So Long Ugly Cans

Well, hello there. Long time, no blog post. My apologies. 

Since my last post, I've been, among other things, tearing up the house -namely converting recessed lighting to surface mount. This is no easy task as it requires cutting into drywall to remove the enormous housings. 

Wait, what, why, oh why, a reasonable person may ask? 

   

Well, a couple things actually. I don't really like recessed lighting much anymore. I know that recessed lighting has been the gold standard for a remodeled or newly built home for some time now. My house has a ton of it - halogen, with the little MR16 bulbs. I have a combination of ceiling lights and also pivotable wall washers. The wall washers I don't mind, they cast a nice light on the wall and light up art pretty well. Those straight downcast fixtures?... Ugly, they break up the ceiling plane, and frankly downcast lights light a room in a very harsh, unflattering sort of way. 

Secondly, and equally as important, halogen lights consume a grotesque amount of energy. During the winter months, our electric bills can be staggering even with conscientious energy use.   

So I'm starting in the small closet/room off the master suite. This room, 10x10 feet, has served a bunch of different purposes, and is currently undergoing a much needed makeover. 

Originally drawn as a walk in closet in the plans, we never built it out and it served as a junk depository for a few years before becoming a sewing room for a few and then finally morphing into a dressing room for my husband - but a really cluttered, inelegant one at that.

After exposing the fixture housings, (I'm waiting on an electrician to remove them and install regular ceiling boxes next week), I prepped the room for paint. I'm painting the room, trim and all, a very pale blue -the same as in the master suite. It took two coats of primer and 4 coats of paint (the first two were a mismatch mistake on my part). The most exciting part of this project is that I plan to panel the ceiling in cedar. 

Here it is. I purchased my wood from one of my favorite local wood suppliers, Beronio. I have no affiliation with them, I just really like this company for their great quantity and quality of wood and how they are pretty much always really helpful -like I've never had a negative experience or mansplaining situation there. This is straight, clear, tongue and groove cedar. Lovely but expensive (1000$ for this little room).

As for the recessed cans replacement? I'm going with a colored porcelain fixture with a mirrored bulb -4 of them spaced similarly as the cans (as I also abhor the single, centered, ceiling mount fixture). 

Cheers. Questions/comments, do chime in.