $79 is a pretty good price.  The fixture definitely matches our decor much better, and just plain looks prettier.