Recessed Lighting? How Exciting!
Hello everyone!
Sorry for the long hiatus. We hope to get back posting on a much regular basis.
When last we left you, we had just installed our hardwood floors. The second part of the kitchen was to install some recessed lights in the ceiling. We used to have a single florescent fixture that was bright, but was also loud and gave the feeling like the life was being sucked out of you whenever you stood underneath it. Needless to say, we were not big fans. So we opted to remove the old light and replace it with some newer and more stylish recessed lights.
Installing lights (or doing anything electrical for that matter) is tricky business. Of course you have the whole I-don’t-want-do-die-by-electrocution thing. But then you also have to worry about insulation in the ceiling and walls, whether the ceiling trusses are running north and south or east and west, and cutting the holes where you are not going to run into either a wire or a truss. You also have to buy light housings specifically made for remodeling projects (the only difference is that they have anchors that can attach to the drywall rather than being nailed into the studs.)
The first thing we did was decide where we could get the most coverage for the amount of lights we had. You have to strike a fine balance between having a well lit kitchen and a ceiling that looks like honeycomb. We settled on 5 lights in something like a star pattern. We marked out the holes and started cutting, which was a bad idea. The first two holes we tried to cut ended up running right into a stud. After the second try we stopped, took a step back, and figured out where the other studs were. Once we did that it was smooth sailing. We also lucked out by having a “fake” kitchen ceiling, which is where the builders drop a second ceiling off the original that is generally much higher. Fake ceilings are usually constructed with thin steel bars which are on the outside and thin beams stretching across to hang the drywall. Since there are no trusses, we could run our wires wherever we needed. Nice huh?
Starting from the center hole, we ran a wire to each of the points of the star. After that we turned off the breaker for the kitchen, connected the different strands to the original wire, and then tied them all together. (The wiring can be tricky, so if you are really interested, just give me a call and I can explain it to you, otherwise is post would go on forever.) Once that was done it was simply a matter of connecting the wires to the light housings, snugging them in their holes, and then setting the anchors. Piece of cake!
The only other problem we had was trying to patch the bad holes we made in the beginning. As it turns out, it’s really hard to match the same color of ceiling paint that contractors use. We could have painted the whole ceiling a new color, but we had just installed the new floors and didn’t want to go through the process of covering them up to paint. So, we found the closest color that we could and went with it. They turned out ok, but if you look right at them, you can tell that the paint isn’t quite right. It's certainly not overly noticeable, and we haven't thought about it since we finished, so I think is a success.
All and all, it was a fun two day project. If we had taken the time to find the studs before we started, we could have avoided having to patch the old holes and finding paint to match. Had we done that, it would have been a 2-3 hour job at the most. If you have a fake ceiling and want more light, we would highly recommend it. But be beware, you will get dirty!
