From a Basement on the Hill: Let there be LIGHT!

So, so many lights....Behold:

studio lights!

more studio lights!

stairwell organization!

stairwell organization plus light!

back porch light!

back yard & basement door lights!

sleeping porch lights!

sleeping porch outlets!

Hurrah!   

Fun With an Extension Ladder: Side Project

You may recall that I found a pair of ornate ceiling lights at Second Chance Salvage in Baltimore a couple of months ago. I installed one in our downstairs entryway and have been saving the other for just the right spot.

After painting the walls and ceiling on the upstairs landing to coordinate with the entryway, I decided the lights should match as well. Besides, I had been meaning to deal with this airplane propellor attached to the ceiling since we moved in over a year ago:



The Ear came equipped with some truly awful fans and lighting fixtures. I'm glad to finally be getting rid of them. I started this one by removing the blades and the light kit (after cutting off the power at the circuit breaker!).



I was then able to lower the canopy, unscrew the bolts, and detach the wiring. As with the light fixture in the entryway, I found evidence of The Ear's former gas lighting system. This gas pipe (the dark cylinder in the middle of the silver plate), however, had been cut off closer to the ceiling, so it was not in the way of my new hardware.



After the fan removal, the new fixture went up easy as pie.



Wow, what a tall, airy space we have now!



I think I'll take a little break from projects for now and just enjoy living here for a bit. Happy summer!

OMG, CRAZIEST project EVER (so far): Part 5

After I caulked the medallion to the ceiling, I removed the fixture (I had to leave it in place during the caulking for spacing and support) and painted the medallion and caulk to match the ceiling (Martha Stewart Glass of Milk in flat). I suppose it's a little more ornate than I might have chosen, but the acanthus leaf design is similar in shape to the scallop shell pattern on the glass globe of the light fixture. Whatever works!

In a few hours, my paint (2 coats) had dried, and I finally installed my light. Behold what 5 days of fiddling around (on a project that should have taken 5 hours) will get you:

For reference, here's what the foyer looked like before this change:

Pretty good, right? I *think* it was worth all the effort.

OMG, CRAZIEST project EVER (so far): Part 4

Before Blogger was down for a few days, I was recounting the week-long process of installing a new light fixture in the foyer. When we left off, I had removed the old one, discovered some interesting remnants of an old gas lighting system, and was trying to figure out how to close the gap between the ceiling and the new fixture.

After trying a few homemade fixes to fill the gap (such as cutting up and painting the metal shade of a clamp light from my studio) and having them fail miserably, I went to Home Depot to take a look at ceiling medallions. These are plastic reproductions of things that used to be made from plaster; you can use them to conceal ceiling damage around a light fixture and paint them to match the surface they are installed on. I also picked up a few other round things to play around with, like a toilet flange. Here's a test:

Hmm, don't know about that flange...it fills in some more of the gap, but it looks pretty strange next to the more ornate flourishes on the medallion. Here's another set-up, this time with just the medallion. Here I have managed to arrange the parts so that the medallion is balanced on the screws that hold the fixture to its bracket; this positions the medallion to be mid-way between the ceiling and fixture. But how to stick it to the ceiling?

How indeed? Painter's caulk, of course! I slathered it on in layers to build up a little wall between the medallion and ceiling.

I improvised funny little balancing structures as I worked, such as this pencil wedged between the medallion and light fixture. Otherwise, it was a lot like frosting a cake or building a coil pot from clay. Art skills in action!

OMG, CRAZIEST project EVER (so far): Part 3

Okay, so there're these wires and pipe sticking out of my ceiling.



After a little Googling (like this), I decided that the pipe was likely part of a long-gone gas lighting system. And I guess because it was up in the ceiling and difficult to fully remove, previous residents of The Ear just decided to incorporate it into their contemporary lighting needs. Hence the little threaded bit on the end, which was holding up the previous light.

Looking up into the hole, I could see why there was no junction box to attach a light to: the pipe was in the way. The wires were coming out of a ribbed metal tube attached to the floor joists and were spliced onto the lamp wire from the old fixture (which I had to cut).



Well, it looked weird, but I figured I could just attach my new light in the same manner as the old one, by screwing my mounting bracket to the old gas line. One problem though:



The gas line stuck out farther than my fixture was deep. Hence the plastered-to-the-ceiling canopy of the previous fixture. I set about looking for a fix, cutting up all manner of round things.

OMG, CRAZIEST project EVER (so far): Part 2

So after obsessing for months about what kind of light to get for our entryway, I was ready to remove the old one (after cutting off the power at the circuit breaker!). I knew there was something a little fishy about it, based on the canopy by the ceiling. Check out the protruding, painted over rim around the top, and the punctured hole through which the lamp wire feeds into the light. Not the usual order of things.



To get the light down, I had to cut its wire and grounding wire. The twisting motion of the nut and chain created too much tension in the off-center cord to do anything else. So once I got the fixture and the canopy down, I found:



Another canopy! Wha? Not only did this one appear to be plastered/painted to the ceiling, but it also sported the same puncture hole for the lamp wire, plus a....bit of threaded pipe? Protruding from....some sort of black metal thing? The whole contraption, though unusual looking, was very well affixed to the ceiling. I whacked it with my hammer a few times, to no avail. I resorted to ripping it apart with pliers.





