Welcome to the 813th Metamorphosis Monday! When I first moved into the Dollhouse, it was a dim, dark place! I didn’t have any lamps, yet, and a lot of the lighting either wasn’t working properly or contained dim, low-wattage bulbs. For example, the master bedroom has an overhead ceiling fan with a light attachment, but one of the bulbs was physically shattered and the other bulb was a 40-watt bulb. I was so happy when I realized what the issue was and replaced both bulbs. That was an easy fix!
The recessed lighting in the kitchen was a mix of different wattages and a mix of warm and daylight bulbs. It was a mess! Also, the switch for the two lights above the sink would not work if the garbage disposal was being used. I had my electrician troubleshoot that and he found that the wiring was done incorrectly. Not a great photo, but the kitchen is now much brighter now and all the lighting is consistent in appearance, and the same wattage. And the garbage disposal can be run without causing the lights above to go out.
The pendant lights over the bar were super dirty. It was obvious they had not been cleaned in a very long time. Also, the bulbs inside were only 40 watts—depressingly low.
The label inside indicated they could take up to 100 watts. That must have been for incandescent bulbs because my 100-watt LEDs were too large to fit inside the globes. I was still able to upgrade them to 60 watts which was a big improvement, especially once the lights and globes were clean.
The 5 wall lights in the living room and downstairs hall were a mix of various wattages, and all quite dim. Plus, the lights themselves had not been cleaned out in a very long time and had about 3 inches of dried-up, dead bugs inside. All 5 were vacuumed out, wiped down, and the bulbs were replaced with bright, dimmable, soft white bulbs.
The light in the Butler’s pantry was old, not antique-old, but tired, not-working-correctly old.
It was one of those lights that when first turned on, it starts out super dim, and after about 5 minutes finally brightens up to a more normal brightness—which was still way too dim. The photo below was taken when I removed the lower cover from that old fixture to see if I could change the bulb for a brighter one. Once I saw how it was constructed, I didn’t even bother putting the cover back on and decided to have it changed out for a much better light.
Here’s the light that I chose for this room and I love its sleek design for this space.
My office doesn’t have overhead lighting, so the only lighting in this area in the evening (until I purchased a lamp that took a while to arrive) was a bare bulb in the office closet and a strange-looking, 3-legged light that was in the small area right outside the office door. All this crazy, mixed-up, dim, and dirty lighting gave the house a depressing feeling at night, and it was one of the first things I started updating and changing after moving in.
Right after moving in, I noticed the upstairs hall light didn’t work at all. The electrician I hired discovered that the upstairs switch was wired incorrectly. It was a 3-way switch that could be turned on from downstairs, but would not work upstairs. Again, it was wired incorrectly. I asked the electrician how something like that could happen and he said it was probably the work of a “handyman” and not an electrician.
There’s more I could share, like the dim, single bulb that was still barely working inside the garage door opener in the garage. The other bulb was missing and all that was left was the plastic cover that had a big hole in it where someone had used a bulb that was too large or the wrong wattage. All that has been corrected now since I replaced the opener entirely with a brand new, state-of-the-art Liftmaster. (Def recommend a new Liftmaster if you should need a garage door opener. It’s incredibly quiet!) The garage wiring has been redone now to accommodate two flat panel lights in the ceiling. I need to order those or go by Home Depot and get them. I will probably do that on my next trip back up. I’m going to go with the same ones I used in the garage in Georgia, as seen in the photo below.
There’s more, like the sunroom fan that couldn’t be turned off due to a broken pull chain, and the floodlight on the side of the house that couldn’t be turned off either. The floodlights have been replaced with Ring Motion Floodlights, and I’ll be sharing those in a future post. Needless to say, I’ve spent a tidy sum getting all the lighting in this home straightened out, but it’s been completely worth it. It has transformed the feel of the home, as only lighting can do!
But today’s post is actually about one light in particular, a light that I’m surprised had not already been added to this home at some point in the past. As mentioned in previous posts, when the Dollhouse was built in 1938, the room over the garage, which is now my office, didn’t exist. So for the stairway leading to the 2nd floor, there was a switch at the foot of the stairs, and another one at the top of the stairs in the upstairs hallway. The one at the foot of the stairs is visible in the photo below.
