Uniformity

Since February when we installed the ceiling lighting in the family room we have been living with a mix of light bulbs.  We had some incandescent bulbs, some florescent and a few LEDs.  We knew we wanted to invest in LED bulbs for this room but they aren't cheap and we wanted to make sure we picked a bulb we liked.  Not all LEDs are created equal.  Even though we bought all of them in soft white some LEDs still create bluish light and some make a very faint buzzing noise that drove us crazy. 

We finally decided on a Phillips bulb and waited for them to go on sale.  Andy found them at a Home Depot so I stopped on my way to work and picked them up.  For those of you considering the purchase online and pick-up at the store options from Lowe's and Home Depot let me be the first to tell you Don't Bother!  We tried this twice on items that had limited stock.  Both times it would been faster and much less hassle if I had just gone and gotten them off the shelf myself.  The items either weren't pulled and ready for pickup or the order had been pulled but they couldn't find it.

Despite the time it took us to make a final decision and the hassle with picking up the bulbs, we are very happy with the new lights!

Vanity Lights

I searched for months for lights to put above the new vanities.  The big box stores didn't have anything we liked so we tried some smaller lighting stores in the area -- still nothing.  I looked online and even bought some that I ended up sending back.  We knew we wanted a 3-light fixture and it had to be relatively short (our vanities are only 30 inches wide).  Some of the lights that we liked looked too white next to our off-white cabinets, so I just kept looking.  I finally found these at Yale Electric.   We can't wait to see them with the vanities in place, but for now we just wanted more light to install the floor tile.

The middle light bulb in this fixture is another LED bulb (the rest are incandescent bulbs).  The LED bulb is way too blue for the bathroom lighting.  We'll stick to incandescent bulbs for this room.  Overall we really like the concept of the LED bulbs, but we're not completely sold yet.  We tried several in the bathroom and family room.  The color varies greatly and some of them make a very faint buzzing noise.  The technology is still very new so I think we'll wait a little while and try them again once some of the bugs are worked out. 

Brightening Up the Cave - Part 2

With all of the drywall hung we couldn't wait to finish the lighting in the family room.  We actually did all of the work a few weeks ago, but a birthday, craziness at work, and a vacation delayed this post.

Andy marked the center of each light location and used a circular hole attachment for the Dremel tool to cut the circles while I tried to capture as much dust as possible with the shopvac.

It was surprisingly easy and we were able to get all ten holes cut one evening after work.  

With the lights ready to be installed there was one last hole to cut for the air conditioning vent.

Throughout the week Andy worked to install the lights.  They look like different brightnesses...because they are.  We just threw in whatever lightbulbs we had on hand (we were that excited to have light!)  There are some CFLs, some old incandescents that we removed from old fixtures and one LED bulb.  We've heard great things about the LED bulbs (better color and truly instant on as compared to the CFLs),  plus they are supposed to last close to 40 years.  The problem is that they are very expensive and we wanted to try one out before we invest in the entire room.  So far, we are very happy.  It's so nice to have a well-lit room.  We still don't like the paneling, but at least with the new lights it doesn't look orange at night.

Prepping the Vanity

We are getting ever so close to hanging all of the drywall, but before we can do that there were a few things that we needed to check.  Because the vanities have drawers on one side the plumbing runs down right beside all of the drawers and there is very little room for error.  We carried all of the cabinets upstairs to check on the plumbing, cut out the backs of the cabinets for the piping, and mounted the electrical boxes for the new vanity lights so that we could make sure they were perfectly centered.

This laser level is awesome and made it easy to check that the center of the vanity and new light will line up perfectly.  

Cutting out the back of the vanity for the piping.

Test mounting to check for level.

Checking the plumbing alignment. 

It was nice to see all of the cabinets in place (even if only temporary).  It just means we are getting closer to a newly finished bathroom .  We even took turns fake brushing our teeth at our new sinks! 

Brightening Up the Cave

This is what our family room looked like when we bought the house.  It's a very dark room with the wood paneling and no overhead lights.  