The second canopy, freed from its moorings. Look at all that goop that was holding it to the ceiling!



And underneath it all.....what the hell? A hole in the ceiling with wires dangling out, no junction box, plus a large metal pipe, going up into the innards of the house, out of sight. What now? Told y'all this would get crazy.

OMG, CRAZIEST project EVER (so far): Part 1

Some of you may be familiar with this paragon of beauty:



For those who haven't been playing along at home, I'll fill you in. This is the light fixture that was in our foyer/entryway when we bought The Ear. Its 70's-80's, Western-lodge aesthetics, plus missing glass globes and glare-y light weren't really doing it for us. When we moved in last April, I felt sure that its days were numbered. However, I totally underestimated my ability to become focused on other projects and overestimated my ability to be decisive about purchasing a new fixture. So a year later, this "chandelier" is still with us.

Until recently, that is. A few weeks ago Mr. MJ and I were up in Baltimore for some art shows, and we stopped into Second Chance salvage superstore on a whim. We found these lovely ceiling fixtures by Rejuvenation (normally beyond the budget) on super sale, and I got to work coating their brushed brass bases with my trusty Rustoleum paint (saver of ceiling fans, plastic switch plates, etc. etc.).



My willingness to wait for the right thing at the right price paid off...a year later. So where is the craziness, you may be wondering? Well, ask and it shall be given, starting with Part 2.

Dining Room, Now with (better) Light

You may remember from my last post that our dining room was starting to pull itself together, except for the off-center, too-high chandelier. After poking around on the Internet for about 20 minutes, I learned how to fix this blemish on my otherwise nice room.

I had to buy a long length (about 6 feet) of lamp wire (same thing the hardware store would sell you to rewire an old lamp), some chain, and a hook with a toggle bolt. I also needed a couple of pairs of pliers, and some help from my every-handy mom (it's so nice how she visits when I need to get something done!).

First, we took the chandelier down from the ceiling so that we could clean it and attach a longer wire. Everything looked pretty normal up in the junction box under the chandelier's bonnet.

After cleaning up the (very dusty) chandelier, we unscrewed the ring on its top so that we could remove the cover and expose the wiring. As I hoped, the chandelier was wired in a fairly straightforward manner: the black wires from the light sockets were all bundled together and spliced to the black wire of the main cord, and likewise for the white wires. We disconnected the too-short main cord from these bundles (after twist-tying the bundles together to keep things organized!), then spliced in our new, longer main cord.

We got the chandelier rewired and put back together. Next, we drilled a (rather large) hole in the ceiling (made difficult by my lack of a half-inch drill bit) to fit our hook and toggle bolt. These are kind of fun when they go in easily, and frustrating when they don't.

Several hours later, we concluded our project with the beautiful vista below. Reattaching and correctly placing the chandelier was much more difficult that we expected; as we screwed the parts all back together, the long length of chain and wire became terribly twisted. However, the ours of having our arms in the air fooling with things above our heads were worth it. We can now see our food while we eat it! Hurrah!

What Not To Do

Don't paint your textured ceiling with glossy paint. (Also, don't texture your ceiling.)



Don't hang your ugly light fixture off of a remnant of your old one (which you have textured and painted to the ceiling). You will have to poke a hole in its canopy, rather than wiring it correctly. Not the best plan.

Thanksgiving Leftovers: And It Was Good

Ma and Pa MJ were visiting the Sow's Ear for Thanksgiving. As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, we roasted our first turkey, plus trimmings, etc.

We also taxed our small, dim 90's Civic kitchen heavily, what with three cooks making food for 20. Ma MJ, a modern day Prometheus of fluorescent light, decided to make an improvement in the situation. She decided to swap this (imagine a dingier, dimmer, painted on version):



For something brighter and more up to date. So did we rush out to Tyson's Corner or Montgomery Mall or Georgetown for Black Friday? Hell no. We went to Home Depot.

Ma MJ took the old fixture down by herself, early-ish one morning:



(I like how she gets all dressed in her cute clothes to do projects.)

She revealed big holes and the remainder of an older light fixture/connection in the ceiling.



She then enlisted helpers. Among other things, we held our arms in the air for really long stretches of time, struggled with previously used toggle bolts, and used a quarter-inch drill to make a 3/8 inch hole.



Finally, sometime in the afternoon, the new fixture was up. But it would not turn on.



We decided the ill-conceived and ill-placed (although hand painted green to match the tile!) rheostat knob was to blame. After another trip to the hardware store (an hour before closing time), we were installing a proper switch.



Rheostat remnants:



With the light now working, we struggled to snap the cover in place (arms in air for another long period of time).



A day's worth of work later, our new light is brightening up our kitchen like our own personal sun.



Now if the dishwasher would actually wash dishes instead of coating them in soap scum, we'd have a revolution on our hands.

(Photos here mostly courtesy of Pa MJ (not pictured)).