This weekend’s give away is a great one. Legrand is expanding its North American presence and has a wonderful line called adorne, featuring truly beautiful and well-designed light switches and wall plates. It amazing how doing something as simple as swapping out a light switch and plate for something special can really elevate a room. Design is in the details!
For our mudroom, I chose to replace our old school double toggle switch with a double sofTap switch. You can choose other switches that operate with motion sensors (walking by or waving your hand in front of the switch), whisper switches, dimmers, remotely-controlled smart switches – they’ve thought of everything. I liked the extra clean look of the sofTap and I love that there’s a tiny little light that very softly illuminates the switches when they’re off, which is shockingly helpful for supporting my midnight snack habit.
They’ve also covered the gamut of wall plate possibilities (above). You can go glossy modern (like the white I have in this post), mirrored, metallic, leather, all sorts of colors, or the customizable option I used here in the mudroom. That option comes with a paper mat template that you can use for wallpaper or any art project you want to create. (The tutorial for the marbled paper is after the jump.)
To enter to win a $200 shopping spree with adorne, visit the site and choose your favorite switch and wall plate combos. (PS This video really helps the switched come to life – worth a watch!) Leave a comment on this post with your choices and where you’ll use your new switches. Contest ends Friday August 16 at midnight. Winner will be emailed. Good luck!!
And don’t forget to click through for the marbling tutorial…
I’ve been dying to try a marbled paper DIY for a really long time. I LOVE marbleized anything so this felt like a natural choice for my customized wall plate.
You’ll need: a variety of nail polish colors (try the dollar store or CVS is having a 2 for $3 sale right now on some brands), water, a disposable container that’s bigger than the paper or item that you’re marbling, a toothpick or anything long and pointy (I used a long screw because our toothpicks are still packed away :)), paper or whatever you want to marble and a place to dry the items (I used a drop cloth). Also, you might want gloves, as my messy hands below will demonstrate.
By the way, I think most anything can be marbled with nail polish – the possibilities are pretty endless. Flower pots and vases, finger nails (obvs), picture frames, jewelry boxes, chair legs. There are lots of tutorials floating around the web that show all sort of cool ideas. I loved this one on Design Mom.
So, to start, fill your container with a bit of water. If you’re marbling paper, you’ll only need about an inch of water.
Take off all the lids to your nail polish to make the process go faster. You’ll need to work pretty fast so that the polish doesn’t start drying.
Pour your colors in rings, one on top of the other. There’s no right or wrong way to do this. Just pick colors and pour. If you pour slowly, the nail polish shouldn’t sink.
After pouring your rings, use a toothpick (or a screw) to pull the color. You’re not mixing it – you’re just going to move the colors around gingerly. Don’t over-swirl and don’t take too much time to do it.
Then drop your paper onto the pattern, press softly to make sure the surfaces fully connect, and then pull off the paper and flip it around quickly but carefully to make sure the paint doesn’t run. And then put it down to dry on your drop cloth.
Now, don’t swirl again – the new pattern will be soft and completely lovely, so just get your next paper ready and dip it. I got at least three dips from each round of pouring. And I usually ended up liking the second or third papers the very best. The paint will be thinner and more dreamy-looking.
I ended up doing three or four rounds of paint pouring (I’m swimming in marbled paper if anyone wants any:) ), but these were the ones I like the best for the switch/wall plate application. I had to pick ones that had more interesting perimeters since the middle was going to get cut out for the switches.
I ended up going with a darker pattern because I liked how it looked with the wall color.
The customizable wall plate comes with a paper template that I used to trace out the hole for the switch.
You just remove the sticker on the plate to expose the adhesive and then place your art paper.
I really love how the wall plate turned out. It looks so pretty with the orange chairs. :)
I had the majority of our lighting put on dimmers, but would love to switch them all to a gloss white with the paddle dimmers. Sooo cool!
Sensa and brushed brass. The sensa seems so futuristic to me! Trista(dot)swing(at)gmail.com
The timing on this would be PERFECT. We are building a home right now and I would so love to replace the standard light switches with these beauties. I'd likely choose the satin nickel with the sofTap switches for a couple of rooms and, since custom is practically my middle name (seriously – everything in my life has to be custom…I'm so difficult to please!)I would have to do the custom plates with the sofTap dimmers in the bedrooms. Pretty please, pick me!!
The timing on this is great! I was just looking at the switch plates in my bathroom (both toggle and outlet) wondering why I didn't replace them when I redid the bathroom and that I need to call Kyletheelectrician (hotty!). I would go gloss white 2-gang wall plate with two paddle dimmers.
