A modern rectangular metal chandelier hangs from the ceiling in the kitchen, beneath a skylight. The fixture features multiple cylindrical light sockets, enhancing the brightness of the room with its pristine white walls.
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Kitchen Makeover – The Skylight Tragedy

ByLisa
18 Comments

A modern rectangular metal chandelier with multiple hanging lights is suspended above a kitchen, highlighting the skylight. The image features text: "Kitchen Makeover On a Real Person Budget - The Skylight Tragedy.It’s week 4 of the One Room Challenge and I am starting to feel the pressure! Did you see what we did in week 1, week 2, and week 3? Even though completing the kitchen island last week was a huge relief, this week was no walk in the park. The last major issue in the kitchen was the skylight.

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A black silhouette of a wolf howling at the moon, standing on a rocky cliff against a white background.

The Kitchen Skylight

Most people add skylights to homes to bring more natural light in. But for some insane reason, a previous owner covered this skylight tunnel with cheap plexiglass and ugly decorative wood. And to top it off, they wired florescent light bars behind it all. What does that mean? Ugly + Ugly = Hideous!A kitchen skylight with geometric patterns graces the ceiling, allowing diffused natural light to fill the space. Nearby, a circular air vent complements the design.

This had to go! So this past week we fixed it. First, we started by removing the plexiglass that was hiding the skylight. See how much light this dingy plastic was blocking before?View of a geometric skylight with a white frame, casting diffused natural light into the kitchen below. The structure boasts a modern design, with ceiling details elegantly framing the edges.

I don’t even think dingy is a strong enough word here. Please, no one ever add something this ugly to your home. Ever.

A person holds a large, translucent corrugated plastic sheet indoors beneath the kitchen skylight. The reflective, partially see-through sheet displays its corrugated ridges, while the beige-tiled floor gleams below. The person is partly visible, dressed in gray pants and shoes.

Once the plexiglass came out, it was time to remove the decorative wood. You see those tacky florescent lights? There were four of them! Someone really wasted a lot of time on this. A skylight with a geometric metal frame allows light into the dark kitchen, showcasing an angular design. The view through the skylight reveals part of a white structure or stairwell above.A view from inside the kitchen looking up through an open skylight reveals the sky and a section of the roof. The skylight is framed by white walls, with a linear mechanism on the side for opening and closing, allowing natural light to flood the cooking space.

With a semi clean slate, it’s time to talk about those lights. Until now, I didn’t say much about them because you couldn’t really see them, but now that you can, you wish you hadn’t, haha! But obviously, I never had any intention of keeping them. They are flat out awful. So down they came and were promptly donated to the trash.A skylight in a white ceiling with angled walls, perfectly situated above the kitchen, frames a view of tree branches and leaves against the sky. The lighting casts soft shadows on the textured surfaces below, adding a serene atmosphere to the culinary space.

I was already enjoying this skylight more without all that junk blocking the light from shinning in. The problem is, those lights were the main light source in the room. Yes. You heard me right. The lighting situation in here was dreadful. Unnatural florescent lighting shining through old, yellowed plexiglass. Could it have been worse?! So clearly adding more lighting was a priority, but the position of the skylight made this challenging.

The center of the island is actually off center from the skylight tunnel. So I decided to add a faux wood beam across the skylight tunnel from which we could hang a real light fixture, centered with the island. But before we could start on the beam, we needed to do some repairs first. A skylight in the white ceiling of the kitchen allows sunlight to illuminate the interior space, with branches and green leaves visible through the window. Shadows create geometric shapes on the walls.

Once the skylight tunnel was patched and painted, we built a faux beam and hung it across the skylight tunnel.A ceiling with a large, square skylight beautifully illuminates the room with natural light, casting a striking contrast against the black beam that crosses it. The textured ceiling adds depth, while part of a sleek kitchen cabinet peeks out below.

Then we added this island pendant. If you remember back to the florescent lights, we already had a power source. We simply added a junction box to the inside of the faux beam and wired the light as you normally would. A modern kitchen with a sleek rectangular metal light fixture hanging from the ceiling and a skylight overhead. Below, white cabinets and a stainless steel refrigerator are visible against a light gray wall. A modern rectangular metal chandelier with four light fixtures is suspended from a light gray ceiling featuring a recessed air vent. A skylight nearby illuminates white kitchen cabinets, enhancing the minimalist aesthetic. A modern rectangular metal light fixture with multiple bulb holders hangs from the ceiling in a kitchen, complemented by a skylight. White cabinets and a stainless steel refrigerator are visible in the background. That’s all for this week! But I promise, the kitchen is looking SO much better 🙂 Stop by next Thursday to see the final stretch before the big reveal! And don’t forget to stop by Calling It Home to check out all of the One Room Challenge participants!

A modern rectangular metal chandelier hangs from the ceiling in the kitchen, beneath a skylight. The fixture features multiple cylindrical light sockets, enhancing the brightness of the room with its pristine white walls.

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A modern kitchen light fixture complements the sleek skylight. Text reads, "Kitchen Makeover On a Real Person Budget, The Skylight Tragedy, Week 4." Website URL: www.GarrisonStreetDesignStudio.com.

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18 Comments

    1. Yes Tim! It was so great to get rid of everything blocking the natural light and to be able to add a proper fixture 🙂

      Reply

    1. Thank you Haley! I definitely struggled with what to do here. And can you believe that fixture is from Home Depot?! If only it included light bulbs 😉

      Reply

    1. Thank you so much Rachel! It was a challenging obstacle, that’s for sure! My mom has been watching a lot of Fixer Upper, so I knew she would go for the beam 🙂

      Reply

    1. Thank you Tracey! I am definitely eager to finish now. That was the last of our major changes. Now it’s time for the fun stuff 🙂

      Reply

    1. Thank you so much Tina! I am so glad I was able to come up with a solution. And I was lucky to find the island pendant at Home Depot! 🙂

      Reply

    1. You are so sweet! Thank you so much Jenny 🙂 It was definitely a challenge but I am pleased with how it turned out.

      Reply

  9. I have a similar situation with my current home. We have a skylight directly over the island in the kitchen. We need updated lighting (right now there is a hideous rectangle box wooden light hanging on chains).

    Anyway, I was just wondering how is your light wired? You said that is a faux beam, but how is the light fixture connected to the power source?

    Reply

    1. Since there was already florescent lighting in the skylight tunnel, we were able to re-rout it into the faux beam and add a junction box inside the beam. Then we just hung the fixture as you normally would. If you don’t already have electrical in your tunnel, you can probably tap into the electrical via the attic. Hope that makes sense 😉

      Reply

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