This weekend, Joy and I put in quite a few hours fixing things at home. We finished painting our bedroom ceiling, installed a new ceiling fan, pulled off three doors for painting[1], spray-painted a bookcase, installed a locking doorknob on the bathroom[2], attempted to install new cabinet hinges in the kitchen[3], replaced the kitchen light, and made a trip each to Home Depot and Lowe's. Still on the on-deck circle are bathroom lights, finishing the various painting projects and replacing the bathroom outlet.
Because of the ancient wiring, electrical work is always a bit tricky. The electrical box in the kitchen didn't work with the new fluorescent light fixture we bought, but fortunately it included a mounting bracket that did fit. After I had finished, the circuit breaker would trip right away. I assumed it was a problem with the connections I'd just done, so I rewired and rewired. Finally this morning I tested with the old fixture and discovered that it still tripped. So I pulled out the new bracket and everything worked. The new screws had made contact with the rat's-nest of wiring stuffed into the box. In the end, I pushed around so that the bracket didn't cause a short and everything worked. I'm going to have to check the smoke detectors more often and make sure my renters insurance is up to date.
The result is very pleasing. Better light helps in almost every way. Now I wish we had taken some "before" pictures.
Footnotes:
- That took longer than you might think thanks to the paint in the hinge pins.
- This was harder than it should have been because I had to drill more holes in the door so it would take modern locks.
- But failed because the screws were painted over. Whoever painted our kitchen should be tossed in jail.
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