That was all that was needed for the stairway when the home was first built, but that configuration doesn’t work well now that a room exists over the garage. In the evening, when I turn off the lamp in my office to head up to bed, I find myself entering into a dark staircase as I head up. At night time, the staircase going up is quite dark and there’s no switch I can turn on to light those stairs. The switch that you see on the wall just outside the office door below only works for the light that’s directly overhead in front of the closet in that location. And there’s a big section of wall (not visible in the photo) that comes way down from the ceiling that keeps that light from shining over toward the stairs. Even if it did illuminate the stairs, which it doesn’t, there would be no way to turn it off once you arrived at the top of the staircase. After navigating those dark steps up to the dark hallway for way too many nights, I knew I needed to come up with a solution. It’s very difficult to run new wiring in an 86-year-old Cape Cod-style home since these homes don’t have attics, so I needed another answer to this problem.
So here’s what I ended up doing: I ordered a pretty console-style table for the upstairs hall. I was shocked when it came mostly assembled. I’m used to tables, cabinets and such arriving with nothing assembled, so was truly surprised when I opened the box. I didn’t even have to put the drawers together!
So this is my answer to facing a dark staircase when leaving the office at night and heading up to bed. I borrowed the single lamp I’ve been using in my bedroom (that bedroom has a light overhead) and placed it here on the table with a long extension cord running into another bedroom until an outlet could be added.
I was pretty sure an outlet could be added to this spot since there’s already a switch on the wall.
For this space, I purposely chose a console/table with curved ends so it would be easy to navigate around the table when coming out of the bathroom on the right, or the bedroom on the left. This table has a beautiful finish and feels really solid. I’m very pleased with how it looks and how it’s working in this spot. (Console table is available here: Curved Console Table for Living Room, Entry, Hallway.
So, here’s how things look now that an outlet has been installed.
I added a timer so the lamp will come on every night before dark, and go off in the morning once the sun is up. This system is working great! When I leave my office to head up the stairs in the evening, the staircase is beautifully and softly lit. The timer I chose is so much easier to use than the one I have in my entry in Georgia. Highly recommend it if you need a timer on a light. (Timer is available here: Digital Timer, Set of 2.)
I love how the table looks here in the upstairs hall. It’s such a pretty view when I open my bedroom door each morning.
And if I happen to wake up before it’s light out, I’m greeted with a beautifully lit hall.
I don’t have any decorative items in the house, so all I had available to place here for now was the lamp and a candle. This isn’t the lamp I would have chosen to go here, kinda boring having a white lamp on a white table, but it’s the only one I have available at the moment. It’s so hard finding lamps that I like, I’ve visited so many stores over the past few weeks. Every lamp seems to have a drum shade these days, and I just don’t care for those. I’m looking forward to placing something with a bit more color here in the future, but this is working fine for now.
There are still a few more lighting updates to be made here in the Dollhouse, but progress has been made! Looking forward to all the wonderful Before and Afters linked for this week’s Met Monday! Pssst: Did you know Between Naps On The Porch is on Instagram? You’ll find me on Instagram here: Between Naps On The Porch. Like to know when a new blog post is up? Subscribe for email updates (it’s free) and your e-mail will never be shared. Subscribe for free post updates here: Subscribe.
Metamorphosis Monday: Metamorphosis Monday is a party that’s all about Before and Afters. Please link up your Before and After projects like DIY projects, room makeovers, craft projects even recipes. Please do not link up Table Settings, save those for our Tablescape Thursday party on Thursday. If you are participating in Met Monday, you’ll need to link your post to the party using the “permalink” to your MM post and not your general blog address. To get your permalink, click on the name of your post, then copy and paste the address that shows in the address bar at the top of your blog, into the “url” box for InLinkz when prompted.
Susan, the console table was a beautiful choice!
Is your timer a special one – with a link?!
Liz
Oh, I meant to include that so thanks for asking. This is the one I purchased and I really do like it: https://amzn.to/3APbyB9 .
It was so easy to set up and it will be easy to adjust the time when the time change happens in the fall and spring, much easier than the ones I’ve been using at the Georgia house.
Proper lighting does make all the difference! So smart to put the hall lamp on a timer. Thanks for the party Susan, have a great week~
Thanks, Jenna! Yes, there’s something so friendly and comforting when you enter a room or space and find a beautiful light already on to welcome you, like a big hug.
I’m a lighting “geek” myself. I’m always amazed how people can just “throw” any old lightbulb into a fixture & live with it. I can imagine how much better your lighting was after you cleaned up the fixtures & replaced all the bulbs. Down the road if your looking to replace any fixtures with authentic antique ones, I just purchased two porcelain light fixtures for our bathroom remodel from a shop on Etsy called Antique Light Fixtures, here’s their website in case you want to browse: https://www.etsy.com/shop/AntiqueLightFixtures?ref=own_favorite_shops_page
Oh, great to know about that source. Thanks for the link, Sharon!
