Shedding A Little Light...

Wow! Time sure flies when you're... working. :(

Freshly removed from five straight weeks on the road, it's time to get back to the house, or as with today's case, the blog. Before I started my small absence, my wife's side of the family came over to lend a much appreciated helping hand. And what was the first task of the day? Changing out some old light fixtures. My wife's sister and her husband had recently replaced their fixtures and were nice enough to donate their old ones to our cause.

The first fixture we replaced was a... Well it was kind of a... Actually, I have no clue what it was because most of it was missing. I assume it was a small type of chandelier, but given the state it was in and that it was hanging in the entryway, it had to go.

                   

The Franken-Fixture!

Much Better.

Next up was the Kitchen. Now, the old lights in the Kitchen are a mystery to me. As you can see in some later pictures in this post, there is a one-bulb fixture over the sink (normal), a ceiling fan centered in the room (not typical for a kitchen, but not outrageous either), but then there is this four-bulb monster in the back corner of the kitchen. I just can't wrap my head around why it's there. Usually when lights are offset like that it's for a small dining area in the kitchen, however, there's no room for even a small table as it would completely block off the pantry. I'm guessing they thought lights on the fan would hang too low and opted for this option. If we wanted to, we could probably add a light kit to the fan at some point and remove this fixture altogether, but for now it's just fine.

The Beast Light!

Old Sink Light.

After Shot. Big, old fixture was on left.

Additional shots from the install process....

Yes, we know what they resemble...

We only hit one snag while working on the lights, and that was the fact that not all junction boxes are created equal, nor are all light fixtures. A couple boxes had to be rigged up with metal strips and new bolts, which then had to be re-spaced, to get the fixtures attached. For the uninitiated, switching light fixtures is actually a simple fix. After shutting off the breaker, you merely dismantle the current fixture until you get to the wiring, disconnect the fixture wiring from the junction box, check the instructions for re-wiring the new fixture in case they don't match the previous one, mount and assemble the new fixture, and turn the breaker back on. Easy stuff. 

And they looked so good, my brother in law couldn't believe it.

While all that was going on, we put the rest of the family to work elsewhere. My sister in law wanted to paint the pantry doors, but we didn't have a stirring stick so she had to improvise. Once she got things mixed up she went to town on them with a roller and they turned out great. Definitely an improvement over the off-colored and paint splattered mess they were before.

Makes me wonder if she was Amish in another life.

BAM!

Once the pantry doors were re-hung and Tracy's father leveled the playroom door so it didn't hit the frame, it was time for me to hit the road and catch a flight to Dallas. That didn't mean the work ended, though. There was still one last task for the day and it was definitely a fun one. Cutting down more overgrown vines and shrubbery, yay!

Since I wasn't there, I don't know how long it took or how hard it was to get all that vine out of the chain-link, all I know is that I'm glad I missed it. Now we just have to burn off this batch and what's left from the other clean up efforts and  the yard will be somewhat contained until spring.

That's it for this update. I'd like to thank the fam once again for lending a helping hand, it was much needed and appreciated. Not sure what I'll be tackling next, but keep your eyes peeled for more updates and thanks for reading!