ORC Week 3: Let there be lights!

It’s week 3 of the @OneRoomChallenge and we’re picking up momentum with this living room overhaul. This week we set the framework for the coffered ceiling and added recessed lighting. 

I’ve been looking forward to adding recessed lighting since we moved into this house. This large space had an overhead ceiling fan/light combo and a single oddly placed recessed light in front of the fireplace. Jake thinks they intended it as a picture light for the fireplace. Either way, it just didn’t allow for a lot of lighting options within this larger room. Some designers suggest at least three to four different light styles within a room: bright overhead lighting, accent lights, task lighting, and decorative light pieces. 

Since the design scheme includes changing out the ceiling fan for a more dramatic chandelier, like the one pictured below:

Source: BR Home

I wanted to add some recessed lighting to serve as the main source of lighting in this room. A quick search on Amazon and lighting suppliers revealed a lot of new options that integrate with smart home technology. Recessed lights are no longer the huge monstrosities they were years ago and there are a lot of options to upgrade your existing fixtures and even make installing new ones easier than ever.

After doing some research I fell in love with the idea of these lights.

I love that they had a flat profile, a self contained box with quick connect system, a down light and a ring light that gives the option to serve as accent lights. The final sell for me was the ability to change and use a variety of colors with the app and have it integrated with Alexa and Google. They are perfect!

We were going to have an electrician come do the work, but after doing some research and talking with an electrician in the family, we decided we could do this install. We gathered electrical plans from our local planner and reviewed the photos we had taken during the build to give us a better idea how lines were run. We knew we had power for both the fan and the light that we could tap into to create a run to the recessed lights. Turns out they used a 4-wire connection ( 2 hots, a neutral, and a ground) from the switches to the fan, which was perfect to allow us to use of the hots as a new line for the recessed lights and convert the fan/light into a regular chandelier. All connected to the original switches.

Jake took the lead with this and drilled holes near the origin of the 4-wire from the switch in the living room ceiling. He was able to cut the wire and use these fancy new connectors to create a run off the 4 wire to feed the recessed lights and another run back to the ceiling fan light fixture.

He then measured and drilled 6in holes where the recessed lights would be placed. Using his fish tape he ran wire from one light to the next.

In areas where he had to cross a stud, he used a long drill bit to drill a hole and then used his fish tape to pull the line through the hole in the stud. 

Once the line was near the light, he used the connectors to attach the wire to the wires in the light box. Then he connected the actual light piece using the quick connect connectors to the box. Using the spring clips, he pushed the clips up into the ceiling and seated the light up against the ceiling. The spring clips make it so easy to install the lights.

We had one light that was directly over the fireplace that already had power to it. He disconnected this, capped the line, and we’ll reserve this power source for task lighting in the built-in bar we’re going to add on this wall. After that was disconnected, he ran the final line to connect the last light to the rest of the recessed lights. 

With the power back on, we flipped the switch, and we had lights!!! It makes such a difference in this space and I can't wait to see how it looks set against the beetle kill pine tongue and groove! We used the app to adjust the warmth of the white and connect it to google home. I love having the up-lights on while we watch a movie and the boys are loving using google to turn the lights off and on!

Next week we'll be tackling the tongue and groove install on the ceiling. I'm hoping to get the large window frame casing done as well. Maybe we'll even get to the actual coffers, but we'll see how this goes. Follow along on IG stories for more progress updates on our Fall 2024 ORC Living Room Overhaul!