Ok, so we recently had some work done. Nope, not calf implants, but you’re close…
How about can implants? Also known as recessed lighting. And we went for a pendant injection while we were at it (when in Rome…). Actually the wide shot shows more of the chaos that ensued just to get the room ready for its close up (we removed half of Karl The Sectional and pushed him across the room along with rolling back the rug and covering the floor with drop clothes under each work area).
Can you believe we’re well into year three of living here and we’ve never had overhead lights in the living room (except for one small light that used to hang off-center in the corner). And while we love lamps for ambiance, overhead lights can be helpful to flip on when more illumination is necessary (like for finding that rogue doll shoe that Clara needs rightthissecond!). Basically there’s a reason that Candice Olson champions the whole light-layering thing (some recessed lights + a pendant + a few table lamps or floor lamps seems to be her sweet spot, sometimes with a sconce or two tossed in there for good measure).
And since we used to have two large fans overhead – without lights mind you, just big hulking brown fans that we never used (this part of the house is cooler and has lots of sliders to open for a breeze) – we had two fixture boxes in the ceiling to tap into for the recessed lights.
And magically, with the scroll of a mouse they’re done. And they’re glorious.
We thought about branching off from them and adding a ton more (four? six? eight?) but decided that since there were just those two fixture boxes that existed, we’d live with two for now before swiss-cheesing the ceiling and buying more materials. But knowing that we can always add more now that these babies are wired up is nice.
When it came to making sure those recessed light conversions were done safely, we hired our favorite local electrician (his name is Sean, and he runs S.J. Ryan Electric, who we mentioned during our kitchen reno here).
The cords up in the attic above the living room were a little too scary (not up to code at all) for us to deal with on our own, and the peace of mind of relying on an expert for things that can burn your house down is always nice. But like most DIYers, we were excited to tackle whatever was within our skill set (because we’re cheap like that). Which meant that we were happy to instal the pendant light over the table by the window, just as soon as Sean’s guys got the fixture box centered (it used to be about a foot too far to the left so the old pendant made the window look really wonky).
Sometimes we can move fixture boxes ourselves, like we did in our bathroom here…
… but in this case there wasn’t any slack in the wire for us to move it ourselves, and there were lots of other wires going to the box that confused us, so we had them get things up to code and move them over while they were at it.
It’s a lot like how we hired a contractor to help us open up the wall between the kitchen and the dining room and then did all the drywall/trim/finishing ourselves to save some loot. In this case we grabbed the ol’ baton and did the pendant installation and patched the ceiling hole. Since most electricians charge hourly, the more you do yourself, the more you can save.
Oh and you can also save money by prepping the room before anyone shows up. For this little adventure we:
- moved the sofa
- rolled back the rug
- put down drop cloths
- marked the ceiling for where we wanted things to go
That last bullet is a biggie. Measuring to be sure the pendant would be centered and then marking an x on the ceiling saved us time since we didn’t have to debate the pendant placement while the electrician was here (any long chats while the electrician’s around = cash-money out the door, since they’re on his time).
And after they left, we:
- hung the pendant light
- patched that hole in the ceiling near the back window
- caught our breath
- put the room back together
And then it looked like this…
Of course the giant window makes our pretty pendant a lot more invisible than he is in person (he’s crisp and easy to see in real life), but going from zero overhead lights to two recessed lights and a pendant over the table is such an awesome change. There’s a reason all those people say “good lighting is a room changer.”
When it comes to the whole hole patching shebang, we have a few tips for you…
Hole patching tip numero uno: We use these little hole-patching mesh things from Home Depot along with Crackshot Spackle by Dap (applied with a spackle knife) for a nice quick cover-up.
Hole patching tip numero dos: Don’t stop at one spackle session, I always try to do 2-3 thin applications so I catch all the little imperfections that I might miss the first time (you can sand between each spackling sesh or just keep building it up and then sand when you’re sure you have all the low points filled). Note: you can see most of this process on video here if that helps.
