The Sad Tale of My Wall Sconce Woes - Part I

Hola darlings!  Settle into your reading nook with a cuppa (or a glass of) because this is going to be another long-winded, wordy, worthy of Spear-Shaker himself chronicle in the continuing saga of my decorating woes.  In short, this is a loooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggggg story...

Part I (ahem):

I have been working on completing my bathroom redo since November, 2009.  No comments from the Peanut Gallery, please.

I thought I had it all planned out.  All I had left to do - finally - after putting together the towel holder (it sits on the floor sort of like a lamp in lieu of a rod being screwed into the wall -- when I tried that a couple of times all I ended up with was big holes in my wall that needed to be patched with lots of spackle and repainted and now I see each and every repair because the areas are smooth from sanding and the touch-up paint does not contain sand-texture, and it's driving me mad, I tell you, MAD!)

Where was I?  Oh, yeah - all I had left to do was put up the new shower curtain rod and install the wall sconces that I had purchased for either side of the mirror.  Oh, and change the orientation of the pictures above the toilet tank.  Not much at all.

Except, except...

I had bought a fancy-pants new mirror -- gone was the hulky old builder's grade plate glass monstrosity that spanned the entire width of the sink cabinet - at least five feet!  I'd looked into buying some framing for it from one of those places that advertise online, but it would have cost several hundred dollars.  D-I-Y was and remains way beyond my skill set.  I bought a mirror at Menard's for under $50, had my handyman remove the plate glass mirror (I have no idea how on earth he managed it by himself, but kudos to Kevin, he did!), and then he repainted the bathroom for me.  I hung up my new Menard's mirror, had a new light fixture installed and voila!  I thought my bathroom looked fabulous! 

But (those damn "buts!") I didn't feel as if the new light fixture was giving me enough light with the "darker" color paint on the walls -- it's a sort of wet sand or peanut butter color, several shades darker than the old "antique white" I had in there since I first painted in 1990!  I didn't think of it at the time, else I would have asked the electrician who put in the new bathroom light fixture what it might cost to have wires run down to allow electric light sconces to be installed on either side of the mirror.  Duh.  Well, this serious decorating stuff is all new to me, and I wasn't thinking about it in March 2010 when I had the electrician come in to install new light fixture.  I had not yet discovered the world of decorating blogs...

So, I purchased online from Lamp Lust (love the name) two "burlwood" finished battery-operated LED wall sconces to add some light and ambiance.  I do not know what possessed me.  They are lovely, in their own way, but they are not anything remotely like what I should have been looking at for the "MOOD" I want to create in that bathroom.  When he's here, Mr. Don uses the downstairs bathroom because he loves its shower; and since I'm otherwise here in this house by myself, I wanted a rather romantic-feeling (with a few tones of Paris and toile) in the upstairs bath.

No excuse for making such a mistake, but I was dazzled by the idea of battery-operated lights that one could actually use in one's decor (other than like, a flash light that I only ever use to scare kids with at Halloween or one of those cheapo "closet lights" you can buy at Walgreens)!  It was only late last year that I learned there were such things as battery-operated candles!  That's a whole 'nother story... 

I'm sure I would have realized eventually that the wall sconces I ordered just were not right for the bathroom.  But everything in my world sort of tilted when I started scooting around on the internet looking for "budget decorating ideas."  Oh Goddess! 

Now, it's like I can hardly make up my mind about anything, because every time I think I have decided on something, I see another picture of someone else's room and go OH, I WANT THAT!  I have enough decorating ideas in my head to do Buckingham Palace, which I do not own and cannot afford to rent, even if it were available.  But I definitely know now that the battery-operated tortoise shell LED wall sconces just aren't what my bathroom needs. 

Sooooo... I decided I needed something definitely romantic in a CANDLE SCONCE that I could stick a candle in and put a candle follower and shade on.  Never actually USING the candles, mind you, because the thought of burning candles that close to a wall scares me half to death, not to mention that the black metal shades that I actually own and want to use to complete "the look" would entirely defeat the purpose of any "candle light" but would look damn glamorous against my wet sand or peanut butter colored walls! 
OY!  Installing candle sconces totally defeats the original purpose, of course -- of getting more light.  Duh, Jan.

So here I am.  Stuck.  I can't afford this year or probably next year either, to hire an electrician to hard wire in light fixtures on either side of the mirror.  I don't want to spend too much money "finishing" off the bathroom.  But I am highly dissatisfied with it's present look because (of course), I want my bathroom to look like someone else's bathroom entirely.  It's all the fault of THIS WOMAN -- Erin!  Just Grand, June 1, 2012 Powder Room Peek.

I am so sorry -- I wanted to email you, Erin, to ask permission to use this particular photograph, but I don't have Outlook on this laptop or on my other newer laptop, either.  I only use Yahoo mail, and I could not get "at" your email address at Blogger to send you an email from my Yahoo email account.  I'm copying and hope you won't mind.  So - here is THE LOOK!

Photo from Just Grand blog showing Erin's DROP DEAD GORGEOUS powder room.

I emailed the link from Erin's blog to myself on Wednesday, June 13, 2012.  The Day The Earth Stood Still.  Well, I'm not going to get this room unless I totally go back to square 1.  First of all, I don't have toile wallpaper, jut plain ol' paint (the aforesaid wet sand or peanut butter color).  I have a toile shower curtain, "Antoinette" and I thought it was plenty pretty and did the trick, until I saw about 100 others at Wayfair and, of course, this wallpaper :)  Second of all, I don't have a black countertop; mine is 21 year old "decorator white" laminate.  Third of all, I could go on and on.  I won't even mention the shield-shaped mirror. I do have black hand towels, though!  Two-handled fixture?  Nope.  Undermount sink?  Nope.  Lovely accessories?  Nope.  Suffice to say - it's the antiqued brass light fixtures with those beautifully embellished shades that did me in. 

I WANT THAT LOOK ON EITHER SIDE OF MY MENARD'S MIRROR. 

So - how do I get it???  I'm not going back to square 1. So....