Believe it or not, I have found the most beautiful antique lamps in my local reuzit shop. I actually have more than I need. They are so hard to resist. The table you just purchased would be perfect on the landing at the top of my stairs!
I know what you mean, Maryann—I can never resist a beautiful lamp!
That is the perfect solution to the hall dilemma, Susan. Looks GREAT! I envision a big nice fluffy faux fern on the bottom of that hall table to hide the outlet and brighten things up with greenery. 🙂 Well done on all the lighting and electric updates. You do things so thoroughly and properly.
Thanks, Michele! That’s a great idea, I would love to hide that cord since it’s so visible when coming up the staircase. Love that idea!
I like that idea too! May I ask why the plug seems high on the wall? Most of mine are a few inches above the baseboards. Also, I noticed the glass door knobs! Do all the doors have them? So pretty!
I just measured and it’s around 18 inches to the center of the outlet. All the other outlets in this house are around that height, too. I just did a search online to see what is normal and the info I found online says that outlets are normally around 12-16 inches up from the floor to the bottom edge of the outlet. So that’s about the same as mine since mine measures around 18 inches to the center of the outlet. Maybe it looks high because I took some of those photos from the landing below the staircase. Kathleen, do you live in the U.S.? Maybe different countries do it different ways?
I just measured too! lol The middle of the plug is 8 inches and others are 7 inches. My Dad was an electrician so he wired our house for us back in 1977. I forgot to mention I love your idea of the timer! I live in northern California on a sheep ranch. Beautiful door knobs (thanks for close up pic). No drilled keyhole so along the way the original doors have been replaced. My grandmother had a purple glass door knob on one of her doors.
Purple glass door knobs sound so pretty! A lot of my doors do have drilled keyholes, not sure how they decided which ones to drill out. I should go through the house and document which ones are drilled and which are not drilled. All the doors in this house are original, thankfully none of the previous owners changed those. There are a few doors stored in the basement, I think the exterior door was changed in the sunroom when they extended it out a few feet, but they kept the original door. I’m glad they did that. The front door has both a screened door and a glass door, so the screened door could be used in the spring/summer/fall and the glass door could be used in the winter time. Right now the glass door is on the front of the house and the screened door is stored in the basement. My son’s home has the same style doors on his house. I guess that was a thing back then. lol
I like the idea of the outlets being nice and low. I wonder why they are so high in most houses? Mine in the Georgia house are around this high up, too. Maybe they are thinking that would be good if there was ever a flood in the house, but how rare would that be!
I don’t think there’s a code about how high or low for outlets. I like having the outlets high for charging cleaning tools. I have a floor scrubber that is chargeable, but the outlet is low and the charging lead is always in the way. If I were designing a porch again I would consider all the new tools we have that need charging! Good that they saved the original doors!
Forgot say, yes, almost all the doors thoughout the house have glass door knobs. I do love how they look. Here’s a close up of one.
I am impressed by the progress you’ve made on the Doll House – you go girl!
I want to thank you for the recommendation of the Perfect Glass window cleaner – game changer! We have a kitchen door to the backyard that is full glass and it’s where the sun sets all year. It has been so frustrating to see the streaks, wipe marks, etc. that I work hard to eliminate! But Perfect Glass is a new story – only clear glass at sunset! Thank you!
Thanks so much, Leslie! It’s getting to the point now where I am feeling a lot more at home here, more comfortable and settled.
Yay, so glad to hear that! It’s pretty amazing stuff, so glad it worked on your kitchen door! 🙂
The console table looks so so good! Perfect solution. I know you’ll find the perfect lamp and stuff to put on it once you are fully moved in. It looks just perfect from all angles. I’ve enjoyed seeing your doll house progress!
Thanks so much, Mary Anne! I do love how it looks there, just seems to suit that spot.
XXX
Sounds like you purchased a fixer upper! Hope the plumbing issues are not as extensive! Im looking to move in the next year and your blog today was a real eye opener. Won’t do anything without getting a home inspection. Even with all the fixes, I might be aware of what I could be getting into. My contractor’s famous phrase was “While we’re at it!”
More like a maintenance upper. lol So much of what I’ve done is the everyday type of maintenance that you naturally do when you live in a home, like repairing or replacing a light (or bulbs) when they no longer work correctly. In some ways it is frustrating, but in other ways, it has been so satisfying. Ha, love that phrase, it leads to a lot of other changes!
If you can find a home inspector who was previously an home insurance agent, better. I hired the same company to inspector three homes before I brought this one. He missed so many things- like there was no hot water plumbed into the laundry room. A home warranty is worth the price. Good luck to you.