Hole patching tip numero tres: I heard that Magic Erasers were pretty handy if you didn’t want to stir up as much dust as sanding would, so after my spackle dried I gave it a try. And I gotta say, it rocked. Some gentle buffing back and forth against the dry spackle with my only-slightly-wet Magic Eraser filed down the high points and made a lot less of a mess, but I think the key to my success may have been that I don’t mound my spackle (I just try to keep it flush while covering the low points, so minimal sanding is necessary).
Hole patching tip numero quatro: When it’s time to paint over your smoothed out spackle, be sure it’s completely smooth (drywall or spackle imperfections aren’t covered by paint, they’re emphasized by it). You also want to feather the paint out about 12″ beyond the spackled area, just so it’s not an obvious blob of paint on the ceiling (two thin and even coats with long feathery brush strokes works for me).
As for the pendant that we chose, you might remember it from our little lighting collection (we mentioned that we purchased three things in that old post- two of which we still had to hang). It was awesome to finally get it this baby up – especially since it’s now perfectly centered over the table and in front of the window.
I love that the wire and canopy are a crisp white color. I almost looks like it’s floating like a big ol’ sun in the sky.
And as for the third thing that we bought from our collection, that colorful shade found a home on our little stationery desk. Which is also known as Burger’s treat desk since those are its two functions.
It adds more of the colors that you see in the green and blue lanterns on the desk, and the shapes in the shade seem to tie into the shapes in the mirror and the cutouts on the lanterns. It’s a nice counterpart to the neutral choices around it, like the walls, the desk, the chair, the ottoman, and the curtains.
We hosted a little lamp shade fashion show with him. We tried it out on a few other lights, including the floor lamp in the sunroom (which was also cute) but decided to enjoy him in the living room for now. Who knows where he’ll end up though…
Close up in 3… 2… 1. Boom.
As for the cost, this lighting upgrade was $72 in materials (for the two can lights, the trim for those, some wiring and junction boxes to fix a few bad connections in the attic, etc) and around $200 for all of the labor. We usually tell people it’s about $100 to get an overhead light added, so we thought that converting two of them to recessed lights and moving a fixture box so it’s centered (while straightening out some tangled fire-hazard wiring up in the attic) for $200 was a great price. Heck, when we look back at this before picture from 2010…
… it’s amazing how far this room has come.
The only sad thing is that we sat on the sofa this weekend and said “why did we wait so many years to do this?!” Isn’t that always how it goes? Oh well, at least now we can enjoy it. And say pun-tastic things like “I see the light!” every time we walk into the room. Heck yeah that happens.
What are you guys up to with lighting/ceilings/holes/pendants? Do you take the hire-out-some-but-do-what-I-can approach? I think we saved around 100 bucks patching that hole and hanging the pendant ourselves. Sing it with me: “everyday I’m shuffling spackling…”
Wendy @ New Moms Talk says
The lights are wonderful!
We played a lot in the warm outdoors this weekend, and I made makes-the-baby-super-happy carseat/stroller/other toys-
http://www.newmomstalk.com/2013/03/11/egg-struments-…-stroller-toys
Thank goodness for plastic Easter eggs and creativity! Oh, and a wonderful daughter, too!
Anele @ Success Along the Weigh says
We need to put some can lights in the unfinished basement (then finish said basement…cringe) but I just can’t bring myself to do anything electrical that goes beyond the very basic. But there are some great tips in here I’m going to remember for the future, especially marking where I want things before the electrician gets here.
I have to say, thanks to your blog and HGTV, we look at homes completely different now. We’re open house junkies and we fell in love with a house yesterday that anyone in our family would’ve thought we were NUTS to buy because this thing would be a 20 year project but the amount of space was AWESOME. 10 years ago, I would’ve walked out and instead I think “oh, YHL has a post about how to do that!!” Thank you!!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Anele! You’re so sweet!
xo
s
Bonnie says
Anele– I do the exact same thing with old houses now! I used to say our next house can’t be more than 10 years old (our current one was built in 1960), but now I find myself wanting a fixer so I can go YHL on it! :)
Kami says
When picking colors, pillows, thrift store items, I say: What would Sherry do? LOL
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, you’re sweet.
xo
s
Rene @thedomesticlady says
MMMM. I am jealous of all that natural (and artifical:) light. We trimmed some huge bushes this weekend and I am amazed at how much more light is coming in through the windows.
