My hanging porch light hasn’t been working for a long time. I was too lazy to check it for myself… What if it was something serious? I’d go to all that trouble for nothing. After I finally got around to calling an electrician, I got a shock: he said it would be $75 for the visit and $75 for the first hour, for a minimum of $150. Yikes! It was enough for me to at least look at the light. I took the fixture down and tested the wires. There was power in lines.
That meant the fixture was broken. No problem. I’d get a new one. But it was harder than I thought to find something. Apparently, pendant fixtures are not in vogue right now. I couldn’t find anything I liked. Out of curiosity, I started taking apart my non-working light. I saw the problem: the wires had shorted and burned out. You could even see the burn spot:
As I continued to pull the light apart, I started thinking that maybe I could actually reassemble it. I laid all the pieces out carefully.
After a visit to Home Depot with my burned out wires for reference in buying new wires, I carefully put the light back together. I was following my dad’s method of repair: look at how it was put together when you take out the old parts, and put the new parts back in the same way. And lo and behold, IT WORKED! Thanks, Dad!
Instead of spending $150 for an electrician and $70 for a new light, I spent a total of $7.50 on some wires. I have a new light for $7.50! PLUS, I can add “successfully rewired a light” to my resume! I’m a genius!
My front door has porch lights on either side of it. It makes for a bright entryway. I like it. Sometime over the summer, one of the light fixtures broke. At first I thought I could glue it back together, but on closer inspection, I saw that a bolt had broken. Not only was the housing of the light dangling – the insides of the light were loose. The socket was spinning freely. Dang.
Yesterday was pay day. I decided to celebrate by getting a new pair of light fixtures. I would stop at Home Depot and Lowes, and whichever style of fixture I liked best, I would get two of them. Home Depot was my first stop, and after looking there, I decided not to go any farther. I made my decision. I replaced my old, broken fixture…
…with one exactly like it.
I couldn’t believe they still had the same style available. I bought the original lights probably ten years ago. And the style is still being made? Awesome. I only had to buy one light instead of two. I only had to install one light instead of two. But now one of my lights is really dusty, and one is sparkling clean. I can’t decide if I should clean the old one, or just rub dust all over the new one.
We’re having school today! Yay!
I didn’t get much done yesterday, but I have finally finished a Project I’ve been working on for a while. The light fixtures in my bedroom are made to look like candles. At one point, they were gas lights, but they’ve been converted to electricity. When I moved in, something was wrong with the tubes that covered the inner workings. It led me to remove the tubes, and for many years, the lights have looked like this:
Since I was painting and making things look nice, I decided to finally do something about the light. But I needed new tubes. Toilet paper rolls were too big. I checked the width of wrapping paper tubes; they were just right.
Next, I painted them. It took lots and lots of coats before the small spiral lines disappeared. I made a contraption that held them upright while they dried.
And I finally was able to put the finished product into place. They look nice. The paint is so thick, it’s kind of bumpy and runny. I think it makes the tubes look like wax, kind of giving them a candle effect.
I finally finished painting my bedroom. It took way longer than I thought. I don’t know if my painting skills have changed or if paint formulas have changed. I used to be able to cover any color with any other color in just one coat. This took two, three, and four coats. Criminy!
Choosing the color was tricky. I already had blue in my upstairs bathroom, so that was out. I had grey in my computer room, so that was out. I decided I’d go for brown. But I didn’t want a yellow brown. Was there such a thing as grey-brown? After taking many color cards home and shuffling and comparing, I settled on a nice color called Chocolate Froth. It was brown, but was cooler than some of the other browns. But after putting it on the wall, it just looked grey. It looked like Patching Compound Grey. But I’ve come to like it. It looks sort of like plaster. Like old house. In the picture below, you can see how the walls look brown in some light and grey in others.
I didn’t paint the ceiling. Some day I’m going to put drywall up there. Some day. Till then, the ceiling will be gold. Why is the ceiling gold? It went with the crazy paint job I did years ago. Here is a series of before and after. The new trim color is Ultra Pure White.
WINDOWS BEFORE
WINDOWS AFTER
MIRROR BEFORE
MIRROR AFTER
It was hard to get a picture of the whole room. Here is the window seat. I’ve left the storage panels out to let the paint cure a bit. I like how the curtains fall into the openings. Maybe I’ll leave it this way…
I used my bedspread to help me choose the wall color. It’s a good combination of colors I think. But the wall the bed pushes up against looks bare now. I think I might need a headboard. I’m currently searching thrift stores.
I have wanted to paint my bedroom for a while. I have been waiting because I wanted to cover the ceiling with drywall first. But I kept not doing the drywall, so my bedroom paint stayed the same.
In the interest of not letting my ceiling hold me hostage, I decided to just paint and not worry about the ceiling. I started Tuesday. And it is taking FOREVER. I’ve had to paint the walls twice. And the trim… Ugh, the trim… It is taking two or even three coats. After the first day, it wasn’t fun any more. I would get up in the morning, paint for four or five hours, then rest, then paint some more, then drag myself to bed. Why is it so hard? I don’t know if I’ve changed how I paint or if paint has changed. I suspect the latter. I used to be able to cover any color with any other color in one coat. This paint streaks so easily. And if I put it on thicker, it beads and runs. Dang it, this was supposed to be fun.
And now this morning, I begin Day Four.
