New Light Fixtures

One of the things we've had a hard time adjusting to in the new house is the lack of overhead lighting. In our previous houses, even if we didn't like the lighting, at least there was something there to illuminate the room at night until we could get it changed. This house only has lighting in the kitchen and bathrooms (and the basement of course - fabulous, buzzing fluorescent lighting).

We were back to work just a couple of days after moving, so most of our unpacking happens at night. There's nothing more fun than unpacking by flashlight. Really, nothing. You should try it. One box and you're ready to go to bed. We did eventually set up some lamps, but without the rooms arranged a couple are still sitting on the floor. (My friend Jody unpacked and arranged her entire house the day she moved in - I'm sure my place drives her bananas.)

So we knew we had to get our butts out there and buy some overhead lighting. But what to buy? We want to take our time with this place and love everything we choose, so we've I've been really fussy.

It was easier to pick out lights for the two spare rooms - I loved the drum light in our old bedroom so much that I knew I needed to see it again in the new place. Luckily Home Depot still had a couple kicking around at one nearby store. That's the worst, isn't it? Falling in love with something that's discontinued when you want to buy it again.

The process of installing a brand-new fixture involves cutting a hole in the ceiling and running wire from the wall switch up and across to the designated spot. I would love to show you exactly what Tom did, but it was freezing cold in the attic and he refused to stop to take pictures. But we have plenty more lights to add so I know there'll be many, many more chances.

Here's a quick rundown though:

Do I need to point out that the power to the room (or the whole house if you'd like) should be turned off while doing electrical work? I hope not.

He started with the area around the light switch. A section of drywall was cut out so that the wires were visible. Normally he would also cut out a section nearer to the ceiling so that he could drill a hole through the framework to run the wiring up into the attic. Up until a couple of years ago the house had baseboard heating and he found that the wiring from that was still in place (capped at each end) so he was able to reuse this instead of running new wire. He extended the red wire down so that it reached the box with the light switch and capped off the beige wire (which runs to one of the wall outlets in the room).

We measured the center of the room and he cut a hole in the ceiling with a 4" hole saw. The ceiling box is secured to a 2x4 cross piece mounted to the joist on the attic side with the wiring running through down to the room.

Once the wiring was done, installing the light itself was the easy part. I'll show you how that's done at a later date. You'll be amazed at how easy it is and will be changing lights all over your house in no time. I'm not zooming out on these 'cause the rooms are still as ugly as before. Maybe ugly is too harsh - unappealing?

I'm still looking for the perfect light for the master bedroom. For now we have these table lamps from Lowe's. I love the shades and want to mimic the crosshatch pattern in the ceiling fixture somehow. The base is a fun design too that totally different than anything we've had before.

Tom finally got fed up with just the bedside lamps (they really aren't meant for task lighting) and installed a cheap $10 "boob" light in the ceiling. I hate that thing but I do admit, it's nice to be able to tell my black socks from my navy socks. (Or my black boots from my brown boots  - true story - stuck at the gym with a black and a brown - both right foot. Guess who wore bright purple running shoes to work that day?)

We still have lights to put in the hallway and the living room. We'll probably go with pot lights for that. We've never installed them before so it's going to be interesting - no room for error on those ones!

DIY a Built-in Extension Outlet

I've received a couple of emails asking how we converted a wall outlet into an extension outlet for our TV room sofa table. This outlet, built into the face of the table, allows us to utilize the electrical outlet that is behind the couch - without having to move the couch out of the way. I managed to corral Tom long enough to have him show me what he did.

I shouldn't have to mention this, but if you are not comfortable/knowledgeable about working around electricity and electrical outlets, do not attempt to install this yourself.

Update: We recently upgraded to an outlet with built-in USB ports, and I asked Tom to switch to a grounded wire at that time. Instructions are the same - refer to additional step for attaching third (ground) wire below.

For this reconstruction we used spare parts we had laying around, but I'll also intersperse the photos and instructions with what we did the first time. However, the steps are exactly the same.

Parts you will need:

Tools you will need:

If you're installing this outlet onto the face of a board - like a table - the first thing you'll want to do is cut a hole in the table the same size as the electrical box. Tom used a rotary zip saw, but you could also use a jigsaw.

When Tom installed the original outlets he used an airtight electrical box like this that had a frame around it.

He was able to screw the frame directly to the underside of the table. An airtight box wasn't necessary but it was all the store had in stock. If your electrical box doesn't have a frame, you can install a piece of scrap wood to the underside of your surface, and attach the box to it. That's what I'm going to show you here.

Fit the electrical box into place and hold the scrap wood against it, along the side of the box with the bracket.

Drill pilot holes through your surface and into the scrap board. Make sure they are very, very close to the hole so that the face plate will cover them. 

Attach the screws so that your scrap board is held in place.

Flip your table upside down and set it on a stable surface like a workbench, or even on the floor. It'll be much easier to attach the electrical box without having to crawl under the table. Using the holes in the electrical box bracket as a guide, attach screws on each side so that the box is securely fastened to your scrap board. 

As I mentioned, if you are using an airtight box with a frame, you'll just use short screws and attach the box directly to the underside of your surface. You don't want the screws poking through the topside, so measure carefully. I prefer the look of the airtight box but you have to work with what you can find. And from the top it won't look any different.

Once your box is mounted to the board, you can work on attaching the wiring.  Take your extension cord and cut off the outlet connector (the socket end). Our outlet is only used to plug in lamps, phones, computers, etc., so we bought a light-duty 2-pronged cord, but if you are using your outlet for more heavy-duty loads or in wet areas, you'll want a 3-pronged grounded cord.

