New Lighting in the Basement Workroom (MMR7)

...Okay...so I lied. I do have ONE update that warrants it's own post. I finally got tired of only having one pull string light fixture in the basement workroom, and decided to do something about it other than continue to use a shop light on an extension chord.

There is an exposed junction box in the ceiling (it's an unfinished ceiling in that room) that supplied power to the original light fixture. Since I wanted to put all of the new lights on one switch at the door, I disconnected the light fixture from the junction box and ran a new wire from the box to a new switch location. Then I ran a new wire from the switch location to the first light. I stopped at this point and made all of the appropriate connections in order to get the first light working as a way to check my work up to that point.

After confirming that the first light was working, I installed the remaining ceiling fixture boxes, and ran the appropriate wiring from the first light to the second, second to third, and so on. While I had light in the room, I finished all of the connections and installation of fixtures in lights 2-4 before turning off the breaker and connecting the load wire to light one. Once I turned the breaker back on...let there be light! It works perfectly and there is now MUCH more light down there for me to find tools and prevent accidents.

At some point, I will be replacing one or two of the simple one bulb ceiling fixtures with hard wired shop lights. The great thing about already having a ceiling box at each light is that I can use that as a junction box when wiring the shop lights. This will also provide a good opportunity to run a wire to an air compressor that I got for free that I will be putting in the basement soon.

I love it when a plan comes together...

Pre-Holiday Slump

In case no one has noticed, the last update was posted in the middle of October...about a month ago. Although we have gotten some things done around the house, they are fairly menial and non-deserving of an actual post. We moved our bedroom furniture into our newly painted bedroom, and cleaned up around the house a bit.

I had to build a slat system for the bed since for some strange reason the queen bedframe rails were too wide for the queen box spring that we have by about a half inch. How does that happen? It's a universal size as far as I know. But in either case, the frame is built and I feel the bed is more sturdy. Ever since we bought that thing and I saw the side rails that the box spring is supposed to sit on, I've had nightmares of our expensive new bedframe breaking...bleh. Not now!

We also got a dog! He is an 8 month old black lab named Jake. He has been a really good dog so far, and continues to learn everything that we try to teach him very quickly. Luckily he enjoys car rides, meeting new people and dogs, and is GREAT with small children.

I have some time off during the holidays this year, and I'm hoping that we'll get some things done during that time. I think our main objectives for the winter are going to be the following:

• Tile & finish the master bathroom (shower ceiling, walls, and bathroom floor)
• Build a corner vanity for the powder room and install sink and faucet
• Build a mantle for the fireplace (hopefully before Christmas)
• Install recessed lighting in the living room
• Install crown molding in the living room, dining room, hallway, office, powder room, master bedroom, and master bathroom....basically everywhere on the first floor except the kitchen and master closet.

Quite a list, but if you don't think big, it's hard to keep moving forward. More to come soon!