Dining Room Updates!!- Project #6

Before with basic light

Light in the box

Hubby getting started

Finished product

Love it!!

Close up of hydrangeas, shells and willow branches

Close up of the bar with personalized plate & wine cork wreath

This weekend started off wonderful! I picked up the second dresser I purchased and than headed to a happy hour at my gf's house which turned into a slumber party complete with my gf's sleeping in her son's bunkbeds.. it was a blast! I am so blessed to have great gfs who have helped me thru the good and the bad times. Shout out to my DHHC sisters!!  Saturday I picked up the new bed for the guest room and ran some errands. That evening we  went to dinner with Jon & Kelly.

Sunday rolls around and I wake up to my marathon running hubby putting up my christmas gift! My dining room chandy!! I love that man!!

 When we purchased the house it had no lights (foreclosure). So my mom who had just built a new house had custom lights put in hers and gave us all the basic standard grade lights for our house- which is awesome because they were free and we got lights. But I wanted to complete the dining room and had my eye on this light for awhile. Nate suprised me at christmas. It has been siting in the box forever and I thought he would get to it over spring break. But he did it this weekend.

The light was purchased at Lowe's for a fraction of what Pottery Barn charges. It is a antiqued bronze with a candle light glow. It is gorgeous. Where the light is centered on the ceiling it doesn't sit directly over the dining room table so we got a swag hook and moved over the center of the table. I love it and can't stop staring at it.

We ran into a couple problems along the way with installation.  I have never installed lighting- so Nate told me to interwine the cord with the swag chain while he worked on the other parts of the lights..well the cords to attach in the ceiling one is white and one is black. Well on our light they are both black and one had a white tag to identify it..well little did I know this was important and I pulled it off while intertwining with the swag .   Needless to say Nate was a little irritated when he discovered this. I called the help line but being Sunday no one answered. We decided to treck our way to Lowes and open the same lights and see which one it was that was suppose to be the white cord. After a thirty min debockle.. we discovered which one was the white cord and I learned my lesson!! So we went home back to install the lighting. Nate gets the light up and it is perfect- turns power back on and nothing!! Oh he was frustrated. We started at 11am and by this time it was almost one. We ate lunch and than Nate took the metal piece down that holds the wires to reexamine the connections. When he used the wire bolts to wrap the lights wires with the houses wires one of the wires snapped and wasn't connected. So he re-connected them and than wahla!! It worked and is fab!! He than decided to hang our new mantal!! I'll post those pics in a seperate posts so it isn't all pics!!  Did I say enough I love this MAN!!

But I love the dining room now. I want to refinish the old farmhouse mission style table in black..but that will have to wait.  I added the beautiful dried oregon hydrangeas to the willow and sea shells on the iron piece and I love the cottage costal look it adds.  We recieved that iron piece with a vase for a wedding gift. The pictures don't do any justice to our sisal Pottery Barn rug.. But I love it. It has light blue, dark blue, brown, red and lime green stripes on a tan background. I think it also brings in a more casual look and beachy feel!!  I think it is a marvelous room and very original! Hope you enjoy and Happy Monday!!