A Vintage Light Fixture And Fresh Paint

Well, the middle of the challenge is here! It is week 4 of the One Room Challenge™ and our mid century inspired entryway looks so much different than where we started. This week I am sharing the new wall paint color and the install of a vintage light fixture that we have had sitting wrapped in a blanket in the basement for years. Welcome to week 4!

This week represents what a lot of us call the messy middle.

Where the room you are working on it in a constant state of chaos, there is construction dust and supplies laying everywhere, only a few things are marked off the checklist, and you are dealing with delays, setbacks, and adding more items to the to do list.

Every project has a messy middle. The challenge is to not let it get to you and just keep going.

For week 4 of the One Room Challenge® I am sharing not only the freshly painted walls in the entryway but the install of a vintage light fixture. Below is how we left the room on Week 3 with a new wood accent wall.

We have a nearby store located in Knoxville, TN that specializes in mid century furniture and décor items.

It is a dangerous place for my husband and I to shop.

You have seen a few things we picked up there – mostly impulse buys – in our mid century sunroom and in our family living room update from previous year’s challenges, and a small makeover I did last year for our dining room.

Vintage Lightolier Shoji Light Fixture!

Years ago we picked up a vintage George Nakashima inspired light fixture by Lightolier. It is a Lightolier Shoji Light with a Japanese flare that is a beautiful combination of glass and hickory wood with a grid design accent. I honestly can’t remember what we paid for it but we have been waiting to install it for some time.

Originally it was intended for the main hallway makeover when we removed yet another popcorn ceiling in our home, took out the nasty stained carpet, and gave it a focal wall at the end of it.

However, I decided it was too big for the hallway and really wanted it to get the attention it deserved by installing it instead in the entryway of the house.

So it was wrapped in a blanket and stored in the basement for the future entryway project. Little did we know at the time that would be 4 years later before we would ever install the light fixture.

But here we are, finally getting around to the entryway project and giving this neglected vintage light fixture a permanent home.

Thankful for a challenge that gets another room in my home finished!

The sales tag on this light fixture dated it back to 1960.

A 1960’s light fixture should really be rewired before using it. At least in my opinion.

So that is what we did recently on a rainy Saturday afternoon. The next few pictures shows just how old and dry rotted looking the original wiring was.

The old wires were all the same color and not like today’s wiring in white and black for safety!

We replaced the sockets and all of the old wiring for this light fixture. Basically the only thing we used was the decorative shell of the fixture.

With four light sockets to change out and rewire, four hands made for easier work.

Especially when it came to hanging the fixture. The way the wood frame of the light fixture attaches to the electric part is very very tricky. There is no way just one person could hang the fixture and tighten the screws for the cover at the same time. With just two of us working to hang it, I couldn’t get a picture of this part of the project. But you get the idea.

Good thing we installed long lasting LED lightbulbs! Neither one of us wants to repeat that part again anytime soon.

I am so glad we decided to hang it in the entryway instead of the hallway. The style is a perfect accent of woods with the mid century furniture in the living room as well.

Do you see the new paint color on the walls?

Can you see the subtle difference since the photos from last week?

The walls have been painted in Sherwin Williams Alpaca HGSW2467 in Satin.

Just a sneak peak at the chair we are considering for the entryway.

I first saw this color in a friend’s new home a few years ago and loved how neutral it was with just a hint a gray.

So then another friend decided to use the same color in her house this year, and it reads more of a darker gray. In both houses I still loved how the color varied in each home.

This is how I usually pick a paint color for our home.

Before just deciding on the Alpaca color though, I taped that swatch along with about 6 other light gray colors – and some options for the paint color for the pocket doors – on all the walls and even on the new wood accent wall.

Then I just left them taped to the wall for a week.

I would stand in the room at different times of the day, move the swatches around, and eliminated them one by one.

In the end, the Alpaca color was still a good choice for me.

I can also tell you that each week when I sit in my friend’s dining area for bible study and see her walls painted in the same color, it looks different in her home than it does in our entryway because of our large windows.

And yes, I still like it in both places. I am considering using the same color in my daughter’s room makeover this fall. We shall see.

So the vintage light fixture is up and the walls have fresh paint. My husband is still working on the painting of the pocket doors downstairs in the basement and painting the new trim. Not sure exactly what I will be sharing next week but there are so many little details still left to do.

See you next week,