Including Recessed Lights To My Stroll-In Closet (Plus, My Workaround For My Phobia)

Including Recessed Lights To My Stroll-In Closet (Plus, My Workaround For My Phobia)

This site contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.


I made fairly a little bit of progress yesterday on including the extra lighting to my walk-in closet, however I didn’t get it completed as a result of I bumped into a fairly large drawback and needed to discover a workaround for it. Till now, this room has solely had one gentle within the ceiling, and that was the sunshine connected to the ceiling fan. I don’t need a ceiling fan on this closet, so the plan was to take away the fan and exchange it with a chandelier after which add a number of recessed lights to provide further lighting to the room.

Right here’s the one single gentle on the ceiling fan that I’ve been working with till now…

Not solely is the lighting inadequate, but it surely’s additionally a yellow gentle, so it makes the cupboard a wallpaper colours look dingy. I can’t stand yellow lighting for that very cause. I like colour, and I don’t like my colours to look washed out, so I want white lighting.

My workday began off easily. I had all the holes minimize for the lights by lunchtime.

This was fairly simple to do with this Mikwaukee adjustable gap cutter (affiliate hyperlink). It adjusts to chop holes from 2″ to 7″, and it comes with this plastic protect that catches the mud as you narrow.

It undoubtedly made the method sooner and simpler, but when I’m being trustworthy, I’d fee it 4 out of 5 stars. Whereas the plastic protect caught about 95% of the mud, it undoubtedly didn’t catch all of it.

Additionally, these blades appeared to boring pretty shortly. I used to be capable of minimize all the holes I wanted, however after about 4 holes, the cuts appeared to begin getting rougher and rougher with every further gap. And the blades stored coming unfastened, so I’d have to make use of an Allen wrench to tighten the blades after I minimize every gap.

I feel the device might use some enchancment, but it surely did the job. And it did it a lot sooner and simpler than another device or course of I’ve used previously to chop holes for lights.

I ended up slicing holes for 2 lights on both sides by the cupboards, and one gap over every equipment.

I had somebody ask me why I didn’t plan on including three lights to every facet within the cupboard space. The reason being due to this air conditioner vent on the left facet which is true the place I would wish to place a lightweight if I had added three to every facet. And I didn’t need to transfer a vent.

However I did add one further gentle centered on the doorway. So the closet cupboard space may have 5 further lights plus the middle chandelier when all is claimed and achieved. That might be loads of gentle.

Issues have been going so easily at this level that I anticipated to interrupt for lunch, after which come again and take about quarter-hour to climb up into the attic and run the wiring from every gap to the following. In concept, this step ought to have been extremely easy. What I hadn’t realized is that all the space from the pink line to the window wall was in that space that juts out from the entrance of the home, and the roof over that space is extremely low.

I had three wires that I wanted so as to add in that part, however as soon as I received up into the attic, I noticed that it wasn’t going to be as simple as I assumed. The truth is, it took me some time to even discover these two holes over the washer and dryer. I couldn’t even see them till I used to be that space head on. After which I noticed that with the intention to get to them, I’d need to lie on my abdomen, shimmy into that space below the tremendous low roof about 10 toes, hoping that I might get all the way in which to the tip whereas dragging three wires in my hand, after which shimmying again with out having the ability to flip round. And, in fact, I’d need to do all of that with out placing a foot or knee by way of the drywall.

Not solely did I query the practicality of that and my means to do it, however with the intention to try this, I additionally needed to take care of my phobia of enclosed areas. I sat there within the extra open area of the attic observing that low space for 5 minutes attempting to calm myself and make myself do it. However the longer I used to be up there observing that space, the extra panicked I felt. Mentally, I used to be getting into the wrong way than I wanted to go with the intention to get this achieved. By the point I made myself get out of the attic, I felt like I used to be on the verge of a full-blown panic assault. My worry of small, enclosed areas is why I’ve by no means even as soon as crawled below our home. I received’t ever go below there.

I keep in mind years in the past when Matt and I used to observe the present Worry Issue. I liked watching individuals do all of these loopy challenges like consuming bugs, placing their heads in clear acrylic packing containers that have been crammed with bugs, and so forth. However any time a problem concerned a small, enclosed area, I had a tough time watching. And if any problem included a small, enclosed area with the added component of water, that was a tough no for me. These would ship me right into a full-on panic. Throughout these challenges, Matt would at all times have a look at me, as I buried my face in my fingers, and ask, “You okay? You gonna make it?” He has at all times made enjoyable of me and joked that I’m the one individual he is aware of who might drown whereas watching a TV present and with no single drop of water round me. 😀

And whereas I wasn’t coping with any water on this scenario, I used to be coping with different elements that I simply couldn’t get previous in my thoughts. Like, what if I received caught in there, panicking a lot that I couldn’t transfer? Are you able to think about me having to name 911 and explaining the scenario to them? “I’m caught in my attic, panicking, and I would like somebody to come back rescue me!” 😀 I simply couldn’t do it.

So I ended up reassessing the scenario to determine how you can get the wires from gap to gap, round and above all the ceiling joists and different framing. I lastly ended up having to chop three further holes that must be patched.

The excellent news is that patching these holes might be fairly easy as a result of I’ve all of those good little circles of drywall that I can use to fill them.

Anyway, these are the lights that I’m going to make use of. They’re not technically recessed lights. They sit flush to the ceiling.

And since they’re just one/2-inch thick, and so they’re LED in order that they don’t get sizzling, you’ll be able to put them nearly anyplace, even immediately below a ceiling joist.

That is the model I take advantage of. They’ve 5 totally different temperature settings, and I at all times set mine to the 5000K (daylight) setting.

So by the point I received all of that achieved, I used to be just about worn out each bodily and mentally. You’ll be able to see the holes that must be patched right here.

Additionally, by the point I received all of that achieved, I nearly talked myself into leaving the middle gentle proper the place it’s. The problem right here is that the wire that comes from the change is simply too quick to maneuver that junction field again six inches.

I attempted to make myself be okay with it, however about an hour later, after my nerves had calmed a bit, I made a decision that I’m simply not okay with it. You’ll be able to see how off-center it’s with the middle sections on the facet partitions.

So I went forward and eliminated the junction field. I assumed that might be fairly easy, but it surely was a little bit of a problem getting it off because it had these facet areas that jut out with the nails.

I mangled the drywall a bit getting these out of there.

Luckily, I’ll have the ability to minimize a six-inch gap after which use one of many circles of drywall that I’ve to patch that space.

And I’ll have to run a brand new wire from the change to this middle junction field, which I hadn’t deliberate on having to do.

So ultimately, I’ll have 4 holes that I have to patched.

However patching 4 holes in drywall is a small worth to pay for avoiding getting caught on my stomach in my attic in a full-blown panic because the low roof closes in on me and having to name 911 to rescue me. 😀

It’s not how I had hoped this undertaking would go, however at the very least the wires are in place. And I ought to have all the lighting put in by the tip of the day. It’ll be good to see what this room appears to be like like with correct lighting.

 

 

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Previous Post

Next Post