Ridding the world of a lighting atrocity

Have you ever noticed that sometimes the things in our homes that bother us the most are the last things we deal with? Or is this some sick personality quirk of mine?

It was almost exactly eight years ago that I first laid eyes on what would become our first (and hopefully only) house. After looking at a lot of houses that I swore had "potential" (and with my rose-colored glasses a hole through the floor leading straight to the ground was classified as "potential") and spending a lot of time talking about "good bones" even if those bones were built by someone without a clue and resembled the Leaning Tower of Pisa, this house was a breath of fresh air.

I first viewed it with my sister-in-law, fell immediately in love with it, and called my man (who is now my husband) and told him we were buying it. Fortunately, he agreed.

I remember that first viewing well. We walked into the kitchen and I looked around, thinking it was cute. And then I saw the light fixture over the sink. It was a hideous thing resembling one of those multi-bulbed vanity lights except with roses or something sort of carved into it. And I remember thinking (if not saying), "Well, that's going to need to change."

 The world's ugliest light fixture? Probably not, but it could be in the running.

Fast forward eight years. We've changed or redone the floors throughout the house, painted both bedrooms, completely revamped the yard and done a few other little projects. And that whole time, the light fixture I hated from the moment I saw it has remained. I think we get used to these things in our homes and don't really even notice them anymore.

 The new and improved light fixture. On a side note, funny how I never noticed just how ugly my neighbor's boat is sitting RIGHT on our property line. Since he only comes to the house four times a year and has never used the boat in the eight years we've lived here, you would think maybe he could keep it somewhere else. The Viburnums I planted there are just not growing fast enough!

Well no more. The light fixture (not the world's ugliest, but I think it's right up there) is gone. I replaced it with a something quite a bit more rustic, but I think it looks good, and will look even better once we get the walls painted (how sick are you of hearing that caveat?). Best of all, it directs the light down at the sink, where we need it. Two more new light fixtures to install in the kitchen and then I'm done with lighting for awhile (until we put in undercabinet lights).

So what's your project that never happened?