New Lighting For Small Mudroom & Basement Stairs, Plus, A Wonderful Surprise!

Happy Weekend! I have a few Dollhouse updates to share, updates that I’ve been hoping to have done ever since moving into the Dollhouse. In this photo from when the home was listed for sale several years back, we see the back hallway that leads both out to the garage and around the corner to the basement. The light in that small entry/mini mudroom has been on my radar ever since moving in.

I don’t think it was an original light to this 1938 home since it looked very much like the original garage lights in the Georgia house, and that home was built in the early 80s. (Photo below is a “Before” picture of the garage. You’ll find the completed renovation here: Garage Renovation.)

Since the back entry/mini mudroom is a few steps down from the main floor, that light has always seemed a bit low in that room, almost at eye level.

A few days ago, I had it replaced with a sleek, flush-mount light that emits a cleaner, brighter glow. (Light is available here: Flush-Mount Light.) My goal was to make the light sorta just disappear: functional but almost invisible since it was almost at eye level when walking down the steps.

Please ignore the imprint where the old light hung. When making changes, things often have to get worse before they get better. Painting will be one of the last things I do in this house since it doesn’t make sense to paint until I know there won’t be any more changes that affect the walls and ceilings. I hope to get that started soon, though. I really don’t like seeing areas that need painting like this!

Staircase Lights! When rounding the corner in the mudroom to head down the stairs to the basement, this was the view: dark basement stairs. Though there is a light in the mudroom and another one at the foot of the stairs in the basement, I felt the steps would be much safer if they were lit, as well. When I first moved in, there were two large, non-working, tulip-shaped lights on either side of the staircase near the top. They were the kind of lights that you normally see hanging from a ceiling in the center of a room. I’ve never seen that style of lighting sticking awkwardly out from a wall, and after changing out the bulbs, I discovered they no longer worked. I had those removed a while back since they no longer worked and made it difficult to move larger items (like furniture) into the basement.

Having added wall lights to the basement stairs in Georgia a few years back, and loving how those turned out, I decided to add those same lights to the basement staircase here in the Dollhouse.

We used five lights for those 14 steps leading to the basement in the Georgia house. The Dollhouse basement staircase only has 8 steps, so I decided to go with three this time around.

Fortunately, there’s an unfinished storage room on that side of the stairs, so it was easy for the electrician to reach that area to install the lights. I have come to love this type of lighting for basement stairs. It’s also great for deck stairs, too. I like how it doesn’t protrude out into the stairway itself. It’s subtle but functional, perfect for a passageway like a staircase. (Staircase lights are available here: Staircase Lights.)

Question: Does it bother you when entering a room, if the light switch that’s nearest you operates a light that’s way across on the other side of the room, while the switch that’s farthest away from you turns on a light that’s right over your head? Ever since moving into this house, I’ve been on a mission to get the electrical “stuff” all straightened out. Shortly after moving in, I had several 3-gang, vintage, dimmer switches (the wobbly, spinning, round-knob type) swapped out for updated dimmers like you see below. The round ones were so old that whenever they were pressed or turned, they would often fall off onto the floor. When those were replaced in the kitchen and upstairs hall, I made sure their positions made sense for the lights they turned on in a room. I had yet to do that in the basement, so that’s another change that took place recently.

This was literally me every time I entered or left the basement—trying to remember which switch worked which set of lights in that room. I kept thinking that my brain would eventually get used to their nonsensical locations, but Nope. A year later, I was still having to reverse-engineer my brain every time I entered or left the basement—and about half the time, I got it wrong. Argh!

Thankfully, that issue is now fixed! The electrician repositioned the three dimmer switches in the basement, as well as two at the top of the mudroom stairs, so now those naturally work the lights that you would expect. I can’t tell you what a relief that is! No more mental gymnastics every time I enter and exit the basement. Sometimes it’s those little annoyances that can leave you exhausted at the end of the day, ya know? If you have any switches in your home that are like this, call an electrician and get those swapped around. I promise, it’s worth it!

On Monday, I’ll be sharing a preview of all the changes coming for the guest bath. Everything is ready now, I just need to call the wallpaper hanger and give him the go-ahead. New lighting has been installed—wanted to get those in before the wallpaper went up, the wallpaper has been chosen, as have the towel and TP holder, and the shutters were installed today. Looking forward to sharing those updates with you on Monday! I’m so happy with the direction that room is headed!

Excited About This! By the way, did you happen to notice the blue, framed pictures hanging on the staircase wall in this photo at the beginning of this post? That photo is from when the Dollhouse was listed for sale 3-4 years ago. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?!

I just noticed those framed pictures for the first time today when I pulled that photo to share the mudroom/basement staircase with you! Yesterday, I texted Katie, a previous owner of the Dollhouse for 20+ years, to ask if, by any chance, those were blueprints. She quickly replied that they are and that she was just saying to her daughter a day or two ago that she needs to drop those off to me. Oh my gosh, I can’t tell you how excited that made me—to hear those blueprints are still around! She said that a previous owner dropped those by to her a few years after she moved in so many years ago.

You may remember that the sellers from whom I purchased the Dollhouse dropped by the blueprints for the 1951 addition above the garage a few months back. The seller told me that he had planned to keep them and have them framed, but had a change of heart. I’m so glad he did! To me, these are like gold!

The blueprints above are for the room over the garage that I am currently using as my study/office. I hope the ones that Katie has are for the rest of the house! I can’t wait to see those! It’s so interesting to me how all these blueprints for the Dollhouse keep traveling away from the home, only to be returned a few years later. Katie said she had kept them, fearing the new owners wouldn’t take care of them. I totally understand that feeling. It’s amazing how attached we get to our homes, and I’m so glad that she kept those safe and sound over the last 4 years.

I need to do an updated post to share what I’ve learned about having blueprints framed. It wasn’t exactly the answer I had hoped for, but it’s the one that keeps them the safest. I’ll share what I’ve learned about that in a future post in case you find it interesting or helpful.

Happy Weekend, dear Friends!