Come on Baby Light My Entry

In writing the new roof post, I realised that I had never posted about the inexpensive entry updates we've been making.

But first of all, let me introduce you to my entry way.

Yes, it has great architectural lines and lots of windows bringing light into the house, but it's not sporting such great accessories.  Let me explain, and as pictures speak a thousand words....

Step #1 in our entry makeover was to tackle the house numbers and light.... these guys.  The light is visually f-ugly and it had one light bulb and a max wattage of like 10, so we literally had guests almost falling down the stairs it was so puny!  We have this big huge expanse of brick, and one teeny weeny light!

Looking at these pictures the numbers don't look too bad (other than that they are brass- ugg!), but up close and personal was a different story.  After poking around online for new cool numbers (like these or these), I figured  why not try and work with what we've got for now to keep costs down (hello basement reno!).

So, I busted out some chrome spray paint I had kicking around, and a few swipes later I had some clean and presentable house numbers.



The light problem was a little harder to solve, and I was on the hunt for a light for ages. I knew exactly what I wanted, my criteria were:

1. Bright enough to walk safely
2. Clean, modern, and simple design
3. Shine light both up and down to show off our house's cathedral design (my favourite feature) and our orange brick wall
4. White or chrome coloured to work with the rest of our exterior "accessories"

I scoured lighting shops and the web for designs, and I found fixtures that would work, but I also found their $150+ price tag for the big size we wanted a bummer when I could see it in my head but wasn't sure if it's actually look that cool in real life.  So you can imagine the high-fives and fist pumps that went on when a trip to our local Restore resulted in H and I taking home the EXACT light of my dreams for only $30.  So, sorry to any bystanders that may have been trampled as I raced across the store to get to it, but it was love at first sight!

And... the result we L.O.V.E.  Super simple, modern, and non-distracting during the day .....
But uber high impact at night. 

And, something crazy happened which I like to think proves that this light was our house's destiny... The first night we turned it on, we realized that the downward beam of light perfectly illuminates our house numbers!

See, it's destiny I tell ya!  Total budget on the entry makeover to date was only $30 (for the light) since we already had the chrome paint, but if I throw that in then it's be ~$36, not too shabby, eh! 

Next up for our entry, is a new mailbox (something similar but in white like this), but my big dream is for a new door and sidelights.  For the door, I'm thinkin' something by these guys like this:

The Grover (A) - but staggered to the left to follow our roof line

The Langston - love the pop of colour this brings!

But with clear sidelights kinda like this one on the left (both also by these guys):

Sigh.... house p0rn at it's best no?!   Hey honey, if you are reading this, this'd be a great gift for our wood anniversary?  Oh wait.... that's 5 years of marriage... I am not sure I can wait 3 more years for a new  door..... maybe for Valentines Day and Christmas next year?