I just finished a project that surprisingly went quite well. So, I had time to work on the pendant lights for the kitchen. Working on two projects in one day was never heard of in my DIY history.
The most important part of this project was laying out the pendant lights over the counter. And with Efiwym, my wife, it is the cabinet door cannot hit the pendant light. We had already received the measurements for the new countertops, so I was going to use them to determine the location of the lights. We asked Elizabeth from the countertop store about her recommendations for the placement of the lights. She told me to center them on the width of the peninsula countertop, which was 39 inches. Once I got the okay from Efiwym, I was ready to lay out the lights.
Time for some important math and awfully boring reading, but please bear with me. With a dry erase marker, I marked up 19-1/2 inches from the inside of the peninsula to center them. I then took a pendant light that I had already assembled and placed it upside down on the counter. I moved it towards the cabinet and with the door opened I lined it up, so the door opened freely. I had to make sure the pendant was plumb, so I had a level along the stem of the pendant light. I marked both sides of the top cover that was sitting on the countertop to get the center point. I already guessed about 33 inches from the wall and when I divided the two marks in half, it was 33 inches.
Since the upper cabinet is 13 inches deep, I knew I had the pendant 20 inches from the cabinet. I measured 52 inches from the wall to mark the other light. The reason for 52 inches was the new countertop would be 72 inches long and I subtracted 20 inches. That would make the lights 19 inches apart, and symmetrical on the peninsula.
My next issue was transferring the measurements on the countertop to the ceiling. Anticipating this dilemma, I bought a 360-degree laser level from Amazon®. Unfortunately, it was not coming until later that week. So, I needed to go the low-tech route with a plumb bob. I cannot remember when I needed a plumb bob, but nonetheless I had one. The tip looked like I used it for a nail set, and the string was missing. I found some yarn, because a just-okay DIYer can improvise when he does not have what he needs.
With the plumb bob I brought the line up to the ceiling and let it hang down to the marking of the first location. After it stopped moving, I used a push pin to attach the line to the ceiling. I then measured where the plumb bob was located left and back from the marking and transferred those dimensions to the ceiling to re-locate the plumb bob. Again, after the plumb bob stopped swaying. I was right on the money. Well, close enough for me. I marked the location on the ceiling where the push pin was, and I started the same process for the other pendant.
Now that I had them both marked, it was time to cut out the box openings. Before I proceeded with the measurement, I wanted to make sure I would be clear of any ceiling joist before I punched two holes in the ceiling. I got out my stud finder and tried to find a ceiling joist. I tried it several times without success. I tried it on a wall, and it worked, but not on the ceiling. Apparently, this was a “stud” finder, not a “ceiling joist” finder. I gave up and decided to hammer in a nail on both ends of where the box would go. After two test holes, there were no joists to be found. Great, I could now proceed.
I put the round electrical box up to the ceiling and tried to center it on the mark. However, I could not see the mark. So, I drilled a hole in the center of the box, so I could see it. I then traced around the box to get my opening size. Using my Milwaukee® oscillating tool, I cut out the opening. It was not the smoothest cut, but it would work.
I reached in to pull out the wire that I pushed into the joist opening when I installed the switch. I reached around and I could not find it. I was concerned I put the wire in the wrong joist bay. Not a big deal. I would just need to take everything out of the cabinet again, remove the soffit cover, move over the wire and put everything back again. Well, maybe it was a big deal.
I got out my phone and used the flashlight and I found it, but I still could not reach it. I borrowed a metal hanger from the closet and bent it so I could use it as a hook. With my phone in one hand and the hanger in the other, I pulled out the wire.
I then marked and cut out the other hole. Once I got the hole cut, I bent the wire leaving about 12 inches of wire in the first opening and pushed the remainder through the joist bay to the other hole. It was easy to locate, and I pulled it through the hole. It was electrical box installation time!
I was getting really close to getting these pendant lights installed. I first needed to get the electrical boxes installed. For my first box, I needed to cut the wire, so I had the wire from the switch and a wire going to the other light. A snip with the wire cutter, that was done. I shoved the wires into the openings of the electrical box. I struggled to get the wires in. I mean, I really struggled trying to push the wire through those immoveable plastic clamps. When I had that problem with the electrical box for the switch, I just ripped those clamps out. I was a little patient with these ones.
Knowing that I had the wires in, I tried to push the box into the hole. The opening was not even close. I needed to do more cutting. The area where the flaps were to lock the box to the drywall needed to be widened. And there was this bump-out in the box that prevented me from pushing in the box completely. Once I got that problem rectified, I was able to push in the box and tighten the box to the drywall.
I did the same for the second box and applied the lessons I learned from the first one. I installed the light brackets to the boxes, and I was getting closer to getting these lights installed.
I then stripped back the Romex casing for the wires and removed the insulation from the black and white wires to connect them to the light’s wires. I put the pendant on the countertop and attached the white, black and ground wires. I had plenty of the other wires to keep the pendant light on the countertop. However, the ground wire that was attached to the bracket was only about 6 inches long. I lifted the pendant light and attached the ground wires to the one attached to the bracket. I let go of the light briefly and the bracket ground wire broke away from the rest of them, and the light went crashing onto the countertop breaking the glass shade. I did not need the drama, but I got it anyways. Wonderful! I would need to buy a new glass shade.
I cleaned up the broken glass but proceeded to install the shadeless pendant light. I tried to install the cover, but there was so much excess wire. The extra wire was for extending the pendant out to 49 inches, which I was not. So, I just cut off the excess wires, and I was able to get the wires stuffed into the cover.
I wanted to test the light, so I pulled out the switch from the box to install the light wire. The switch was off, but for some reason I was getting an electrical shock. After a couple of hits, that was it, I went downstairs and shut off the breaker to that box. Back upstairs, I hooked up the wire. And went back downstairs to turn on the breaker. As I walked upstairs, I could see the light was glowing. It was a beautiful sight. However, I thought I had the switch off. I went over to the switch to turn off the light, and it did not turn off. Back and forth I went with the switch. The light stayed on. A bad switch? Was this the switch I tried to run 120 volts through both ends? Maybe a bad wiring job? That was always a possibility. I went back downstairs to shut off the breaker.
Just then Efiwym, my wife, walked into the house. I asked if she wanted to go to the store with me to buy a new glass shade. I told her about my adventures hanging the light and the switch that would not work. I needed a break, but I wanted to finish the job today. She first checked to see which store had the shade. There was the same home improvement store nearby where we bought the shades. Off to save 11 percent on another shade and a new switch, just in case I needed one.