I'm in the dark.

For Christmas, my husband received a good number of Lowe's gift cards.  Being the sweet person he is, he allowed me to use the money for something that I've been wanting since we moved into our house back in March:

A new dining room light.

Nothing against my aunt, who owned the house before we bought it, but I HATE the light that is currently hanging in our dining room.

I realize that this isn't overly offensive.  It could be so much worse.  It could be brass, it could be a crystal chandelier, it could be a stained glass pendant hanging over our table.  All that considered, I still hate this light.  It gives off a yellow-ish tint, it's not my style at all, I just hate it.

So.  Back to our Lowe's trip.  Can I just go on a little rant for a second?  Why on earth is every single thing related to home improvement so FLIPPING expensive??  Rugs, lights, kitchen remodels, all of it.  It infuriates me that I don't know the secrets to do everything on the cheap and still make it look good.  Ugh.

Anyway.  Lowe's.  We walked in, only to be completely assaulted with a ton of ceiling light options.  However, every single thing was insanely priced!  Here's where my eye immediately went:

Allen + Roth light made to look like candles on a shelf.  Drooling.  But it's $160, and I think the lighting would be very, very dim.  I like bright lighting.  So, as much as it hurt me, I ruled this one out.

Then I saw this:

The shade is burlap-y and it just gave me a "country" vibe. Loved.  But, like it's Allen + Roth candle brother, it's $179 and way out of my budget.  I think it is completely insane to spend that much on a light over my table.

Then I found this really cool round burlap pendant. It was very different than anything else hanging up AND it was only $25.  I squealed a little.  We bought it and Marty hung it up the next day.

It looked so cool!  Just what I was wanting!  I was so excited!  

Until we turned the light switch on.  This pendant literally puts off ZERO light.  In fact, last night, I turned it on to see what it would look like in absolute darkness....you can barely even tell that there's a light on.

Needless to say, little burlap pendant is going back to the store and I'm back at square one.  

A friend recommended shadesoflight.com.  Except that crap is expensive.  So now I'm addicted to shadesoflight.com and still don't have a light for a reasonable price!  I know I'm being too high maintenance.  I just want something that's.......different.  I want a unique light that you're not going to find hanging above 90% of people's dining room tables.   I want stuff like this: 

Except that they're $349 and $99, which isn't bad, but I'm afraid one single bulb won't put off enough light and we'll be back in the same situation.

Someone shed some light on this situation.  Because I seem to be in the dark. 

*snicker*  I love play on words gags.