Sunday, January 10, 2010

DIY recessed light conversion

Hello my friends!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I have been a bad, bad blogger. However, I have been busy so I have lots to share. It will most likely be in multiple posts, so just bare with me.

I have seen these fun & easy fixes to the traditional "blah" recessed lighting. I wanted so badly to try them out so I finally did it. The kitchen was the natural choice since it is the only room in the house that has recessed lighting.My preference would have been to hang them over the bar part of the counter, but the builder was obviously not thinking about my decorating needs when he built the house as the lights are not directly over the counter. The next choice was the kitchen sink. Not only is it directly over the sink, but it has its own switch to boot.

I went to Lowes today and found this guy on the shelf for just under $19. It came in both nickel and bronze finish. I choose the bronze finish as most of the lighting in the house is already bronze or black.
The picture on the box pretty much says it all! The directions that come along with it are very easy to read and understand.

The globe is an extra piece and cost about $20. There were many different ones to choose from and cost anywhere from $7.50 - $20 each. Make sure that you pick the globes with the flat tops. The ones with the lips don't work for this application. I had a gift card with about $4.00 on it, so after all was said and done, the total project cost me just over $35 and took about 10 minutes to install. Voila, instant glow!!!! I love the way it looks. The globe is a fun shape and it really brings some interest to the kitchen. It flows nicely with all the new paint colors I recently brought into the house. (More on those projects later) I have a crappy digital camera and it takes horrible pictures without the flash, so this is the best I can get on the glow. I hope this helps you decide to take a leap and do a bit of cheap and easy updating to your home.