Pinning for Penrose: Kitchen Lighting

Gorgeous light fixtures make my heart beat faster :)  And that's not just a saying, it's really one of those things that makes me squeal with excitement and ache to have such a beautiful thing as mine!  Maybe that's a designer thing? I don't know.  What I do know, is that I need to find something outstanding for over our kitchen island.

The island is roughly 3'x4', although when we do the granite counters I'm thinking to stretch it to 3'x5' so that it overhangs the back and one side of the island cabinetry.  There is space for it, we will just need to figure out extra supports for the countertop and a couple brackets should do the trick.

So, with a good size island and 9ft ceilings, I need a sizable light fixture.  I want it to coincide with our brushed nickel cabinetry hardware and I want it to make a statement.  How I approach our home decor is kind of like this...."common areas" such as living room, hallways, bonus room, dining room, etc are the family spaces so they should be decorated in a way that the whole family would like.  The master bedroom & bathroom are both Jake & my areas so they shouldn't be overly girly.  Jake typically always defers decor decisions to me anyway, but he does appreciate when things fit his taste and are a color palette that he likes.  However, the kitchen is mine.  It's the one area of the house that I claim as my own and I will decorate it however I want.  

This kitchen is a totally different color scheme than our last house.  The last house was an earthy granite with grays & tans, and the cabinets were a crimson cherry finish.  This house I'm going for something with a little bit more pizazz...Maybe a touch more girly?....Let's use this Pinterest picture as the inspiration picture of the Espresso cabinetry and white granite counters...

Now imaging the above kitchen with something eye-catching over the island, a la something like this:

This is one of my favorites. I keep eyeing it for a sale.  It just makes my heart happy :) I love the style, love the number of lights, and I love that it has diffused light (frosted around the bulb) so that you don't get blinded looking at it. Dare I call it sexy?

I'm also a fan of the lantern style fixtures.  I think they give a room so much character and bring in beautiful lines.

This giant lantern is gorgeous but wayyyyy over budget at about $1500! Yikes!

The framing of this one is really fun.

I'm hoping to keep my eye on some of these and pray for a labor day sale just before we move in to seal the deal!