I fell in love with the idea of placing a lamp on the kitchen counter when Charlotte Reiss of Vivi et Margot first shared the battery powered ones she uses in her French Kitchen.

Our home was built in 1893 and besides new counters and appliances (cheap ones installed before the previous owner listed the house) the kitchen hasn’t been updated since the 80s. We found a cabinet sticker dated 1983. Luckily those 80s cabinets are white so the kitchen doesn’t look horribly dated but I have been filling up Pinterest boards and saving images to Instagram collections for three years in anticipation of a renovation.

Said renovation is still several years out. I’m comforted that the general theme of the inspiration kitchens I’ve saved over the years is the same so I shouldn’t be lost in decision land when the times comes. Moody greens, dark woods and counter cabinets with copper and marble accents.

In the mean time I’ve been trying to do little things to help make the space feel more like us. I updated the sink and got a bridge faucet installed when we first moved in. I added drawers to the pantry. I spent a lot of time looking for new handle pulls and never really found a style I liked. But that’ll be the next update I make.

This is basically a post on how to update a kitchen $200 at a time!

With the winter months upon us here in Chicago, lighting is the most recent $200 update I’m making to the kitchen. I blew three quarters of the budget on the Giada Lamp from Anthropologie and now I am debating if I do these two tall copper lamps or two of these little button copper lamps.

The nice thing about updating the kitchen $200 at a time is that I don’t feel a ton of pressure to get things exactly right. I can experiment and try things. And when our renovation does take place I’ll have a better sense of what works and what I like!

Now here’s a look at my favorite Kitchen Lamp inspiration kitchens.

Chris Loves Julia… of course.

Again, CJL. My kitchen is like a third of the size of this one BUT the board and batten back splash plus the open cabinet for towels (or cookie sheets or cutting boards) are definitely on my wish list.

Another trend is artwork propped up in the kitchen. When I head to Italy this spring I will be scouring markets for a small oil painting to bring home.

Stacked on top of a book no less, this little scene is lovely and I especially love the wall art light fixture over the window. (source)

I’m still searching for the small accent lamp for the other side of the galley kitchen. And I need to get a 40w light bulb for the one that got delivered a few days ago. But even without it lit up it looks good and the cookbook holding feature is *chef’s kiss* perfection.

Here are some of the options I’m shopping for the second lamp. Which do you like best?