 

 When we took down the family room ceiling to re-route some baseboard heaters for the new closets in the master bedroom directly above we decided that it would be a good time to add some overhead lighting.  Andy also decided to add a new circuit for this lighting and the lighting/outlets that we added to the new closets upstairs.  Since this room sits on a slab and there is no basement below it Andy had to run wiring from the panel on the opposite side of the basement, up through the first floor powder room and then the length of the family room.  

We decided to place 10 lights in 2 lines running the length of the room.  We marked the locations of the lights on the wall (we plan to eventually paint the panelling).

Our family room is a long, skinny space with three doorways (one from the laundry room and garage, one from the kitchen, and one from the front foyer and stairs).  We use all three entrances frequently and want the ability to turn the lights on a each location.  This space used to be a family room with a small den/office at the front of the house.  Since we moved in we've been discussing adding this wall back to separate part of the space as an office.  This change won't be happening any time soon, but we needed to make sure that the light and switch locations wouldn't be a problem if we decide to add a wall.  With three switches Andy had to run wiring for a 4-way switch.

The lights that we purchased will be installed after the drywall goes up so Andy ran the wiring to each light location.

We can't wait for the drywall to go up so that we can get the lights up and working.

It's Electric -- Boogie Woogie Woogie

Over the summer I bought some new light fixtures at a tent sale.  Until this past weekend we had only hung 1 of the 5, but this past weekend we were able to hang 3 of the 4 remaining lights and just yesterday Andy hung the last one.

First was the front porch light.  This was supposed to be an easy job to start off the weekend and it ended with an 8am trip to Home Depot followed by another trip to Lowe's that evening so the project could be finished on Sunday.  Remember -- there are no small projects!

The old light.

New light installed after the first trip to Home Depot.  The problem was that the original light did not have an electrical box and the new fixture didn't sit flush with the brick.

After the second trip to Lowe's we got a plate to sit between the brick and the light to act as a box and allow the light to fit secure and flush with the wall.  It's not ideal, but we really don't mind the look.

Then Andy moved to the laundry room in the hopes of finding a project that could be completed without two separate trips to Lowe's.

The original light.  Shortly after this picture was taken the glass cover came crashing to the ground and shattered into a million tiny little pieces.  No small projects!

At least the new light is a great improvement.  The room still obviously needs painted but that will probably happen after the holidays when I can devote an entire weekend to prepping and painting.   

And finally we moved to the kitchen...

This lovely light was hanging over the area of the kitchen table.  It was awkwardly low and when we moved in we used a zip tie to shorten the chain and move the light to the ceiling and we never lowered it.  We hardly ever use the light and the placement is still a little odd, but we figured we could replace it now with the thought that we may be able to reuse the new fixture in a different location when we get to remodeling the kitchen.

Still not the perfect location, but a big improvement and it's not nearly as low as the old one.

After the weekend we had one more light to replace in the kitchen, but when we pulled the light out of the box there were a few areas of chipped paint.  Nothing a little spray paint can't fix, but it's took a few days to finish the painting because I thought I could use paint that I had, but I ran out.

 The old kitchen light.

And the new fixture.  It's the same fixture as the one we hung in the laundry room, but just painted.

And with that in place we have officially added ceiling fans and lights in three of the bedrooms and replaced all of the other light fixtures in the house except for the powder room vanity light, upstair hall bathroom lights, and the dining room lights.

Hall Light

Earlier this summer I scored a bunch of new light fixtures during a tent sale.  And by score I mean bought six new light fixtures for different areas of the house for about 10% of the list price.  On average each light cost me around $10 dollars. I really had no idea what to expect from the sale and I wasn't prepared for what I found -- there were piles of name brand boxed lights everywhere and they weren't necessary in the correct box so I had to open EVERYTHING -- but it was worth it. We've been slow to get them all up, but we did manage to update the hall light just inside the front door. 

 BEFORE. 

The old brass fixture was in perfect working order but it just wasn't our style so it was donated to Goodwill.

AFTER.  A new oil rubbed bronze fixture. There are a ton of other things that need updating in this picture -- front door, some paint to get rid of the "contractor cream" and flooring, but the light is a nice change.