New Copper Light Fixture in the Dining Room

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When it comes to this house, the only significant lighting changes I’ve ever really made in the last couple of years have been in the kitchen and bathrooms. But now that the dining room has finally reached a decorative stage, I took a little time this past weekend to install something I’m really excited about:

Since I haven’t done many lighting projects in the house, Dad briefly came over with some extra tools (and to drop off sugar cookies… it seems Mom’s in a baking mood). He took the old one down while I assembled the new light, only then realizing that I didn’t take any before photos.

Frig. Every time, Sarah.

Anyway, back to install. The light fixture is from Urban Outfitters, ordered just a few weeks ago, but it looks like it’s already sold out and/or removed from their site. So even though I can’t point you to the exact one, I’ve picked out a few that are similar in style (but note that copper fixtures are usually more of a pendant style). Or, you can DIY a similar one of your own, like Mandi did (#4).

The light came with a bunch of extra rods to screw together and several extra feet of wire—I assume in case this fixture was supposed to hang from the top of the Eiffel Tower (I’m exaggerating of course, but not by much). At first, I wasn’t sure how high to hang it, so I turned to my BFF (Google), who promptly informed me that dining room lights need to hang about 30-34″ above the table. The lower arms were right around 34″ with only two and a half rods used, so I clipped off the rest of the excess wire and screwed it together.

After I finished installing everything (dropping the teeny tiny screws a couple of times – making me very glad to have a helper to retrieve them), we tested everything out to make sure it worked. At the time, I didn’t have the light bulbs that went with the fixture yet, so I used a single bulb from the old one to check the dimmer switch. It hung somewhat awkwardly from one of the eight arms, which made me chuckle. And this, apparently, is something I take pictures of. Go figure.

Dad hated it. I could tell because he said nothing. It’s not that different from when he likes something though… which is more like this:

But no matter. Not his house, right? At least he’s a good sport about it! I really like the contrast of the blue & copper. I think I would have been just as happy with a black fixture (similar to my pick on my dining room mood board), but the thin and modern lines are what I like most. I also like that the copper is more of a brushed finish, which keeps it from looking too red.

More photos (all of the angles made it really fun to photograph!):

The most difficult part was finding the right light bulbs. I wanted small-ish and round-ish ones, but most bulbs that are sold in big box stores these days are not all that pretty to look at as a bare bulb (which is what I needed). I also didn’t really feel like trekking to a specialty store or buying online, so I brought home the only two options available: one clear, and one white. Be sure to also check the back of the light bulb’s packaging to find out if it can be hung upside down or not (not all of them are designed to, which can be somewhat limiting if you’re lazy like me).

In person, the clear version looks better, but the white ones photograph better at night. Both work nicely on the dimmer, so I’m going with clear and stashing the white bulbs in case I want to change things up in the future (or just need to take a new photograph of the room).

With the blue walls and the copper light being two of the bolder choices in the room, I’m now leaning toward creating some neutral-inspired art to go along the back wall (originally I was thinking something more brightly colored, but that was before finding this light, and the eye’s gotta rest somewhere). It’s fun to see how the room evolves with each piece added, don’t you think? Happy weekend, everyone!