What I learned today... (and recessed lights!)

What I learned today was that no one cares about all the stuff I write unless I include pictures. SHEESH! ;) So here are some pictures of one of MANY productive things we did this weekend!

We installed recessed lights to replace the large commercial ceiling light in our kitchen!!


See it there at the top? No not the hideous pink one (although it's gone too) the big white square. Yeah, it's pretty bad - functional - but not our style.

First step - TURN OFF POWER! Then remove old light and take a picture of how it's wired.



Second step - we went into the attic and turned the junction box into the attic since the light placement would be changing. Then patch the hole!

We went through a few options trying to decide which lights to choose.

We looked at these small 3" lights at Home Depot:
and settled on a similar version but with florescent bulbs instead.

After selecting the lights we needed to decide what was the best layout for our room. We need lighting in two major areas: Above the sink/cooking area and in the breakfast nook area. So we elected to put up the lights in groups of threes.

Next we measured out where to plan to place our lights:


Then we held the light up over the marks and traced the footprint of the light so we could cut the holes using a drywall knife.


At this point Micheal realized when we measured we had not taken into account ceiling joists (oops!) - fortunately for us we didn't hit any with our holes, but next time we would check this out first. :)

These lights were SUPER easy to install. (Unless you fall off the ladder, scrape your leg on the counter and only evade death because your husband was there to catch you...) They just push up in the ceiling and clip onto the sheetrock.



After this I did the wiring...in theory the wiring for recessed lights is very simple. One light ties directly to your switch and the lights connect to each other in a line. But of course with our house nothing is easy. It took me two hours on my side in the attic, some bruised ribs, and a lot of curse words to get this done but...

Let there be light!!