It's a light replacement extravaganza, or quite possibly a bonanza. The fact is, we've had a bunch of these lights that we've been meaning to replace for a long time now, some close to a year. We'll we're finally getting around to it. Today we're featuring a brand new foyer light as well as a new dining room light. Next is the bathroom light which I hope won't utterly suck. These have actually been getting easier? maybe?

Starting with the foyer, it was a very difficult decision to replace this beautiful fixture that showed off the light bulb itself as the focal point of the fixture. It was especially nice with a twisty CFL in there. Anyway, as usual it was sporting the crazy cast iron box and extra misc wires as well as a wealth of vermiculite insulation to pour out on me. This fixture was installed on a rafter, which I actually prefer since I can just get a low profile box and screw it into the rafter. It's better and easier than those 'old work' blue plastic boxes with their little plastic flaps.

We got this light for a crazy awesome price from someone on craig's list, the only problem was the cord coming out of the light was cut really short. Fortunately there was a bunch of excess cord in the ceiling fan that I had cut out so I replaced the cords in this light with those, yay recycling! It looks awesome and provides light, what more can you ask for?

Additional foyer light photos

The new dining room light also came from someone on craig's list. The supports were originally metallic aluminum but Anne painted them bronze and then did some nice dry brushing over the top for an awesome antiqued look that matches with the rest of the house. She also added a little yellow glass paint to the back of the glass and added the prairie style lines that really add character to this fixture. The former light was a seriously ugly number from the 60s that we were glad to see go.

This box was also nailed to a rafter in addition to the iron rod that had to be hacksawed, luckily I only had to hacksaw one side of the box instead of both due to the rod not going all the way through. Long story short, the new light got installed, Yay!

Additional Dining room light photos

I'm starting to become a pro at replacing the lights in our house. I'm still not a fan of hack sawing; don't think I ever will be. I've described before the electrical 'box' that the existing lights use. This crazy cast iron thing that's embedded in the lath and plaster that I have to hack saw to remove.

I'm also a huge fan of the number of wires I have to deal with. A simple hot and neutral would be way too easy, instead lets have three neutrals all stuck together, one hot, and three others (one black two white) that are just together for the fun of it! It's like a little party inside the new box I installed!

Luckily the placement of the box in the ceiling was right next to a rafter so I could attach the new box to that, when you're putting in a fan it's important to make sure the box is well secured and that the weight and motion of the fan isn't going to cause it to tear out of the ceiling at a later date. To ensure this I installed the first plate of the fan to the box, it has a hook on it to hang the fan motor on while you're wiring it up. I filled a backpack with 40 pounds of weights and hung that from the hook for about 30 minutes to make sure it was secure. It didn't budge, much to my pleasure. Sorry, I forgot to take a photo of that.

In the end, of course, all the hassle is worth it. The new light looks and works great. More photos

You know how much I love replacing light fixtures in my house. Actually, I don't mind replacing light fixtures. I dislike replacing electrical boxes. Though it's not so much replacing as it is adding, since I'm not sure the pre-existing cast iron thing can really be considered a box...

The former light fixture

Wiring protruding from the previous 'box'

This time didn't seem quite as bad, perhaps because I knew what I was in for. A constant shower of vermiculite insulation as I saw through the piece of steel that's holding this thing in place. Further chiseling and sawing to get the new box to fit in the hole. Miscellaneous wires in the box that simply connect together for reasons unknown. Two neutral wires and one hot. etc. etc.

In the end it was worth it though. We got the new fixture up and it looks amazing. We still want to buy a couple more lights for it but already really transforms the space.

The new lighting

More photos