Replacing the Hallway Light with a Modern Flushmount

When we got the house, all of the fixtures were either fan lights or 80's flushmounts. I'm all for retro, but these were not pretty. The hallway had two lights in it, but once we took them off, we realized that one of the set of wires was live all the time. That means that it wasn't intended to be a fixture but rather something like a smoke alarm. We decided to take out the non-working light and install the smoke alarm back. That left us with one flushmount to light the entire hallway. At first, I was looking at these CB2 flushmounts because they are gorgeous. But since there was only going to be one light, I could justify have a light with sides like that, I needed something that would light up the entire hallway.

We ended up with this Globe Brushed Nickle Flushmount from Home Depot. The only downside was that is was brushed nickle and not matte black, like the rest of the house. But since the fixture was only $17 ( !! ), I decided to spray paint the base a pretty matte black finish to match the theme of the house.

Here is how the hallway looked like before we pulled up the carpets and painted, refinished the floors, updated the doors, and put down the quarter-round. It was pretty gross and the light did nothing for the space.

And here is the totally transformed hallway with the flushmount light. The black looks better than the nickle would have and the globe lights up the entire hallway.

I used Rustoleum's Black Satin Paint and Primer (they changed the look of the label) and didn't put a top coat on it since it wouldn't be in reach. Make sure to cover the LED so it doesn't get painted and take the stickers off! Two coats did the job since it had primer in it.

Another reason I choose this light was for the bulb. Well, lack of bulb that is, it's an LED! I know what you're thinking, no one likes that awful blue light LED's give off and is why they never buy them for the home. But this LED is a Warm White, meaning that it gives off the same color as an incandescent. To be more specific it's a 2700 on the Kelvin scale which is ideal and actually looks more like a Soft White than a Warm White. The box gave a great diagram for people who don't know anything about the Kelvin scale and where the light fell on it.

It turned out so much better than I thought it would! The globe brings a nice circle shape in a house full of straight lines. The matte black stands out among the gray and white and makes a good statement piece for the room. Next, I'm gonna find a way to take off that nasty pull string for the attic stairs.

Once we installed our new light, I came across this incredibly similar one in Lauren Liess' foyer! It looks so similar!! Hers is bigger and without a doubt more expensive. But it made me happy to think that my taste and idea for the cheap light was like a designer who's taste I admire. I just need a better camera to photograph it! By the way, her book Habitat, is one of the best design books I've read.