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Let There be Light

Renovations· The Bedroom· The Guest Bedroom #1· The Living Room

27 May

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When we moved into the house, one of the first quirks we quickly noticed was the lighting. The bathroom has old looking hanging lights and the master bedroom’s lights are connected to plugins. There is nothing overhead in the living room and the “middle area” has two lights with two different light switches. This was from the old entrance and separation from the ‘regular house’ and mother-in-law apartment.

Needless to say, updating the lighting and making it work together a bit more was a top priority. And with the exposed walls in the office, mudroom and guest bedroom, we decided this was a perfect opportunity to start adding in the lighting we wanted.

Searching for lighting is hard, mainly because there are so many different styles.

We didn’t really think about how much lighting has an effect on a house, but now that we have installed a few new styles, it can definitely transform the space.

DSC_1694

Both Brett and I are huge fans of recessed lighting, so that was quite an easy option. He even picked them out all by himself! We put two lights in the “middle area” and one in the new hallway. All three are connected to each other and can be turned on and off at two separate switches.

The fans on the other hand were a bit of a challenge to decide on. Throughout the main floor, we are wanting to incorporate the farmhouse/industrial style. We like the rustic look but also the industrial style.

DSC_1692

In the guest bedroom, we found this amazing fan which hit our look to a T – the metal light bulb coverings with the dark brown finish on the fans creates the perfect industrial-rustic style.

DSC_1693

Now that we have the dimmer recessed lighting installed in the “middle area” I can’t tell you how many times Brett has walked around at night saying, “Oh. Is it too dark in here? Let me just turn these on… Oh, too bright? Here, let’s bring them down a bit.” It’s all about cheap entertainment here at The Nest 🙂

Love the rustic-industrial style? Here are a few more options that we love:

What do you think about our choices? We’d love to hear your thoughts! And if you haven’t yet, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter. We send out weekly updates with recent posts and other great tips and tricks!

All our best,

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Related posts:

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  1. North Country Nest Book Club February & March 2016 - North Country Nest says:
    June 6, 2016 at 6:58 am

    […] This past weekend was a busy one! Brett worked all day Saturday and framed in the doors for the guest bathroom and office. He installed the wall between the guest bathroom and mudroom closet. On top of that, we now have light in the mudroom – we went with the same recessed lights that are in the hallway. […]

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oh, hi!

We’re Brett and Kelly! A husband and wife team tackling our first complete home renovation. We love all things DIY, our two furbabes and lazy summer days out on the lake. Our mission? To share the journey of turning a house into a home.

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the archives

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Last summer, Brett and I didn’t get out on the w Last summer, Brett and I didn’t get out on the water at all – not once did we take the boat out.

Given the fact that we live in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, I felt like the worst Minnesotan. How could we not enjoy the water when there’s three within five miles of our house?

This year? We've been able to get out on some body of water at least once per week - how cool is that?!

What’s been really great about these last few months is that we’ve seemed to have found a nice “balance” between go-go-go and taking time to enjoy whatever it may be.

While this season of relaxed work is probably not the norm, it's been a pleasant surprise that we'll be enjoying for as long as we can!

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The second addition? Giving a little refresh to this laundry room by pushing back the washer, dryer and cabinets.

We finished it wayyyy back in 2017 but there was a small frustration: the washer and dryer cover the window.

Every few months we'd circle back to the space and see how we could make it work. It was one of those little issues that might not seem like a big deal to anyone else, but here's the thing - you deserve to LOVE your home.

After four and a half years of constant projects, I often find myself wondering why in the hell we are doing this and I keep coming back to this idea that a home is meant to be loved, to share a story, to work for you, to be a space that you can relax in and enjoy.

So while the washer and dryer covering a window might be insignificant to a visitor, for us, it's something we see every day. And, after three years of brainstorming, we finally found a solution that felt good.

I guess that's the bonus of being four years into a reno - the idea of knocking down a wall seems like an easy project nowadays 😂😂
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Hope you all had a safe and happy Fourth of July! 🧨
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New post #ontheblog today all about the lawsuit we've been in with our neighbor for the last year. And it started all because of our garage.

In short: three years ago the county required us to get a survey done on our property in order to build the garage. The results showed that the easement our neighbor was using to access her property was not in the right place - it was inside our property lines instead of outside.

Fast forward to July 2, 2019 when we were served lawsuit paperwork from said neighbor, claiming the rights to the easement location - and it's been a long, stressful process since then.

But, we received the good news last week from our lawyer - everything is finalized and we can finally put this whole mess behind us!

Cheers to starting the week off on a high note!
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So, here's to continuing to find that balance of function and design - and I'd love hear, have you compromised anything because it just didn't fit with how your family lives in your home?!?

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