Happy Friday Eve, it's time for a Thursday brain dump to get my thoughts in order of how the H E double hockey sticks do I finish this closet. Or, my latest oh sugar I'm going to need some help moments.
Let's take a look back at the original mood bood. Remember, this one? We have the frosted glass light, the off white light flooring, white built ins and SW aviary blue.
I'm happy to say I at least stuck with the original flooring and the blue and white scheme... regardless the mood board are a great start, the design has just evolved over the last 6 months.
And now this is where we are at in January 2023...
Do you know how many times my squirrel brain has pivoted so far? It's a miracle I've made it this far... and tomorrow the new light gets installed!
But Kenzie you're an electrical engineer, it's easy to install a light!
NORMALLY... I would agree. But
let's dive into why I decided this time I'm just paying
someone because I don't want to deal with it.
Behold. The light begone! With my ladder and trusty power tools, I turned off the breaker, checked for no voltage on these wires and got to town!
You see that? A slit in the wall and 2 holes.
Cue the um, well that wasn't what I was expecting. Per my EE knowledge... every light fixture has a jbox behind it....
Zoom in a tad... Kenz... that doesn't look like a jbox... well non existent reader since I'm talking to myself, you would be correct!
That is a wire, and 2 toggle bolts, not anchored into the studs.
What. The. Heck.
Turns out, my builder gets away on a technicality apparently for this one. Because the wires were inside of the 4' LED fixture they didn't "need" it. AKA anyone who replaces these is going to have to add their own jbox, and most likely some support since the ceiling joists aren't where I want to put the light, i.e to cover this darn hole.
Alrighty. Fine. Up to the attic to check this sucker out overhead, I can put in a 2x4 between
the joists for some added support and wire in a jbox, that much I can do right?
This is my attic. This picture is taken at the top of the attic stairs, which are on the opposite end of my house than the closet where the light is to be installed. And all that pink stuff is blown in insulation that would go past my knees. AKA a big NOPE from me.
Knowing my luck I would Clark Griswold through that ceiling before even reaching the back of the house! And since I have a second one of these lights in the laundry room, I'll just pay a pro to do both at the same time. Money well spent.
So. Where does that leave my next steps? Overhead storage. There's about 27" over each of the Ikea units, and I want to make as much space usable as possible. The next step is building some additional shelving, cube, rectangle extensions to each of the ikea units. I plan to do this out of 1/2 in plywood, but I need to bug my bestie with the bigger car. For now I picked up some 2x3s to make additional bases to go in between the pax and the future boxes. This way I can screw them into the studs and not have to worry about additional weight on the top ox the pax causing a collapse like the first unit I tried to set up.
Anyways, back to Home Depot I go! They don't recognize me there quite yet... stay tuned for the lighting reveal. That should be coming tomorrow... hopefully!
This is real time DIY home renovation when you're trying to do as much as you can yourself while working full time. Being a single cat mom takes up a lot of time!
TOODLES!
-K
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