Take the cut end of the cord and split the two wire bundles apart. Using your sidecutters, a knife or wire strippers, carefully cut through the plastic sheath without cutting the wire inside and pull it off. You'll want to have about an inch of exposed wire. Do this on both wires. Twist each bundle of exposed wire tightly so that it isn't fanned out.

If you are using a grounded wire, there will only be one sheath. When you strip it off you'll find three more wire sheaths, white, black, and green. The green one is the grounded wire. You'll need to strip off an inch of each coloured sheath to expose the copper wire. It should look something like this:

source

Feed the two wires through one of the openings in the underside of the electrical box. The tabs are made of plastic, so you should be able to push them in slightly, enough to get the wire through. Pull the wire up through the front of the box so that you have enough to work with.

Your electrical outlet will come with 4 brass screws, 2 on each side. Tighten one on each side just to get it out of your way.

Take one of your wires and twist the exposed end around one of the (untightened) screws on the outlet. Make sure that you twist the wire in the same direction as you will be tightening the screw (usually clockwise). Tighten the screw down. Repeat this on the other side of the outlet.

 If you are using an extension cord with a third ground wire, attach that wire (which you previously stripped as above) to either the green screw in the bottom of the electrical box, or to the green screw that's right on the electrical outlet. Either place works, as once the electrical outlet is attached to the box the circuit will be complete.

Once your wires are attached, screw the outlet into the box through the holes at either end (the correct screws should be provided with your outlet). Attach your faceplate and you're done.

When we put the outlets in the sofa table we used a larger rectangular outlet versus the common outlet with rounded corners. These outlets require a slightly larger faceplate - which is beneficial to you if you're using the scrap board mounting method and need to cover up your screw holes.

Once Tom showed me how to install this outlet, I couldn't believe how easy it was. I'm terrified of electricity, but I think even I could do this without being afraid of zapping myself.

I'm thinking of attaching one to the side of my craft table so that I don't have to crawl under the table all the time to plug things in - the sewing machine, the Silhouette cutting machine, laptop, etc. I'm switching them out and moving them around all the time - this will make it a lot easier. Not to mention, I can move the table around and the electrical outlet will move with me.

More Lighting (Because I'm a Liar)

So, I am a bit of a fibber. Yes, I'll admit it. Do you remember when I said I can never find light fixtures that I like? Well, right after that I found two in one week.

First we found one for the master bedroom:

It's this light from DVI (and it's on sale right now - 47% off!). There is an inner ring of frosted glass and then an outer ring of clear glass, joined together by metal pegs. Putting it together was a bit terrifying.

I was so afraid that the glass would crack if the peg put any extra pressure on the it. This was definitely a two-person job; you had to keep the glass nearly level the whole time. It's pretty though, right? A huge improvement over the flying saucer-looking light that was there before.

And if I could remember to take pictures on the weekend, I might get some with natural light.

The second light was for the front room. There was track lighting in there before and it was horrible. Again with the spaceships.

We tried to arrange them so that everything was evenly lit, but the lights were either directly in your eyes or not lighting an area up enough. This new light is from Rona. It's just a single bulb with a faux wooden drum shade.

I like the wood grain - I think it coordinates perfectly with the tan furniture and the matting in the framed pictures. Tom's not completely sold on it yet because he thinks it's too big for the room. I like that it makes a statement.

But with two more rooms that need new lighting, we can always move it if he finds something he likes better. (He's not going to find anything he likes better.)

Lighting: Take 1-2-3

Do you have a hard time choosing lighting for your home? I do. Almost every room in our house needs to have the lighting replaced, but when I wander through the stores I can't find a thing I like. Or it's more than I'm willing to pay. And then when I do finally pick something out, there's a good chance I'll change my mind about it in a few months.

Take our basement bar for example. You could start with the fact that I wish we didn't have a bar, but tearing it out and re-carpeting the entire basement is not in the plans. There are three pendant lights that hang down over the bar, and from the day we moved in we've had problems with them.

(Unfortunately, or fortunately, this is the only photo I have of them. That is not my bubble gum machine - nor my book on the Lotus.)

The middle light kept burning out. After replacing the bulb over and over, Tom discovered that there was a bad connection where the socket meets the bulb. He searched but he couldn't find a replacement socket for it.

So the hunt for new ones began. Neither of us could agree on a style, until we happened upon these ones by accident while shopping for something else at Rona (the Canadian version of Home Depot).

We both kind of liked them. And they were pretty inexpensive. So we brought them home and installed them right away. You can extend them to about 3 feet, but because our basement ceiling is pretty low we kept them short: the shades were larger than the previous ones and no one wants a big light in their face.

But it wasn't to be. I knew right away that they were wrong. Again there was just that "something". I'm starting to think it was the brushed nickel finish. It was too sterile. The wood of the bar and the stair rail is a warm cherry shade and metal just didn't go.

I was despairing that we would ever find something nice. Then I found the ones. These cut-glass mosaic style pendants were hanging out at Home Depot. Just minding their own business. The reddish tone coordinated perfectly with the bar, and the finish was black instead of nickel.

We hung them this past weekend and I'm in love. We ended up hanging them lower than the last ones - they look so much better that way. The description says the glass is brown, but when they're lit up the colour is definitely red. The wires still have a little kink to them, but they should straighten out with time.

Pretty, right? They give the room a warm, cozy feeling - kind of like a neighbourhood pub would have. If your neighbourhood pub had empty wine bottles and a box of Kleenex. Sounds about right, actually.

So sometimes you just have to keep trying until you find the right fit. Because once you do, you just know it.

Anyone want to buy some barely used brushed nickel pendant lights? 

I have several to choose from!