Recently Several months ago, I shared a couple of posts about our living room remodel. In some of the images were lanterns that we installed. Many of you have inquired about those lanterns so I decided it was time they had a post of their own.

I have never been a fan of electric wired smoke detectors. I prefer the battery powered ones, especially now that they last ten years.  When we remodeled the living room, we took those smoke detectors out ( and put up battery powered ones of course!!) and decided we wanted to have some sort of light fixtures in their place. There are two spots, one on either end of the room, that have wiring for this. We could simply use the existing wiring for the light fixtures. We didn’t want to run new wire for a light switch or have to put in a junction box to new wiring and try to accommodate that inside the wall so we decided the lights would either have to be remote control or pull chain.

I knew I wanted to have a cottage style look so I thought maybe Tiffany lamps or other stained glass would work. I had them all picked out…only $145 a piece!  But then, I couldn’t find any fixture to install in the bulb socket that would then allow them to be remote control. There was some sort of item like this on the internet, but they were a bit shady in their ordering process and were always out of stock. So, what to do, what to do.

One day when we were finishing up buying last minute supplies for this project, we happened to be near the lighting section in Home Depot and saw the outdoor lights.  These lanterns were really inexpensive, less than $40 each and were absolutely perfect. We bought screw-in pull chain sockets that fit right in the light socket and then a bulb screws into that. So, for less than $100, we now have these terrific lanterns in our cottage style living room.  the wood pieces they are mounted on are just wood art plaques bought at a craft store and painted to match the living room wall. We drilled a 1.5 inch hole in the middle of each one and then fed the wiring through. Then, being careful not to hit the wiring, we screwed these plaques into the wall and then wired and mounted the light fixtures. Easy peasy! We love the way they look!

I had this idea that I had to buy something a certain way…indoor lights for this purpose. When, all along, if I had just thought a bit more creatively I could have saved myself months of frustration. I seriously spent months mulling over this issue!  I’m really happy with the choice we made.  They were a lovely addition to our living room.

What sort of creative thinking have you done to open up your possibilities? Have you been frustrated by something in your project plans and all of a sudden the solution was right in front of you? We’d love to hear about it if you’d like to comment.

Happy Fall!

The McGees