Oddly enough, it wasn't information that I wanted to need. Truth be told, I am not a DIY (Do It Yourself) fanatic. I'm more of a LADIEM (Let Anyone Do It Except Me) type of gal. I would happily flaunt my supervisory skills as my minions toiled away doing all the things I don't want to do, but that does not seem to be the way this has played out.
My newest skill set came about through no fault of my own. Really. I thought I had a former acting student of mine who is also an electrical engineer all lined up, but due to things taking so much longer than I had thought or hoped, by the time I contacted him, he had gotten a big contract in Myrtle Beach and was wildly busy for the next six weeks! So. Search for another electrician or DIY? I decided I'd take a shot ... I have several lights and a chandelier and a ceiling fan not to mention an outdoor light to change, so I figured that I should save money where I could and try to do the smaller lights myself. No way am I attempting the chandelier!!! Or the fan, for that matter.
I've now installed 3 bathroom lights and it has been an experience. Not an experience that I necessarily wanted .... but, an experience. The process is not as difficult as I had imagined, but you really do need to be able to grow a third hand. The thing, other than only having only two hands, that has proved the most daunting is trying to understand the directions that come with the lights! Some are much worse than others! On the first light I did, the directions simply left out a step which was terribly important unless you wanted the light to be crooked on the wall. You'd think that they would have mentioned this ... but no. I figured it out, but it meant I had to take the light down and readjust the gull-wing bar and put it up again. But now I've learned. The second light was one I moved from a half bath where it was upside-down to the guest bath where in fit nicely ... and right side up. It was a small fixture and terribly simple, so no directions were really needed beyond what I had Googled on line -- "How to install a light fixture." Thank goodness for the internet!
Here is the 'before' shot in it's old home.
Here in it's new home where there was enough distance between the light box and the top of the medicine cabinet for the fixture to hang properly and show off it's new more Art Deco shades. It's not a beauty, but it works and I saved some $$.
Taking the place of this fixture is a new light for the half bath which took me forever to find! I had so hated the upside-down fixture and the way that it had no relation to the medicine cabinet (or anything else really), that I wanted to be sure that I found something that would give good light while looking a bit more appropriate in the space. I found a Hinkley fixture which had been discontinued, but was still in stock and I ordered! It came, I loved it, and while I had expected it to be terrible to install, the directions were clear and made sense, and the fixture went in wonderfully well.
Last but not least is the light with the bad directions. I am very happy with the light, but putting it up was more of a challenge than it needed to be. And, this fixture is all one piece so you are juggling the entire thing while attaching your wiring. Yeah, good balance is a necessity!
More lights to install, and I'm sure that each one will have new and different challenges ... they always do. At least I can now say "Let there be light!" and there IS!
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