I like the customizable option with the whisper dimmer. Perfect for our little eating area.
I love these! I would go for the Satin Nickel plate w/ the dimmer switch for my living room.
Customizable in magnesium trim with soft touch (or whisper). I usually wish my plates would disappear, but these guys have me rethinking my position (wenge?)
I would use the sofTap dimmer and the paddle switches with the Antique Nickel and Custom wall plates in the little hallway between my kitchen and den that has 7 switches in that little space.
Softap swich with the titanium plate. Would be a great look in my kitchen and dining room
Softap swich with the titanium plate. Would be a great look in my kitchen and dining room
I would love to try the marbeling for our bedrooms-yours turned out great!
The wave switch is amazing! I would pair it with the brass switch plate.
I like the whisper switch with the white mirror plate.
I NEED the remote control switch for my Hollywood closet. My husband changed the swing of the door, which totally makes sense for the room but the light switch is now behind the door! I would choose the high gloss white remote switch. What a great giveaway. Thanks!
Hi there! I love the remote control switch, and I may try your tutorial, it is so super cute!
Mirror white, 2-gang wall plate with wireless touch dimmer. This would be great in my living room so I don't have to get off the couch to turn down the lights during movie night.
The Brushed brass, 1-Gang Wall Plate with the soft touch switch is awesome! Thanks for the giveaway :)
Love your marbled project! I'd like to try my hand at that, but I also love the clean look of the glossy white with the soft touch switch. The details do matter!
I think the brushed brass wall plate with the paddle dimmer would be beautiful our bedroom :)
I love the one you made. I think I would go with mirrored or white.
Jenny – you are a fantastic resource. Keep up the great blogging. I love finding brands I wouldn't normally find on my own through you. Legrand is ideal for a few problem areas in my home. One being my son's room. I'd use the "timed off switch" set to 10 because he tends to forget to shut it off alot….I love the 1 gang wall plates in magnesium and turquoise and the wave switch would be handy for my basement switch when I head down with baskets of laundry.
We just bought and moved into a new home (yay!!) and every light switch needs to be replaced (boo!). I love the Antique Nickel or Bronze with the wave switches. So pretty!!
I am obsessed with the Adorne Collection! I am buying one piece each month. I like the paddle switch with the beige wall plate and I love the night light! Your creativity is impressive!
Love the white sofTap Switch and Brushed Brass wall plate.
The Custom Wall Plate would look amazing using your faux malachite tutorial! I would have at least one in every room!
I'd use the sofTap switch with the cherry 1-gang wall plate in my entryway for a fun pop of red. I love your marbling tutorial!
I love the Custom Wall plate and the Turquoise blue wall plate. The paddle switch and wireless master switch are very cool.
I love the ones with the nickel finish. I have all different wall plates/switches throughout our new house. One is wooden, a bunch are yellowed, one has little girl wall paper on it. I'd love to have sleek, consistent plates, switches, and outlets.
Loving the squared shape of their plate openings! How modern and refreshing. Favorites are (and I will be showing this to friends in the design space!): Soft Touch Felt Green, 1-Gang Wall Plate & just the basic paddle and soft-touch switches… oh and btw the TradeMaster USB Charger with receptacle would be great for my office!
I like the basic paddle and soft touch switches, and would love the black leather plate. So dramatic! Who knew wall plates could get so fancy?
I love the wave switch with the 1-gangs wall plate. The simplicity and ease of that would be so wonderful for a restroom!
I would love the brushed pewter for the master bedroom and the bronze one for the office!
Whoa! One of the most unique things I've seen in a long time! Really like the sofTap Switchs, a Paddle Fan Speed controller would be SO cool! Great product, beautiful art, just lovely!
shannoncarman at yahoo dot com
Whoa! One of the most unique things I've seen in a long time! Really like the sofTap Switchs, a Paddle Fan Speed controller would be SO cool! Great product, beautiful art, just lovely!
shannoncarman at yahoo dot com
I never knew such things existed! This would be my combo: Brushed brass 1 gang wall plate and soft tap switch
Hi, Jenny! We just moved our little family into our dream fixer-upper of a house and light switches definitely need some updating! I would go for the softap with glossy white in most rooms, but I would love to try your marbleing DIY in the bathrooms and the foyer :)
So hard to choose! Would do the magnesium soft tap with dimmer in the dining room with the custom wallplate with magnesium trim. Would do the stainless steel wallplates for the kitchen with magnesium soft taps. Would do the mirror white wallplates and white soft taps for our upstairs and downstairs hallways. We took on a fixer upper – – – there's no end to the projects!