PS. I love your new line from Shades of light:)
http://thedomesticlady.com/2013/03/11/monday-randomness-a-chihuahua-cabana-wall-stencil-and-chicken-nachos/
YoungHouseLove says
LOL – love the Doggy Cabana.
-John
Alisa says
I’m fairly certain that doggie cabana is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen.
Ainhoa says
Love the colorful light fixtures – and I’m a big fan of recessed lighting, we have it in the bathrooms, kitchen and hallway ourselves.
Jess @ Little House. Big Heart. says
Ceiling fans are the worst! Everything looks so much better now! I love the shades from your collection, too! Tres chic!
I wish the previous owner of the Little House had had your patching tips! Our kitchen ceiling looks like he patched it with Play Doh!
Julia @ Chris Loves Julia says
We are SO glad we have an electrician to help us with our upcoming kitchen lighting needs. Because, well, we actually DIYed our 6 recessed lights (http://www.chrislovesjulia.com/2012/03/great-do-your-own-recessed-lighting.html ) in our family room–HUGE accomplishment–and HUGE mess. Hahahaa. We ended up patching 17 (!!!) holes. But, we did it! You’re right, game changer. We added a dimmer to ours so when we watch The Bachelor, it can be dim and moody, ya know?! ;)
YoungHouseLove says
Ha! Because proper Bachelor viewing requires dimmed lights. Are their candles too? :) But seriously, dimmers are the best.
-John
Julia @ Chris Loves Julia says
Ha! We haven’t busted out candles, but tonight IS the finale–it might be a must. ;)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, set that mood!
xo
s
Sandra says
What a huge impact! I keep thinking of putting in cans, but the Geargia heat tells me that I can never be without the ceiling fans. It’s amazing how many small changes over time can lead to a beatuiful room.
Ade@fortheloveofpainting says
I love the lights andagain something I did not notice until now….great job!
Hey I have a project from Pinterest for you to do, you will LOVE it…
http://fortheloveofpainting.com/2013/03/pinterest-things-i-want-to-try-2/
YoungHouseLove says
Smart idea – and fun project too!
-John
Kristen | Popcorn on the Stove says
We’re sans overhead lighting in our living room and it drives me nuts at night and in the early morning! The room gets a lot of light during the day, so it could be worse, but since we’re only renting, it’ll stay that way. Thank goodness for pretty lamps!
Rebecca @This Nest is Best says
We had an overhead light put in our dining room a few years ago (it was the original living room of the house so no overhead lighting at all) and holy cow, it was such a game changer! We still would like to get some recessed lights put in our living room because the lighting in there is sub-par as well.
Thought…have you guys ever tried swapping out the mirror in the living room for the one in the guest room? Online it looks like the switch of the dark and light might work well…but sometimes in person it totally doesn’t, so just wondering if you had ever tried it!
YoungHouseLove says
We actually used to have that one in the living room (you can see so in some of the book photos) but at some point swapped them just to mix things up. Maybe we’ll go back someday!
-John
Rebecca @This Nest is Best says
Ah! I should have known!
ps – Hi John! Don’t see you doing comment-duty as often :)
Megan says
I was scrolling through the post a little too fast and thought to myself “Why is Burger on the table?” That cardboard cut out is a great little stunt double.
YoungHouseLove says
Hahah!
xo
s
Amy @ YellowHammerDesignShop says
Looks great! We’ve been flirting with the idea of can lights in our own living room.
Emiles says
Love the Magic Eraser tip!!!! The space is looking great. I’m hoping to find some nice mix that includes ceiling fans. Seems most people bail on them due to bulk but I find them necessary in our Iowa weather!
(PS it’s cuatro!)
J says
If you take two photos of the room, one “room exposure” and one “window exposure” and layer them in photoshop it should help the blown out area from the window light.
YoungHouseLove says
We pull out that trick sometimes, but were just too lazy this instance (we were grabbing this pics as Clara woke up from her nap). Next time!
-John
Kirsten @ Through the Front Door says
We’re building a pantry now and just added some can lights and we had the same reaction – why on earth didn’t we add these lights sooner?! They make SUCH a difference (even in just a little corner).
