I made fairly a little bit of progress yesterday on including the extra lighting to my walk-in closet, however I didn’t get it completed as a result of I bumped into a fairly large drawback and needed to discover a workaround for it. Till now, this room has solely had one mild within the ceiling, and that was the sunshine connected to the ceiling fan. I don’t need a ceiling fan on this closet, so the plan was to take away the fan and exchange it with a chandelier after which add a number of recessed lights to provide extra lighting to the room.
Right here’s the one single mild on the ceiling fan that I’ve been working with till now…
Not solely is the lighting inadequate, but it surely’s additionally a yellow mild, so it makes the cupboard a wallpaper colours look dingy. I can’t stand yellow lighting for that very motive. I like shade, and I don’t like my colours to look washed out, so I want white lighting.
My workday began off easily. I had the entire holes lower for the lights by lunchtime.
This was fairly straightforward to do with this Mikwaukee adjustable gap cutter (affiliate hyperlink). It adjusts to chop holes from 2″ to 7″, and it comes with this plastic protect that catches the mud as you chop.
It undoubtedly made the method quicker and simpler, but when I’m being trustworthy, I’d fee it 4 out of 5 stars. Whereas the plastic protect caught about 95% of the mud, it undoubtedly didn’t catch all of it.
Additionally, these blades appeared to boring pretty shortly. I used to be in a position to lower the entire holes I wanted, however after about 4 holes, the cuts appeared to begin getting rougher and rougher with every extra gap. And the blades stored coming free, so I’d have to make use of an Allen wrench to tighten the blades after I lower every gap.
I believe the device may use some enchancment, but it surely did the job. And it did it a lot quicker and simpler than another device or course of I’ve used prior to now to chop holes for lights.
I ended up reducing holes for 2 lights on either side by the cupboards, and one gap over every equipment.
I had somebody ask me why I didn’t plan on including three lights to every facet within the cupboard space. The reason being due to this air conditioner vent on the left facet which is true the place I would wish to place a light-weight if I had added three to every facet. And I didn’t need to transfer a vent.
However I did add one extra mild centered on the doorway. So the closet cupboard space can have 5 extra lights plus the middle chandelier when all is alleged and achieved. That might be loads of mild.
Issues had been going so easily at this level that I anticipated to interrupt for lunch, after which come again and take about quarter-hour to climb up into the attic and run the wiring from every gap to the subsequent. In idea, this step ought to have been extremely easy. What I hadn’t realized is that the entire space from the pink line to the window wall was in that space that juts out from the entrance of the home, and the roof over that space is extremely low.
I had three wires that I wanted so as to add in that part, however as soon as I received up into the attic, I noticed that it wasn’t going to be as straightforward as I believed. In actual fact, it took me some time to even discover these two holes over the washer and dryer. I couldn’t even see them till I used to be that space head on. After which I noticed that in an effort to get to them, I’d need to lie on my abdomen, shimmy into that space underneath the tremendous low roof about 10 ft, hoping that I may get all the way in which to the top whereas dragging three wires in my hand, after which shimmying again with out with the ability to flip round. And, in fact, I’d need to do all of that with out placing a foot or knee via the drywall.
Not solely did I query the practicality of that and my capacity to do it, however in an effort to try this, I additionally needed to take care of my phobia of enclosed areas. I sat there within the extra open area of the attic watching that low space for a very good 5 minutes making an attempt to calm myself and make myself do it. However the longer I used to be up there watching that space, the extra panicked I felt. Mentally, I used to be moving into the other way than I wanted to go in an effort to get this achieved. By the point I made myself get out of the attic, I felt like I used to be on the verge of a full-blown panic assault. My concern of small, enclosed areas is why I’ve by no means even as soon as crawled underneath our home. I received’t ever go underneath there.
I bear in mind years in the past when Matt and I used to look at the present Worry Issue. I cherished watching folks do all of these loopy challenges like consuming bugs, placing their heads in clear acrylic containers that had been full of bugs, and many others. However any time a problem concerned a small, enclosed area, I had a tough time watching. And if any problem included a small, enclosed area with the added component of water, that was a tough no for me. These would ship me right into a full-on panic. Throughout these challenges, Matt would at all times have a look at me, as I buried my face in my fingers, and ask, “You okay? You gonna make it?” He has at all times made enjoyable of me and joked that I’m the one particular person he is aware of who may drown whereas watching a TV present and with no single drop of water round me. 😀
And whereas I wasn’t coping with any water on this scenario, I used to be coping with different components that I simply couldn’t get previous in my thoughts. Like, what if I received caught in there, panicking a lot that I couldn’t transfer? Are you able to think about me having to name 911 and explaining the scenario to them? “I’m caught in my attic, panicking, and I want somebody to come back rescue me!” 😀 I simply couldn’t do it.
So I ended up reassessing the scenario to determine how one can get the wires from gap to gap, round and above the entire ceiling joists and different framing. I lastly ended up having to chop three extra holes that must be patched.
The excellent news is that patching these holes might be fairly easy as a result of I’ve all of those good little circles of drywall that I can use to fill them.
Anyway, these are the lights that I’m going to make use of. They’re not technically recessed lights. They sit flush to the ceiling.
And since they’re just one/2-inch thick, and so they’re LED so that they don’t get sizzling, you’ll be able to put them nearly anyplace, even straight underneath a ceiling joist.
That is the model I exploit. They’ve 5 totally different temperature settings, and I at all times set mine to the 5000K (daylight) setting.
So by the point I received all of that achieved, I used to be just about worn out each bodily and mentally. You possibly can see the holes that should be patched right here.
Additionally, by the point I received all of that achieved, I virtually talked myself into leaving the middle mild proper the place it’s. The problem right here is that the wire that comes from the swap is just too brief to maneuver that junction field again six inches.
I attempted to make myself be okay with it, however about an hour later, after my nerves had calmed a bit, I made a decision that I’m simply not okay with it. You possibly can see how off-center it’s with the middle sections on the facet partitions.
So I went forward and eliminated the junction field. I believed that might be fairly easy, but it surely was a little bit of a problem getting it off because it had these facet areas that jut out with the nails.
I mangled the drywall a bit getting these out of there.
Luckily, I’ll be capable of lower a six-inch gap after which use one of many circles of drywall that I’ve to patch that space.
And I’ll have to run a brand new wire from the swap to this heart junction field, which I hadn’t deliberate on having to do.
So ultimately, I’ll have 4 holes that I have to patched.
However patching 4 holes in drywall is a small worth to pay for avoiding getting caught on my stomach in my attic in a full-blown panic because the low roof closes in on me and having to name 911 to rescue me. 😀
It’s not how I had hoped this mission would go, however at the least the wires are in place. And I ought to have the entire lighting put in by the top of the day. It’ll be good to see what this room appears like with correct lighting.
Addicted 2 Adorning is the place I share my DIY and adorning journey as I rework and beautify the 1948 fixer higher that my husband, Matt, and I purchased in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do bodily work, so I do nearly all of the work on the home on my own. You possibly can be taught extra about me right here.
