Turn on the lights

I know...another light post. But, we keep getting more and more bold with our electrical skills and a good light fixture can make a whole room. This time we are back in the den. My brother got MLW and I some killer pendant lights from Urban Outfitters that I had been lusting over. Brother Bear is the best gift giver! But first lets revisit what the room looked like the first day we took possession of 5054.

Wha-Bam! I actually really liked the navy blue wall color, but we had to paint over as part of Operation Smokey Bear.  Its pretty wild to think that is where we started though. Notice the little dinky pendant lights tied up in the center of the room? Those would be the stars of this post. 

And here is where we begin. MLW and I put of the first one a few days ago and it was a learning process. The second pendant only took about 15 minuets to install including breaking for photos, while the first took about an hour. Needless to say there was no documentation of the first pendant's hanging. 

Its like a little sneak peak! But do you see where its headed? I hope so, because I was crazy excited! 

The pendant upclose. Can you believe they were only about $60 each at urban outfitters?!? We were able to make use of the existing pendant light cord so that also helped, but not too shabby for new lighting cost. 

So step 1 was to turn off the power at the breaker (Image MLW at the window making hand signals, while I randomly flipped switches). The second was to pull the light down from the celling. And yes, I read blogging how to books. I'm trying to be the best little blogger I can for ya'll!! : D

Step 3 included pulling the light brace thing ( I have no clue what the technical term is?) down as well since we had to switch out the screws. The added width of the pendant meant we needed them to reach down farther so everything actually stayed up on the ceiling. 

I laid everything down in the kitchen for a little pendant light operation.  Betsy, to OR1 please!

Check out the zip tie the previous light hanger used to manage the amount of cord hanging down. Pretty genius! The first pendant doesn't have this handy contraption but I took note for the second and made sure to add it.

So I cut that zip tie off and pulled the cord through to remove the old glass shade we would no longer be needing.

Not really wire cutters but these things did the trick! MLW and I learned from pendant one that there was way to much cord to shove up in the light box considering I wanted the light to hang much closer to the ceiling that it did originally. Notice I'm holding a piece of cord and there is a piece of cord laying on the operating table in the background. Snip Snip. (Manicure desperately needed. My mom is shaking her head at me right now) 

I used the same tool to pull of the insulation from the wires and then to actually expose the wire itself to connect in the light box. Pretty advanced right?

These are the screws I replace the original ones with to give the length we needed.

Then I just re-screwed that back up into the light box and made sure it was good and tight. It always freaks me out to learn how few screws hold things together.

I also went ahead and measured how much of the light cord was hanging down from pendant one. Like I mentioned that was kind of a test run, but I wanted to make sure that pendant two and an equally finished feel. I measured 5 inches of "hang" and placed my zip tie accordingly.

One more go with the scissors and this light operation was complete. 

The pendant then just slide in on top of everything and we were ready to hang.

Boom! Two lights! Pictures don't totally do these justice, they are super cool in person. 

Here is the thing, if you are going to take photos in the man cave turned den, you are probably going to get a photo of a man. Good thing he is good lookin'.

The lights let of a really soft glow, which I love. We do have to turn on other light sources if we really need the room bright, but those occasions are rare. For the most part they add a perfect warm glow and just look so dang awesome. A little like two mid-century modern beehives, if thats a thing? 

So there you have it, another lighting adventure down. I'm sure if an electrician ever stumbles upon this blog, he or she will just shake their head at me. But, hey, so far nothing has caught on fire and no corgis or people have been injured in the making of this blog. 

Love the lights and love ya'll!

Betsy