Back to the Future

Last week we were up at our beach house, enjoying some incredible weather and time with family.  One new tradition my brothers and I seem to be starting is to introduce the kids to some movies that we enjoyed when we were younger.  Last year we watched "Goonies," and this year we watched "The Princess Bride" and "Back to the Future."  Little Lady was on the edge of her seat, wondering if Marty McFly would make it back to good old 1985.

Spoiler alert:  Marty does make it back to 1985, and we see the "new" life he awakens to.  That new life includes a meticulous house, decorated with all of the finest that 1985 has to offer.

At the end of the movie, instead of wondering if Doc would be able to save Marty and Jennifer's kids, I was struck by the similarities of the McFly household to my own. 

So, here we are, at the 30th anniversary of the movie (a little trivia:  Part 2 of the movie takes place in October 2015), and parts my house still resemble 1985.

Track lighting.  Nothing says "this house was decorated in the 1980's" quite like track lighting.  Especially, the big, clunky tracks from that era.

This is our living room, just one of several places where the former owners installed track lighting. Besides not being our style, the location of the track on one end of the room does not allow for great lighting throughout the room.  I think they were trying to highlight the fireplace area, but it leaves the rest of the room rather dark.  Mostly, though, we just hated the track lighting.

My new best friend, Tom the electrician, helped modernize our living room today.  Within a matter of hours he had removed the yucky track and installemd some beautiful new recessed lights.

Aaah.  So. Much. Better.

Six new recessed lights make the room so incredibly bright now.  Thanks to a nice dimmer switch (which Little Man can't stop playing with), we have so much better control over the lighting in the room.  Plus, that ugly track is gone.

My new friend Tom also helped us brighten up our dining room and entryway.  One of the "interesting" things about buying a foreclosure is that sometimes things are missing.  Like, light fixtures.  Such was the case with the dining room and front entryway.

We had resorted to floor lamps in the dining room (so sad) and nothing at all in the entryway (even sadder).  M and I finally buckled down and, with a little help from babysitters, set out to find fixtures that we liked.  Fortunately, we both fell in love with the same fixture.  So much so, that we decided to put the fixture in both spaces.

Game nights at are house are going to be better now that we will be able to see the table!  And, our guests can come and go without stumbling in the dark!

(If you look really close and you have a good screen, you may be able to see some of the paint samples we are testing out in the entryway.  More on that some other time...)

Here are some close-ups of the fixture.  We are in love with it.

So, if you're in the neighborhood, please stop by so we can welcome you into our  new, adequately-lit space!