And I have to agree with you guys – Candice is such a design/lighting maven.
Gabriella @ OLinA says
I love it – those colours are so vibrant. I love them both and not that I want to choose favorites but the shade on the desk is my fav – I just love those colours together.
Happy Monday!
MK says
I love can lights, we’ve installed them in many rooms throughout our house! About the pendant: Could you post a picture of the pendant where the photo wasn’t so over-exposed? I’m sure this was done in the editing process and not what it looks like in real life. It’s hard to imagine that so much light comes off that window that you can’t even see a light hanging in front of it – even in a picture that’s straight off the camera.
YoungHouseLove says
We’ll see if we can take one – maybe on a cloudier day. Those pics are straight from the camera, it’s just impossible to get an evenly lit shot of that room since the light is so concentrated on the far end of the room (it has two giant sliders and a big window, so… lots of light!). You can even see in the first pic of the room all torn apart how bright that window is right out of the camera.
-John
Dina says
You might be able to fix this by changing the metering mode on your camera. You probably won’t be able to get perfect exposure everywhere in the room given all the (gorgeous) light coming right through the window, but that might help keep that part of the room from being overexposed.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Dina! We’ll have to play around with things (someone else recommended taking two exposure pics – one low and one regular and then layering the light over the normal one so it shows up thanks to photoshop tricks- so that might work too!).
xo
s
Megan @ Rappsody in Rooms says
Oh I love it! I also love that you are bringing in your lighting designs. It must be kind of thrilling. I am totally on board with lighting changing a room. We changed the lighting in our kitchen and it literally made our cabinets look a different shade of wood…in a very good way. It was incredible!!!!!!!!
http://rappsodyinrooms.com/2012/08/13/lighting-glorious-lighting/
YoungHouseLove says
Love that!
xo
s
Annabel Vita says
I love how much depth those two lampshades add to the room! Seeing it all coming together makes me so excited for when the floor gets refinished though – is that still the plan?
YoungHouseLove says
Yep. It needs it desperately!
-John
Stephanie says
My husband and I have been dying to add recessed lighting to our family room!! It’s open concept with our kitchen which has 6 recessed lights so we feel like we should mirror the same layout in the attached family room (it gets super dark at night). But the quotes we get in Northern VA are closer to $200 per light + cost to patch the ceiling. Eek! :(
Maybe now we can muster the courage to consider ceiling patching ourselves. And, you know, talk your guy Sean into making a road trip up north. ;)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, we’ll send him right up!
xo
s
Ashley@AttemptsAtDomestication says
Hooray for overhead lighting! I’d be so sad without our overhead lights. There are just certain things you need lots of light for!
Cristina says
At first, I actually thought Burger was standing on your table. HAHA!
Our first two places didn’t have overhead lights at all in our living room, so when we moved into our current place that does have an overhead light, we almost forgot about it. Now we’ve got a nice, modern-looking ceiling fan that’s got a warm, so we’re happy.
Your living room is coming along so well! I’m digging the color scheme!
kristi@SimplePrettyThings says
I have to say that I really love your living room! I typically go for a more masculine neutral style in my home but I love the airy-ness (I think I made that word up) and the cool colors you have used. Very pretty! I really really really want that lamp shade you added to the desk table fixture. I saw it when I looked at your collection awhile ago and wanted it but I have no place to put it. DARN!
If you are interested to take a look, my husband and I did a little bedroom makeover at our blog and it has a less masculine feeling than the rest of our house but we love how it turned out!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks so much Kristi! Off to take a look at your bedroom makeover :)
xo
s
Christine says
I’d love to see an evening photo, with all the lighting ambience goodness going on.
YoungHouseLove says
Good idea. We’ll try to snag one soon for ya!
Kelsey // It Takes Two says
Aw, no night shots with the new lights on? Would love to see how it looks “in action”.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, we’ll have to grab one of those!
xo
s
Sarah says
OMG! I didn’t know they made drywall patches. Our dog (rather creatively) punched three holes in the sheet rock in our den with his crate. He’s a Great Dane, so it shouldn’t be as surprising as it would be with Burger. ;) He also ate the area rug…anyway. THANK YOU for enlightening me on the dry wall patch. We were totally planning on cutting the holes out and putting in a scrap of dry wall and redoing it completely.
