(This post is prefaced by apologies for the shotty photography.  One of these days I’ll learn to remember to take pictures during daylight hours on a tripod….)

Continuing on our kitchen adventure, there is one thing that has been just NAGGING at me since we moved in.  Its presence has offended me since I walked in the door.  The culprit:

The world’s ugliest gold-plated cabinet knob

So on one of our many trips to Home Depot over the last few weeks, I knew I had to find a replacement IMMEDIATELY.  Lucky for me, I found a new brushed silver version that was sold in a 10 piece multi-pack.  This value pack was a lifesaver as we had 18 knobs to replace!

Once I knew they were within budget, I knew the little gold ones’ days were numbered. Why wouldn’t I switch them out for $45 and about 10 minutes worth of work?!  Now some of you may say that’s a LOT of cash for something so insignificant.  But I’ve swapped out knobs on dressers, kitchens, etc and they ALWAYS make a difference.  I’ve never regretted it and provided you save the offending originals, you can take your pretty knobs with you when you leave.  95% of knobs like this are all installed with a single, universally-sized screw which makes replacement a snap.

Before (insert sad trombone here)

After (and the heaven’s just opened up and harps are playing my favorite tune)

Now on this same trip to Home Depot and thanks to the moving coupon we signed up for, I knew that I still had some cash left so I decided to fix another simple, but glaring problem in our kitchen.

We are the proud renters of an apartment with boob lights (yes, that’s plural).  We have a horrendous monstrosity that matched those gold knobs currently hanging in our kitchen.  His (or should I say hers?!) days are also coming to a close.

But while I prep that DIY (thinking a little John & Sherry action here like I did 2 apartments ago for the same problem), I figured I’d fix the sheer lack of light it puts out.

Exhibit A:

SHADOWS.

How is a girl to chop an onion without chopping her finger which I have been known to do from time to time….

Or wash dishes in the dark?!

So thanks to a bit of searching and the eagle eyes of Jefe, we found these little self-sticking, battery operated puck lights.  We needed something that wasn’t permanent and I preferred to not have to worry about finagling a cord.  I also didn’t want something super expensive on the off chance the adhesive wasn’t so easy to remove later on and they become a permanent part of the kitchen.

Now check out the beauty:

Now that I see this picture, I think I need 1 more for the sink…

Based on the “lip” on the underside of our cabinets, it hides the puck lights perfectly and the light they cast looks like the nicer, permanently installed version.  And the best part – they’re LED without casting that ugly blue light which was a serious prerequisite of mine.

In all honesty, these only get 4 stars in my book.  They have an auto shut-off feature after 30 minutes which in theory is great since it saves the battery… until you find yourself hands deep in raw hamburger making dinner and these suckers all decide to go off at once.  Overall though, I’m really pleased with our $12 finds.

Since I ended up using all 3 puck lights we purchased under the sink side of the room, I need to make one more trip to find another option for over the stove that puts out a bit more light and can be left on for much longer periods of time.

There a couple of alternatives Home Depot offered, but we wanted to test out our little puck lights first to see if they were even an option with how much light they put out.  Ultimately, we may have to resort to a wired situation here, which I don’t love, but I just feel like this area needs a whole lot more light so I can see what I’m cooking.  No one wants burnt bacon, now do they?!

And since I know it has been awhile and I have yet to show you the rest of the place since we moved in, here are a few teasers of what we have going on in the other rooms:

Living Room

Dining Room

Office / Second Bedroom

Master Bedroom

So thats the latest around Casa Sledge & Jefe.  Happy Friday!