Susan, you must be a very patient person. I would be so anxious to get everything moved to the Dollhouse from the Georgia house, as I would be so excited to get everything decorated and accessorized. Are you keeping the Georgia house? Just curious as I am sure others are as well.
Normally, I’m not patient at all, but it feels good to move at a slower pace and take my time with this house. I’m not sure yet if/when I’ll sell the Georgia house. I think I’ll know if or when the time is right. Right now, I’m not in any rush. I am looking forward to experiencing a winter here to see what it’s like. I love my earlier/longer spring in Georgia and how fall arrives later. But I mostly stay inside all winter so maybe the weather won’t matter so much. We’ll see.
Best of wishes for whatever you decide. Sometimes it is good to take things slowly. Love hearing about all your progress on the Dollhouse.
I think it’s great that you can keep both homes for now. It might be easier to let go of the Georgia House once you get all the pros and cons out of the way. You have your son close by and good neighbors. Keeping up the landscape might be a challenge.
Wow, fabulous & impressive (like everything you do) lighting/electrical updates. We made several bulb & fixture updates when we moved in. When we had our electrician here to check a few things, he would shake his head at some of the “Rube Goldberg” wiring he found!
Thanks so much, MerriJo! Yup, definitely had some of that in this house. I prefer to hire an electrician and know that everything is totally as it should be rather than wing it and save a few dollars. Not worth the risk of problems later.
Lighting is so important, especially in an older home. When we moved into our current house it was like vampires lived here! Good thing to get taken care of quickly. Have a great week!
Ha! Too funny! I’m not sure if it was the dark, dim lighting or the inconsistency that was bothering me the most. I just don’t understand mixing varying wattages and color temperatures all in the same room.
I look forward to your posts. I am loving what you are doing to the Dollhouse. I just upgraded some of my lighting this summer, when I had some rooms painted. You are certainly getting acquainted with the electrician. Eventually all these projects will come to an end, and you will be thrilled.
Thanks so much, Lin! Yes, he understands me well and my general pickiness. lol Yes, I’m gradually getting there. My to-do list is a lot shorter than it used to be, thank goodness!
So much prettier to have matching lights and brightnesses! We had the same problem with weird electrical when we moved into our old house, and it really is so nice to have it all fixed – congrats! Glad you found a solution to the dark hallway too. I love to leave a few lights burning at night. It’s so cozy and welcoming to walk into a softly lit area. Thanks for sharing the progress, and of course, thanks for hosting! Hope you have a great week!
I so agree! I love what lighting can do for a room, cozy perfectly describes it! Thanks, Barbara!
Isn’t amazing what just cleaning light fixtures can do? I am always amazed at how dirty they get despite my cleaning house constantly! And all those mismatched bulbs were not helping your lighting situation either. These days we all need a PhD in lightbulbs! You were so smart to call in an electrician to figure out all the quirky stuff going on. I love my home full of lamplight, it just makes everything cozy. When I go in a home with only overhead lighting, I feel light I am about to be interrogated!! Have you heard of Ting sensors? We get the service free through our State Farm homeowners insurance.
You are not kidding! I detest shopping for light bulbs and trying to figure out the “lumens” and what they equate to in watts. Yes, yes, yes! Nothing compares to lamplight! ♥ Rooms looks so much prettier bathed in lamplight as opposed to the overhead interrogation light. Hahaha I only turn that light on if I’ve dropped something tiny on the floor and can’t find it.
I really like your new table. Are you using the same electrician for all the projects you have had done? I like that he hung the Dyson hanger for you!
Yes, I have been. I know, that was so nice of him. It was his idea to put the outlet up high on the wall so the cord would not be going all the way up the wall. The closet has a weird little step thing built inside at the bottom, probably hiding plumbing or something, plus there’s a shelf overhead, so he went as high as he could with the Dyson hanger thingy. It works great the way he installed it.
You found a great solutions…and I love the table. And timers…I have tons of timers including the one you used. It is the best…those old rotary eventually start humming and drive you crazy. Love seeing how your home is shaping up!
Susan,
Thanks so much for hosting!! I really appreciate the time and effort that goes into it along with visiting all the links!!
Hugs,
Deb
Debbie-Dabble Blog
Susan, you will never know how much we appreciate not only the information you share, but the research you put into everything. I laughed about the light bulbs. When LED bulbs came out, it was very confusing. If you buy one bulb as needed, that’s where the trouble starts. I have a four part bathroom and walk in closet. Soon as I put in a daylight bulb, I realized the others were warm white- while standing on the stepladder. It drove me crazy until i could buy more bulbs. I really thought you were putting lights in the staircase like the back stairs in GA.
