The Time Mr. Cush Didn't End Up in the ER While Installing a Light Fixture

Remember how I mentioned in last week's #H54F post that the entryway of Casa de Cushman was pretty pathetic? Well, Mr. Cush and I tried to remedy that over the weekend, but there were moments I thought we'd be spending the evening in the local emergency room after he decided to install a new light fixture as part of the home decor upgrade.

We moved into our home in May 2009, and although the previous owners had updated major things like flooring and appliances, some other things like the light fixtures were the plain, basic and cheap ones that the developer installed. We've been steadily Cushman-izing our home since the day we moved in.

I think it was Christmas 2009 or 2010 when we asked for Lowe's and Home Depot gift cards instead of tangible gifts and started to change things around the house to better meet our tastes. Among several other light fixtures in the kitchen and other rooms, we added a smaller version of our new entryway light fixture to the landing area on our staircase with the intent of adding the larger version to our entryway at a later time (translation - we ran out of our gift cards). Somehow we totally forgot for the last few years. 

SIDENOTE: Mr. Cush has saved us thousands of dollars, literally, since we became home owners. He has upgraded so many areas of our home with his own two hands and very little assistance from me. Back when I agreed to marry him, I had no idea how skillful he was in the electrical/carpenting/plumbing departments. 

So we spent our Saturday at Pier 1 where I decided on a canvas painting, coordinating bamboo vase with faux flowers and some throw pillows that I insisted we had to have. Then we visited Lowe's to pick up our forgotten "9-light Chandelier" to complete the Great Entryway Redo of 2013.

This is the inherited entryway light …

My bad … totally didn't think ahead and take a picture when it was still installed.

Our entryway ceiling is probably 17 or 18 feet high. Since Mr. Cush only has a seven-foot ladder, I thought we had agreed to hire a handyman to come install the light for us later in the week. Imagine my surprise when I heard some scuffling from upstairs and I came down to find this going on …

PS - Anyone in the Austin area looking for FREE patio furniture for two? Those black chairs come with a 3x3 table that we'll gladly give to anyone who comes and hauls them away.

Needless to say, I was not OK with this setup. In typical Type-A-Ashley fashion, I immediately began mentally mapping the most efficient routes to the local hospitals. (Mr. Cush can be just as stubborn as me … there was no way he wasn't going to try to install this himself once he came up with a way to boost and support his damn ladder, so it really wasn't worth voicing my concerns.)

So a few more minutes went by and I was doing a little bit of work upstairs when I came to check on him and he had added bricks to his apparatus for even more height.

Left: Even Riley was uncomfortable with this, but she still got close enough to sniff out the situation.

Right: Socks were added 'for traction.' 

After about 30 minutes of Mr. Cush tackling this project and me nervously watching and handing him various parts for assembly, the light was installed. His biggest concern was the light working upon flipping the switch, while my biggest concern was him not breaking a few vertebrae. Funny how our worries were on such opposite ends of the spectrum, right?

Anyway, all is said-and-done and I'm very happy with the way everything turned out. The entryway really isn't even that big of an area in our home, and all it took was a painting, floor vase of flowers and a new light to spruce up the area. I'm glad I didn't go with my original plan of buying an end table and coordinating trinkets because it would've been just another area for us (me) to leave our (my) belongings and become cluttered. This is simple and bright and clean and fits beautifully into our home!

Ta-da!!! The finished product and no one spent the night in the hospital!