Let there be Light!

OK, so blog post titles are supposed to be punny or at least a little witty.  This is neither, but it IS about lighting, so I've got that going on, right?

When you have a toddler in the house I think it's almost inevitable that certain items of home decor will bite the dust.  My little demon seems to have a penchant for lighting.  So far he's busted 2 lamps (and countless light bulbs in Christmas window candles - we eventually gave up on those).  Most recently was the floor lamp in the living room, which had already been 3/4 destroyed and was held together by electrical tape when Chris pushed it over plunging us into darkness.  I'm currently looking for the right thing - must be cheap because chances are he's just going to do it again.

Not too long before that he climbed onto the side table and broke the silly little table lamp we had.  I put out this one from our desk area.

It's a fun little Target light, but not at all right in this spot.  It took some searching but I finally found something that would meet all my needs.  A oil rubbed bronze finish, drum shade, swing arm lamp on the cheap!  Check it out here.  Once all was said and done I got the lamp, a cord cover and free shipping - WAHOO!

It arrived today (4 days after ordering) and I busted the box open.  Usually mounting or hanging stuff on walls is Jason's realm, but I wanted this done.

Following the instructions for the lamp, I removed the mounting plate.  I held up the lamp to get a sense of where I wanted it to hang on the wall.  Then I used a level to make sure the mounting plate was level and I marked where my screws would go.

A few holes and screws later, it was ready for action!

It was easy to slip the lamp onto the mounting plate and secure it with the finials.  Next up is the cord cover. This was another fairly easy install but I wanted it to look just right so again I used the level to mark where it would go.  Two more screws and BAM!

The cord fits inside that little channel and the covers just snap over it for a polished look.  I like it.  Nice and neat.  After cleaning up, unwrapping the plastic from the shade, and plugging it in - here's what it looks like:

Big improvement!  It looks like the shade is a little lopsided, but I think that's photographer error :)

The side table is begging for some sort of a makeover.  I see paint and maybe some stenciling in it's future...what do you think??

UPDATE:  So I left a comment with a link over on YHL and Sherry said she likes the new light and the curtains :) I feel all starstruck and warm and fuzzy when she comments back to me.