On the new console table, how about one of those tulip lamps with a crooked neck ? Remember the lamp you bought with a square lampshade?
Your house has more rooms and cubbyholes, it’s hard to keep up. I didn’t realize you had the butler pantry. Maybe it’s as big as the house.in GA in a different way. The electrician must love you.
The console table was a perfect fix. And I love what you’re doing with the lighting. Do you have recommendations on the best temperature (I think that’s the right word!) lights to use in certain rooms? I have a mix of lightbulbs in my home that I need to correct, especially the bathroom vanity lights. As they have blown over the years, I have apparently replaced them with a mix of soft white, daylight, etc.
Thanks, Claire! I prefer soft white in most of the rooms in my home, including the kitchen. I just don’t care for the blueish harsh light of Daylight bulbs, although sometimes those work better for garages, laundry rooms, closets and storage rooms. I would buy a couple of each and try them out in various places in your home to see what you like best.
Some lights, like the flat panel ones that I had installed in my garage, will come with 3-5 different settings, so you can pick the temperature/look that you want for wherever it’s being installed. The light I have in my Butler’s pantry was like that. Typically, you choose the temperature setting that you like when it’s being installed, although it can be changed later by opening it back up.
The bulbs that I’ve had recommended by two different electricians are the Ecosmart brand that’s available at Home Depot, so that’s what I normally buy now. I had a weird issue with the old recessed lights in my bathroom back in Georgia. One had stopped working and even though I replaced the bulb, it still wouldn’t work. It turned out as the bulbs age, they can start being sensitive to interference if you’re using a dimmer switch near by. You can read about that here: https://betweennapsontheporch.net/do-this-before-calling-an-electrician/
In some ways I miss the old incandescent bulbs that just worked without all these weird issues, but I don’t miss the way they caused my lamp shades to wear and fray from the heat those bulbs produce.
Hi Susan, I know exactly what you’re going through! Even though my current home is only 11 years old, I ended up having an electrician change all the chandeliers in the house and I replaced all the lightbulbs including the ones in the recessed lights to LED 5000K “daytime” lightbulbs. The chandeliers that were previously on there when I bought the house less than a year ago were outdated and not my style, as I lean toward a modern style and the lightbulbs were so dim, but not anymore. And on top of that, I had a painter paint the whole interior (except for my bedroom) a beautiful shade of a warm creamy white. Now my house is super bright and I love it!
I love antique lamps and have made all my lampshades. I hate the shades that come with lamps. I also love light. White walls except for my bedroom and lace curtains all over except for my bedroom. I had a great electrician for my house built in 1902. We became great friends!
Before they disappeared, I bought enough incandescent light bulbs to last me the rest of my life. However, I have learned to live with LED bulbs even though they are not healthy for eyes and age skin like the sun.
I bought all my lamps as pieces of junk and had them restored to a beautiful lamp. It was expensive, but worth it. I made and sold lampshades to afford my lamp addiction.
When I moved where I am living now, my friend had one curly bulb, no shade, in his living room. The kitchen/dining room only had a light in the vent over the stove. It was miserable. I fixed all that calling in an electrician. The bathroom had one bulb in four-bulb fixture. My bedroom had no bulb in the ugly square fixture overhead.
I must be purchasing furniture from the wrong place because I never had to put a piece together.
Your house is coming along beautifully
Thanks, Linda! I did the same thing when LEDs first came out. I really disliked how the first ones worked so I wasted a lot of money purchasing a ton of incandescent bulbs. As soon as I heard they were being phased out, I rushed to Home Depot and stocked up. I regretted that when I ended up donating them all to Goodwill a few years later.
The turning point for me was when I realized that LEDs didn’t destroy my silk shades like the incandescent bulbs did. I had two lamps in particular that I burn a lot, one in my upstairs hall and one in my entry, and I was tired of having to buy new shades for those.The heat from the incandescent lamps took its toll on the silk shades. Now my shades last beautifully, even in the lamps that I use a lot. So you may want to give LEDs another chance, they have improved greatly and they don’t produce the damaging heat that the incandescent bulbs do. The brand I like is the EcoSmart brand that Home Depot carries. That’s the brand an electrician recommended to me and I’ve been really happy with those.
Lighting is everything! I just wish I could find more traditional styles & keep hoping they’ll return again one day soon as I need a couple of new lamps. Your new console table is perfect and a table lamp there is so much lovelier than a ceiling light in the hall–so cozy. I love all the changes you’ve made to your beautiful new home thus far and know you’re super thrilled to have accomplished so much already–you’re like the energizer bunny lol!