Before and after…. read below to see the in between
Here is the day, the day I talk about our bathroom redo. It is done! I am so excited to begin sharing it with you guys. But, I am making you all work for it. One project reveal at a time. Today is about wall sconces. We got rid of the mismatched, horrible looking light. Can I just take a second and say that, yes this light was bad. But it made no sense to me. Because all of the accessories in this bathroom were gold, but this was silver. How? Why? Look, what is considered nice looking will always be different from person to person. However, all fixtures should match, I assumed this was universally understood. Ok, now that we have this ugly light removed. It is time to add some sconces.
Once we undid the light this is what we were left with. A of centered hole in the wall. We expected the hole in the wall part of it. Dale and I looked at each other, chuckled and moved on. We should have seen what this off centered light meant, it meant more work for us!
We cut a piece of cardboard and measured the new sconce electrical box. Aligned the two up where we wanted the new lines to be. We achieved this by using a laser to mark where the even points would be, insuring they were level. Then we eyed how far into the wall each sconce would be. Once we marked our sconce we measured from the sides and the bottom to make sure they were both even. And they were, I was impressed with my skills of looking at it and making them even and symmetrical.
And you trace away. We had wonderful visions at this point of us knocking this hole out, putting in the new box. Quick and painless. No, we had never done this, no we had never moved electrical, and no we had no clue what we were doing. But, why would this be hard?
Allow me to introduce you to problem number 1…… a pipe in the way of hole number 1….
….problem number 2, a 2×4 in the middle of the hole….
We figured out why the initial light was off centered. There was 2×4’s and pipes all over this wall. We have plans to add a mirror in the center of the sconces. So just simply moving the scones over is not an option. There is limited space in this nook in our bathroom. This was really the only place the scones would work.
Why is this a problem you ask?
Because, what we initially planned on doing was use these electrical box cans. Insert them into the wall, attach the new wall sconces to them. But, with our holes and their “problems” there is not enough room for these cans to fit in there. It was time to get our thinking cap on.
We realized if we wedged a piece of metal into the hole we could use the electrical box from the original light. It was shallow enough. The problem was, we needed something to attach this metal to, otherwise it would fall down the abyss that is this wall. Probably tearing and ripping things along the way. Bursting a pipe, causing a huge flood and lots of water damage. Does anyone else’s mind go there? Just me? Ok then, time to fix problem number 1.
Secure a small 2×4 into this hole. Shimmy it along the pipe, and then nail in the metal to the 2×4. Securing it all together. Dale came up with this brilliant idea. It was my idea to use the previous electrical box. My work here was done, I was taking a breather. Really I was probably dealing with one of the kids who needed something. Dale is good with figuring things out.
This is the electrical box from the original light. Fitting wonderfully in its new hole. We went to Menards, the second time this day and purchased a new, shallow electrical box for the other hole.
Now, onto making these wall sconces be more then decor, they need to shine bright. First step, turn off the power! Then move the wire from the center circle (which we were going to close up) and moving it into the line below. This allows both lights to be turned on by the same switch. So both have to be run from the same wire.
Here we are feeding the newly split wire into the left side electrical box.
In the center you can see the original wire sticking through, with the new wire’s ready to be hooked up together. We achieved this by splitting the initial wire in the center to the two outer ones.
Purchasing new cable wire for each light, we tied them into the main original wire. Using electrical tape to close off the ends. The feeding them into the boxes on either side. The above picture shows both sides hooked up in the center. Attaching the like colored wired from the new line to the old line.
The wires are all hooked up and pushed into the line. Allowing a smooth cover for the tile that will go on. Did I just give something away? Yes, yes I did. This wall will be tiled from counter top to ceiling. So the not so nice and pretty holes won’t be seen.
This wire is ready and waiting for the wall sconce to be attached. We cannot do anymore with the wall sconces until the tiling gets done.
Here is the grand cover up. Not very pretty, but gets the job done. This allows the surface to be flat, so the tile will go on evenly. I suppose if we ever do sell the house, and they don’t like the tile they might be angry with us when they see the not so nice dry wall. But, I am assuming the tile being removed will make the drywall damaged enough. And who would ever want to remove this?
