Let There Be Light

I’ve lived through two major home renovations (on the same house) so you’d think I’d have all the light fixtures I need. Well I don’t. After you’ve spent a load on an electrical, the last thing you want to do is spend even more money than it would have cost to do it right the first time. Not bitter, I promise. Even without a reno, electrical is just not a sexy bill to pay. You don’t look any cuter or have any new shoes. But we all need light. And sometimes we need light in tough spots. Today I’m sharing my lighting solutions for tough spots that do not require electrical or dry wall work. AKA- super cheap. And cheap is my sexy.

This all started with our daughter’s bunk bed. She needed a reading light for her lower bunk. We tried clip on lights but they wouldn’t clamp anywhere we needed or the battery would die after a week or so. I knew I wanted something that plugged in (luckily there was an outlet nearby). She was going to use this every single night so a battery-powered option wasn’t going to work. There was no place for a sconce, even with an arm it would have been awkward and cumbersome. I also had a very high maintenance requirement: that the on/off switch be on the light itself for convenience (and not on the cord so she’d have to fish for it every night). That’s a tough combination of requirements. Oh, and I didn’t want to pay a lot. I came across these light bars from home depot. Problem solved. They should just go ahead and sell these with every bunk bed in america. Ps. This picture was not staged at all. My children read quietly every single night without prompting, never fight, speak five languages and then nod off to church hymns. Oh wait, that’s not true.

Now, These are little puck lights are perfect for spots with no outlet. They give off a ton light for their size. I also just thought to put one by the rocking chair in my son’s nursery. He is two, can I still call it that? It’s so nice to turn off the main light, read him a book with under this light and not have to get up to turn it off. Perhaps I rock my child to sleep too long, but that’s another blog post. I also didn’t want to put up anything permanent because the rocking chair won’t be there for much longer. Sniff.

Any cabinets that need a light? Puck lights come in a two-pack. Go crazy.

One thing we did do right in our renovatoin was we used under stair space for a cleaning supplies storage closet. But we weren’t smart enough to put a light in there. Effff ! Again, we didn’t have an outlet, but it is sort of big space. Another horizontal light bar, but this one is cordless. I’m okay with a battery here, because we don’t use it that often. Done!

So whatever your lighting handicaps are, hopefully there was something here for you. My hope is that I have at least one person just walking aimlessly around their house asking themselves where they need light.