Adding Recessed Lights To My Walk-In Closet (Plus, My Workaround For My Phobia)

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 really like coloration, and I don’t like my colours to look washed out, so I desire white lighting.

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

This was fairly straightforward to do with this Mikwaukee adjustable hole 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 sincere, I’d price 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 reduce all the holes I wanted, however after about 4 holes, the cuts appeared to begin getting rougher and rougher with every extra gap. And the blades stored coming free, so I’d have to make use of an Allen wrench to tighten the blades after I reduce every gap.

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

I ended up slicing holes for 2 lights on either side 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 light-weight if I had added three to every facet. And I didn’t wish to transfer a vent.

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

Issues had 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 principle, 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 acquired up into the attic, I noticed that it wasn’t going to be as straightforward as I believed. 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 in an effort to get to them, I’d must lie on my abdomen, shimmy into that space below the tremendous low roof about 10 toes, hoping that I might get all the best way to the top whereas dragging three wires in my hand, after which shimmying again with out having the ability to flip round. And, in fact, I’d must do all of that with out placing a foot or knee by means of the drywall.

So I ended up reassessing the scenario to determine easy methods to 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 extra holes that should 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, they usually’re LED so that they don’t get sizzling, you possibly can 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 acquired all of that completed, I used to be just about worn out each bodily and mentally. You may see the holes that must be patched right here.

Additionally, by the point I acquired all of that completed, 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 may see how off-center it’s with the middle sections on the facet partitions.

So I went forward and eliminated the junction field. I believed 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.

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

So in the long run, I’ll have 4 holes that I must 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 challenge would go, however a minimum of the wires are in place. And I ought to have all the lighting put in by the top of the day. It’ll be good to see what this room appears to be like like with correct lighting.