I'm Enlightened - New Light for Living Room for Cheap

When we bought the house we live in, the living room light matched the foyer light and they were the tiny little clear glass bulbs. The one in the foyer had two and the living room had four. 

When I upgraded the house to all compact florescent light bulb many years ago, I couldn't do the front room and foyer due to the little bulbs. After a year or two, I thought I would like to pull the light in the family room out and put in one that I could put compact bulbs into. 

I found one new in the box at a second hand store. Here it is in the living room. I had it in there for years but it doesn't give enough light for my liking. 

The other day I thought I would like to find a bigger light for there and I would take that one with two light bulbs and replace the one in the foyer with the one from the living room. You can see here that the light isn't that bright.

Well, you know how things work in my life..... As soon as I express that I want something, Heavenly Father and my guardian angels get to work. 

A few days later, I went to a second hand store and just laughed when I found this brand new light fixture still in the box for $10. It just happens to have the exact finish that the light I had in the living room has. It is round and the one in the living room was shaped like a stop sign but they are very similar in appearance so I was thrilled with the purchase. 

I am still fighting anemia and it has taken me a few days to gather the strength to get on the ladder and put it up but today after eating red meat for a few days in a row, I felt a bit better and decided to get it done. 

Weird that the iron pills and liquid iron don't do the same thing as eating red meat for me but I will do what I need to do to feel better.

Here is the light I took out and put up in the foyer today. 

You can see below where I took out the light above and put in the three light bulb fixture. Basically, all you need to do when changing out a light fixture, is to turn off the breaker for the power. Unscrew the two little screws in the center where the light hangs. Don't unscrew them all the way, just enough to allow you to twist the base of the light and lift it off the screws through the bigger holes.

Pay attention to which wire the black wires from the light are attached to and which one the white wires are attached to. Put the new fixture black wires on the wire that had the black wires on it and make sure the wire cap is screwed on securly. 

Do the same for the white wires. The last thing is to screw the copper wire that is coming out of the fixture onto the green grounding screw. On the older fixtures it is a metal screw inside the ceiling box itself.

I was so grateful that the new fixture was large enough to cover the square left on the ceiling by the old fixture. The one I took out of the living room and put in the foyer was also just big enough to cover the square left on the ceiling in there as well. 

You can see by the top picture how close the two fixtures are in color. They have the same finish. It is great. I was happy to see the old light fixture go. I think I sold the other one at a yard sale so I will put this one on the yard sale site on facebook and see if I can get a few dollars for it. Even if I don't get anything, it was worth the $10 to get more light in the living room and to be able to put in compact fluorescent bulbs as it will save me money for sure as that is the light that gets left on when the kids aren't home at night.
 
You can see how much better the new light looks in the foyer here as well. The girls didn't notice anything when they got home today until I pointed it out but I know they would have noticed it in the front room as we have more light in there now.

I am so grateful that I have the ability to do these types of repairs and upgrades by myself. I know so many women have no idea. I have a friend that recently went through a divorce and she had never changed a light bulb while she was married and is having a very hard time taking care of a house now that she is alone. I guess it is a good thing I did most of the maintenance on house and cars as well as updating the home and yard work. Not much changed when I got divorced for me. I had done the bills for the first half of my marriage and that was what he did towards the end so it was a blessing that I knew how to do that as well. I think it is funny how God prepares you for things long before they actually happen many times. That was certainly true in my experience. I feel so enlightened. :-)