Emily says
Yup! My husband and I like to say that the patches come in two sizes…head size and fist size, depending on which one went through your wall! I don’t think they make Great Dane-sized patches :-p
YoungHouseLove says
Haha!
xo
s
Sarah says
haha Luckily the whole great dane didn’t do through it! We’ve got three approximately four inch gashes though! I’m still ridiculously excited about this!
Julianne says
Looking awesome, guys! So much light to match your warm and sunny decor…. Love it! :O)
Starr @ The Kiefer Cottage says
The lighting looks great!
Our house hasn’t had overhead lighting in the living room…well, ever! And it never will while we own it. Putting in lighting would be very expensive and tedious (and would probably require an entirely new ceiling since we have crumbling plaster). Thank goodness we love lamps.
Rebecca Z. says
Luckily, I married an electrician. I figure it was a good investment as I’ve saved thousands over the years. ;) hehehe
Emily says
Haha, ditto. And he does HVAC now! So useful :)
Meg M. says
Mine is an engineer who is proficient at plumbing and electric! He has yet to master plaster repair though… A girl can dream!
Ann says
We recently put recessed lighting in our kitchen and it was a complete game changer! I don’t know what kind you chose but I highly recommend LED bulbs both for the quality of the light and the energy savings.
YoungHouseLove says
Ooh that sounds awesome!
xo
s
Emily says
I love the lighting over the small white table! Where did you get that white table and two chairs? I’m looking for some very similar for our family room!
YoungHouseLove says
The table is actually a thrift store find (it used to have a square top so we topped it with a round of wood from Lowe’s and painted it all white). The chairs are from ebay a million years ago (well, more like ten, I got them in college) and I painted them white. Hope it helps!
xo
s
Heather W says
Love the new lights! Looks great! Did you guys get a new white garden stool? I just found an orange one at TJ Maxx but would love a white and/or yellow one. Do you mind to share where you found yours? Thx ;)
YoungHouseLove says
Ours is from TJ Maxx! It’s not new, but they move around our house a lot (I think it was in the guest room for a while and then I switched it up :)
xo
s
Crystal @ 29 Rue House says
I never realized the window by the table is a window until that last picture! I always thought it was another door because it was so large.
I always get quotes for a job with an electrician but I think I may ask for an hourly rate next time because I’m all for do as much of it as we can.
Some ceiling lights in our living room would be awesome! For now we just have a lamp and a hanging lamp which I painted the lampshade myself http://29ruehouse.blogspot.com/2013/01/diy-painted-lampshade.html
YoungHouseLove says
Looks awesome Crystal!
xo
s
Sarah says
We are fortunate enough to have a really close friend who’s an electrician. So to add overhead lighting in our basement (which only has one window and was previously lit by a lone boob light and some baaaaad sconces) we paid the low, low price of beer and food.
Amanda says
I am in LOVE with the wire globe light (like over your dining room table) from your collection. BUT, I REALLY want it in yellow. Do you think it would be a bad idea to spray paint one??
Thanks in advance!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes! Get an unpainted one (the bronze color we have) and spray it! Just tape off the cord and the bulb fitting and it should work really well!
s
Cassidy says
It looks great! Love your new shade by the window too :)
Liz @ Grown-up Pretenders says
We had a junction box added to our little girl’s room by our electrician just before she was born. He had some device to quickly find the center of the ceiling so if you’re only adding a single overhead light and don’t need any special placement, don’t bother measuring it out. It’ll take the electrician about a minute. We did hang the chandelier ourselves though, and that saved some moola.
YoungHouseLove says
That’s really smart!
xo
s
katie says
All the new lights look great! We just added recessed lights in our family room (after almost 10 years of living here), and we had the exact same reaction – why’d we wait so long!!
YoungHouseLove says
Isn’t that always the thing?! Haha!
xo
s
Stacey @ Likes to Smile says
Wow!! You know, as someone who reads everyday, I often marvel at the small additions and how much that addition “adds” (pun intended). But, seeing the empty room from when you bought to the house to it’s current state… holy awesomeness batman! I have to say…I’m not sure I could have ever pictured this upgrade. Stunning doesn’t even begin to describe.