And now, time for a little movie magic. The tile is there, voila! It did not happen as quickly, I guarantee. I will get to that, soon enough. For now, lets get these wall sconces shining.
Then, we get hit with more reality. Not so fast, our tile job left some areas where our holes and some tile parts can be seen. What do we do? Never fear, it was Dale and Emily to the rescue. Well really after us going to a few light stores trying to find sconces with larger bases. And not finding any we liked that would work for less then a few hundred dollars each. We were back to square one. Then we got the idea to use a small and thin piece of wood from the plethora of wood palettes we have in the garage. Set that in behind the sconces, it covers up the tile and holes. So we used a left over stain, a nice dark one that matches something else in the bathroom you will see on another day. And to be honest it is one of my favorite little details about this bathroom. All out of necessity and mistakes. Gotta love DIY!
Then, you ready for it? You will need lip gloss for this next step. Yes, you read right. Use lip gloss to mark where the holes needed to be. See the wood had to be fastened to the wall, but the sconces needed to go through the wood to be fastened to the electrical box. So we needed really precise holes where the hook ups for the sconce will be. It all had to be lined up perfectly. I was not sure how it would be done. Dale turned to me and said “Do you have lip stick?” I was confused, this was not the time for lip stick. Was he insinuating that I did not look my best? Look buddy, my looks don’t matter, I probably stink a lot worse then I look at this point. Then I got it. We put lip gloss on the ends of each screw.
Pushed the wood square onto the lip glossed up screw top. Careful to make sure the square was even and centered. This was how it would be connected, for better or worse. Once the holes were drilled this is how it would be situated. No pressure.
I am pointing out the lip glossed up mark
It marked it up perfectly. Dale took the drill, drilled the hole through it.
And we were able to attach the base and hook ups of the sconce itself onto the wood and the electrical box. At one point I was wondering how all of these steps would be acheived. It seemed overwhelming. But, you go one step at a time. Usually they all make sense once you get to them.
We also had to drill a hole for the electrical to come through.
Time to hook this sconce up!
We did it!
This was the biggest and most stressful part of the bathroom redo for me. Anything with the word electrical, holes in wall, wires, splitting wires. It makes me get nervous. Dale is ready, he likes challenges. I prefer to stay in my safety net. Truthfully I wanted to chicken out and just get a new center light. It all seemed so daunting to me. But the off centered hole made it impossible. We could not center the hole because another 2×4 was in the spot we would have put the light. And it would limit the light we could put in. Also Dale said we should do it right and the way we want it the first time. He was right, so so SO right!
I am so happy we went though all of the work. I know I am giving you a little taste of the rest of the reveal. But this is such a condensed and small area, I can’t just show you one spot. Just ignore the tile, mirror, and wall color. No one see’s it. Admire the sconces, that is all I am sharing today.
This light has some amazing small little additions to it.
The wood square makes this a one of a kind sconce. I love things that are unique. The dark wood softens up the brushed nickel.
They work! I was either expecting a fire to break out when we turned them on, or for them to not work. But, neither happened. They just turned on. The way they are supposed to. Win!
We achieved the part of this bathroom that made me the most nervous. Once I saw that we can do this, I am ready for all kinds of redo’s. Since this bathroom I have purchased a ceiling light to put in the top part of our basement staircase. There is not one there, I am no longer scared of electircal. That is either a really good thing, or a really bad thing. I do know one good thing, well two. These sconces are awesome. I love them so much! I hope you guys enjoy this slow burn to the full bathroom reveal. I usually do the reveal and then break down the projects. Other way around this time. I hope you all enjoy your week. Today Caleb, my 4 year old is off to preschool, he is ecstatic, I am excited for him but will miss my sweet boy. Another new beginning here at Our home.
Thank you my love. I am glad that I can be right some times. Looks great and really great writeup.
It does look pretty good. And you were right, doing it the way we want the first time is always the way to go.
And to think this all started with "changing" the paint color :). All good stuff. Hehe
I did change the paint color too! We just added a few other steps…. I still don't know how we convinced ourselves to do this, and add more. Craziness!
What a great job! So much work but worth the effort! Thanks for sharing at Merry Monday! Hope you will join us again. Michelle-OurCraftyMom
thank you, it was a lot of work. But I am happy I did it, and wondering why I did not do it sooner!