Finding Affordable Library Lighting | Office Makeover

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for more info.

If you’ve been following me on Instagram then you know that I’ve been eyeball deep (totally stole that analogy from you Tommie!) in our home office/library makeover since the new year. It’s been all consuming. It’s no wonder really since I kind of feel like it’s been in progress since we moved in. Though the use of the words, “in progress”, would be stretching it a bit. I painted it one year and tried painting the laminate furniture a few years later. Which worked but I just wasn’t digging it so it just kind of sat there in a state of suspended animation. Until now…

There was this one day, after many a drawings and diagrams and office idea pinning marathons when what I really wanted finally materialized. And by materialized I mean I could see exactly how I wanted it to look in mind and at that moment I thought the hardest part of the mission was over. Until I started to search for library light fixtures and realized there were very few I could afford.

Like this gorgeous 15″ Edison Sconce. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted in a light fixture. It’s different, it’s trendy while still being traditional and it has an Edison bulb. It’s also $357.60 and I needed six. I don’t even think I could bring spend that if I only needed one. But it is beautiful, isn’t it? So let’s all take a minute to enjoy it here in this picture…for free.

I’ve always known I had caviar taste on a beer budget but this was getting ridiculous. And if you don’t believe me, do a quick Google search for library lights and you’ll see what I mean. This one (with two Edison bulbs!) $329.00 and apparently doesn’t come in the brass anymore. It wouldn’t really matter if it did. It would have cost me $1947 + tax and shipping for 6 of them.

And then I saw this one and assumed it was cheaper because it was smaller. Dumb. Just dumb. $382.50

Then I saw this one and I thought, I don’t care how much it is. I just plain love it and and I. will. have. it. $600. EACH!!!! Ouch.

Finally I decided my problem was searching for library lighting. People with libraries have caviar taste on a caviar budget. Maybe I should go back and search for picture lighting. They were after all my fist love for the bookshelves we’d be putting in our office/library (but not in the rich people kind of way). That’s when I found this one and immediately loved it in all it’s chunkiness. Until I saw the price tag….$359.90. And that was the sale price. It was orginally $509.85. So if you think about it like that, it’s a steal. Sort of.

Clearly I have to scale things down a bit. At this point I’m realizing that the lighting, at this rate, is going to cost me more than the whole of the renovation materials list and that’s just plain crazy. So when I spotted this more modest fixture I felt like I was on to something. And I sort of was. It is cheaper….$248.00.

Now I’m have to give myself a little pep talk. I’m near tears thinking that if I get to have any library lights at all they will be ugly and cheap and disgusting and…and… Most days I pride myself on being able to find a deal without sacrificing style. Other days I just wish I had money to blow. Only I realized that if I every spent $600 on a light fixture, especially a really small one, it would likely keep me nights even if I did have the money.

So I was extremely excited when I found this little guy. Brass – check! Funky – check! Edison bulb – check! Plus, it’s handmade – Bonus! I seriously considered these at $65 each. I really did love it but it was still more than I wanted to spend. It would have cost me $390+ for 6 and that was almost as much as I had paid for all of the materials to build our new library. In the end, I just couldn’t do it. Though I definitely think I’ll revisit these for another space.

I had a look in my mind all along for this space and what I kept seeing were these picture lights, which can also be quite expensive. After days of searching I finally found these {affiliate link:} Westinghouse Lighting 14-Inch Picture Light Fixture
on Amazon for just $33.99 ea with free Prime shipping.

I won’t lie. I did ask myself whether this was a style sacrifice I could live with or whether I should have coughed up some more change and gone with a less thrifty choice. Then they came in…

Then I was all like, Dang Jamie! You’re good!

Do you feel like this was a sacrifice worth making? I can’t wait to show you the completed project. Stay tuned for the reveal and, of course, all the good stuff in between: How we added light fixtures when we couldn’t add another switch AND made them remote control and more.

Other Posts in this Series:

• IKEA Hack Office Makeover – The Reveal

• Part 1 Building in Billy

• Part 2 Building in Billy

• Part 3 Remote Control Lights & New Outlets

• Part 4 Shop the Look – COMING SOON

• Giant Framed Postcard – COMING SOON

• Affordable Library Lighting

• Office Ceiling Light Fixture

• $20 File Cabinet Makeover

• Turning a Photo in a Giant Watercolor Wallprint