Darkness is gone since you turned the light on. Doo, do do do. do.. doo. doo..

So our return from vacation always brings in new energy, ideas and motivation into finishing ideas that have been sitting on our minds for years.   This year we had a great recharge camping and swimming with  some good friends in a great Ontario provincial park.

   My wife and I decided to finish our 7 month search for lighting one day after returning from vacation, by spending a 34 degree day on ORFUS Road picking out pendants..... Huulghh.   (Id rather bump my head on every corner I walk by).

Finally we had choosen some lights to replace this existing lovely garage sale special,  which housed GU7 lights (that I don't particularly love)

Since our island built last winter is 90 inches long we needed to spread the light out a little.  ......But that meant putting a few holes in the ceiling. 

A few cross braces needed to be created and installed to hold the lighting in the correct places centred over the island with some careful measurement. 

Now I am not an electrician,  however I have learned a lot from wiring our cottage under supervised attention of my friend who is a master electrician,  and having it approved by the ESA.   I am comfortable wiring my own house with safety.   (For others I would recommend hiring a certified electrician, and I have 5 electrician friends that I can refer ,  who are worth their weight in gold).

The wiring needed to be fed to the new locations using some careful tricks to get through 2 covered joists at a time.   The trick is to duct tape the new wire to the old existing wire and pull it back through the ceiling joists  towards the switch to the newest lightbox location.   This feeds new wire through and uses the existing wire to power all three lights from the switch,  without the need to rerun an entire new circuit.

 Its important to tie down the existing wires with grommets for safety and ensure no electrical transfer occurs, and shut off the circuit before taking the work apart.  When installing the electrical,  the wire is also stapled to the joist within 12 inches of the terminal box.

 The tricky part about ripping a flat ceiling open is the repair afterwards.   Mudding and taping a ceiling is finicky fun.  But taking the time to do it right pays off in spades for years after in a kitchen where you spend lots of time.

Applying the first coat of mud using  Durabond 90 helps eliminate future cracking in the ceiling where the joints cannot be screwed to the ceiling joists.   This is a hard setting joint compound with high strength.  http://www.homedepot.ca/product/cgc-durabond-90-setting-type-joint-compound-15-kg-bag/911193  (but it does not sand well for finish coats)

The trick as my friend Eugene West says is to not use too much of it.  Place Durabond 90 in the joint for strength but don't overload the joint.   Finish the surface coat with regular soft compound which makes a  smooth surface and is easily sanded.  

 The repair of the ceiling draws attention to a few flaws and screw pops  that our builder left behind when completing the ceiling the first time.   Well,  might as well fix all the holes in the ceiling while we are at it.

 Once completed,   we cover the repairs and ceiling with primer which makes for a nice paintable surface for the flat ceiling paint.   Two coats of ceiling paint with a roller in opposing directions makes for a nice smooth surface.     We can then install new fixtures on the ceiling boxes,  ensuring they are properly wired and grounded.

Now we have new lights that we have been dreaming about for months.  

 And I love the way Edison Bulbs look on  a dimmer switch.

Sometimes playing Hard on vacation motivates us to work hard on new ideas when we come back.   A good summer vacation always allows the lights to turn back on, and new positive bright ideas to come to light.   Thanks for my friends that spent good time with me on this years camping vacation.  We really enjoyed recharging our batteries with you this year.