Let There Be Light

We've had this issue with our kitchen, and for that matter the entire house, from day 1, and that is that it is somewhat dark in the house. The upstairs bedrooms are fine because they have plenty of windows and two of them have southern exposure, but something about the kitchen in particular can be downright gloomy at times.

The previous track lights were not very bright, and lit the room to some degree, but still left it dreary, especially on those long Winter nights, so we resolved to do something about it, and it only took 3 months. It would have taken longer (never?) if not for JH and his magic bag of tools.

I wrote about this on GITGMS, so I'll just give a brief synopsis here. I couldn't find lights to replace the old ones on the track, so the only solution was to replace the whole track. This required some re-wiring, which seemed pretty straightforward, but needless to say, I felt better having a seasoned professional do it, or better yet, JH. He came over and installed a box and did the wiring, while I had the all important job of holding the flashlight (though he brought his headlamp, so I was superfluous) and handing him tools. It also involved cutting some of the sheetrock to fit the box in since they didn't use a box the first time around, which JH handled like a pro.

Once the track was in, all we had to do was choose some lights, which isn't easy when R and I aren't working in unison. Our method involved me going to the store, buying 3 or 4 different types of lights, bringing them home and then seeing which one looked good. After choosing what we liked, I went back and returned the undesirables and got more of the desirable ones. The lady at the returns counter thought I was crazy. Also, they were sold out so we had to wait for them to come in.

Once in, I had to do some splicing and re-wiring myself, which was a little tricky but not insurmountable. It gave me a chance to act like I knew what I was doing.

Finally, all the lights are in and properly adjusted, and I have to confess, the kitchen is much brighter, not to mention more cheerful and perhaps even a little rustic-ly stylish. How can you beat that? Maybe get a brighter counter and cabinets, but that's for another time, maybe when my brother-in-law PR next visits.

I may have to install that mirror now that I'm on a roll. Until then, thanks for reading.