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Stacey!
xo
s
haverwench says
“Some gentle buffing back and forth against the dry spackle with my only-slightly-wet Magic Eraser filed down the high points and made a lot less of a mess”
Note that a damp sponge will also do the trick, if you don’t have a lot of lumpy spackle to remove.
YoungHouseLove says
Who knew?! Thanks for the tip Haverwench!
xo
s
Jeanna says
Looks great! Although you were too humble to mention it, I’ll bet it’s a wonderful feeling to see lighting that began in your imagination, and that you followed through the entire design process to see finally hanging in your own home :)
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Jeanna, it’s pretty crazy! When my mom was here she got to see it hanging up and it was a sweet moment. From our brains to our living room – haha!
xo
s
nad says
Bit of trivia for you Sherdog
Did you know that “sher” in Hindi or Persian (pronounced like chair with an ‘S’ means a Lion :)
YoungHouseLove says
Oh my gosh, I love it! I’m basically Snoop Lion.
xo
s
Gia says
Where did you guys get the little parson’s desk in the living room? I am looking for a small desk for our bedroom (no extra bedroom, no basement…blech) and that size is perfect.
YoungHouseLove says
That was a wedding gift from my BFF but it’s from West Elm. I think they still sell it!
xo
s
Kristin F says
That’s an awesome price. We need to have some can lights and other electrical done for our kitchen redo and so far the cheapest estimate has been $1000. Oy!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no! Maybe you can find someone licensed on craigslist? Sometimes they have great rates since they don’t work for a giant company (less markup, etc).
xo
s
Michelle says
Looks great and so many of the guesses were spot on from last week! I’m with a few other commenters that I’d love to see a shot at night with the lights on or one with altered exposure/photoshoping.
Looks good – nice job!
YoungHouseLove says
We’ll definitely have to snap a few tonight for that evening glow – after we clean the room since Clara trashed it again! Hahah!
xo
s
Dina says
I love how sunny and comfy this room looks now! Such a big improvement from when you moved in. I remember when you grey-washed the exposed beams and it looked so much better since there was far too much wood tone going on in there. But now that all the trim is painted and you have a few different layers of color in the room, I think the original color of the beams might actually look good again, to pick up the tones of the console table, chalkboard, etc. Have you thought about going back to the walnut-ish stain? Do you know if that would be possible after grey-washing them?
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yeah, we just dry brushed one thin coat of paint, so we could sand them down and stain them for the dark wood look, we’re just not sure if we’d like that better. Maybe once we refinish the floor we’ll make the call :)
xo
s
Callie says
I’m sorry this it totally unrelated, but I thought of ya’ll when I saw this and had to share…Guess who has a line at JCP this March? Maybe you’ve already heard….
ttp://www.jcpenney.com/dotcom/jsp/browse/marketing/promotion.jsp?pageId=pg40023000029
Yep, it’s Jonathan Adler alright!
YoungHouseLove says
Ahhh, so excited! I can’t wait to see it. And pet it. And rub my face on it.
xo
s
Crystal @ 29 Rue House says
oh my gosh…I just looked and the sputnik chandelier is to die for (like it gave me butterflies :). I wonder if they’ll be selling it.
Leslie says
We just finished our kitchen renovation and figured since we had the electrician out anyway and our house is already in chaos, why not add 8 4″ recessed lights to our living room. It is an interior room, sort of like your kitchen, so it was a total house changer! Our reaction was also why didn’t we do this earlier?!
As for DIY – when it comes to electricity, I tried it once myself and said never again!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, that sounds really awesome! New lights in two rooms = even bigger change!
xo
s
Jane says
Pendant looks awesome. I need that for my living room stat!!
Typo catch..”send” instead of sand :)
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Jane! Fixed!
xo
s
minabey says
Just a tiny correction: “Hole patching tip numero dos: Don’t stop at one spackle session, I always try to do 2-3 thin applications so I catch all the little imperfections that I might miss the first time (you can SEND between each spackling sesh…” Maybe you mean SAND?
Lovely transformation, nonetheless. =)
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, thanks Minabey! All fixed :)
xo
s