Big, Cheap, Ugly light fixture for the Master Bedroom

Yes, I know... it looks like something people put over their pool tables in the '70s. My friend Dan May, from Dan May estates said to Christina, "Do you have a game room?" since that probably seems like the only reason someone would want this fixture. It actually appears to be exactly the right size for the master bedroom. It makes about a 4.5' triangle shape

looking up pics of "'70s wrought iron light fixture" I noticed it was missing the shade

https://retrophoria.com/seller/SANTACLARASTUDIO/2-Vintage-Wrought-Iron-and-Amber-Glass-Hanging-Lights/

I discovered ours was missing the shade but decided to simply use large vanity globes and ignore the shade for the sake of simplicity.

I got the parts for the base that were missing in the Lamp Parts section of Ace Hardware. The brass thing on the left is just to cover a hole that was probably for a switch (hole on the right). The brass thing on the right is a finial (cap) and lamp nipple (threaded tube) to connect the base to the ceiling. 

The paint was an awful "brown with hints of scratched gold" finish and it needs to be black to match the other black painted metal fixtures and our bed frame. 

WOW it looks so much better in black

It's nice to have the lamp nipple (threaded tube) long enough so you can hold the fixture up while you wire it then tighten down the finial (decorative nut) when you're done. 

I had to touch up the paint with the fixture up there because the chains move around as it settles into place. I had to give it a few shakes and wiggles to get it to sit as the chains and wires can bind together.

The room is pretty dark with the gold curtains so I opted for 2 100W globes

I usually put in a light bulb after I connect the wires and turn on the light to make sure it's working. It also helps to know that the connections are solid while you tighten down the finial because you can see if the light starts flickering. 

It looks pretty sweet like this but I'm going to put the glass back in because it goes with the yellow window glass and gold curtains. 

Time to clean the glass

WOW this looks way better than I thought it would. It's the perfect size and shape and matches the curtains, windows and other lights I've added. $20 plus some small lamp parts, spray paint and light bulbs! Awesome. 

Looks awesome with those curtains which have black fleur-de-lys rod ends

The glass behind the curtains is yellow too! 

While that turned out an awesome success! I might have to bail on the candelabra I was building from scratch... 

It even matches the laundry room light and this wall light I got for $10 that came with the Spanish gothic light fixtures I got for the living room  

Painting Grandma's Patio set

OK not my grandma but somebody's grandma...

I had been looking for a mid-century patio set for the house. Like pretty much everyone, I love mid-century furniture but mid-century modern was not going to work with a very rustic house from the '20s.  

But mid-century furniture is not all about modern. Sub-styles of mid-century, that are NOT modernist, include ranch style (poorly named humble suburban homes), Hollywood Regency - tacky floral faux gold etc., and even mid-century Art Deco revival embodied in the disco era Xanadu movie.

Woodard was a brand famous for patio furniture from this era and now a search term that exemplifies what I was looking for. They made a range of metal outdoor furniture, from very modern to very old fashioned and floral. I was charmed by a set on an estate sale listing that was kinda halfway between floral and modern and I got on the lookout for a set with $300 as a goal for a good price. It seemed to be a pretty popular set at the time because I saw the set a few times online, and then ran across the exact set at an estate sale on Sunday (last day) so they wanted to get rid of it and were willing to let it go for $225. That's too good to say no for a matching, vintage set of four chairs and a table. I wanted to brighten them up so I ordered a six pack of large 15oz. cans of heavy duty blue enamel and got to work. 

First two down

All done! Looks awesome I think. Paint is Rustoleum Professional High Performance (Industrial Strength) Enamel in some commercial blue color. I love this stuff. 15oz. cans ordered from HD online for about $33. You will need 6 150z. cans or about 7-8 regular 12oz cans.

Three way switch

The bathroom is dark. It has one wall light with a pull chain and a "beauty bar" medicine cabinet light activated by (an oddly high) switch next to mirror.  I want to add recessed LED cans, put in a three way switch setup so the lights can be turned on or off next to either door, and add the original wall light to this circuit to maintain the original vibe.

When you have a wall light with a switch on it, that means the switch is inside the light fixture and the wires in the box behind it are always hot. 

This will be our main junction box. The power will come into the box, go out to the switches, come back into the boxed as a "switched hot" and then the switched hot will tie into the old light and the new overhead lights called cans. To show you what I mean, I've drawn you some pictures.

This is how a light works. You allow the electricity to "escape" through the filament to the ground. A voltage is a difference in charge that allows this to happen. The charges want to even out so you allow them to do so by making them do something for you

This is actually closer to how the electricity is routed. It goes in through the bottom tip and out through the threaded sleeve. 

This is a typical interrupter switch. The switch breaks the connection that supplies power to the light. 

This is closer to what it really looks like. Two wires come into the box, white (-)  and black (+).  There is also a ground wire if the wiring is newish. This is essentially a backup ground and won't need to be discussed here.

Here is what I have to start with: a box with wires that supply power, and a light fixture with a pull chain switch built into it.

Now it gets complicated. A three way switch uses 3 conductor wire with two hot wires. The switches don't simply interrupt but rather rout the power to one of two "tracks". If you imagine a train going somewhere with two tracks and two track switches, it would need to have these switches "in agreement" to get to the destination - in our case this is power going to a light.

Here is one configuration: the power come into the first switch box with 14-2, 14 gauge 2 conductor wire. Between the switches is 14-3 wire. From the second switch box, 14-2 goes up to the light. Both switches are either on black or red. The have to be switched to the same hot wire to turn on the light, thus a three way light switch (3 because 2 switches and a light I suppose). 

If you get how the three way works, now for the real challenge - putting this knowledge into use in your preferred configuration.  From earlier: "The power will come into the box, go out to the switches, come back into the boxed as a "switched hot" and then the switched hot will tie into the old light and the new overhead lights called cans." That looks something like this:

See if you can trace the power all the way through. The white wire of the 14-3 becomes the switched hot coming back into our junction box where it feeds the original light and from there some new added cans.

First though I have to turn off the circuit by finding the correct fuse. It's a good idea to write down everything that turns off when you pull this fuse. On a side note, you can think of a fuse like a light bulb that has a thick filament that burns out when too much power is flowing through it (amperage) thus cutting off power to the circuit. 

Pulling the middle left fuse cuts off power to the circuit we want to work on

Here's our wall light. I took out the pull chain because we will have two switches for it. One wire going to the switch from the old light / junction box is the fused hot going to the switch box and coming back through the white wire as the switched hot. The other wire is 14-3 which is going between the 3 way switches. The switched hot connects to the old light and from there to the ceiling lights.

One switch, two switch... red switch blue switch? 

The three way is working! With all the wires it's pretty easy to mix something up. 

After making holes where I want the lights and making more holes to rout the wires, I'm ready to drywall the ceiling. The plaster won't stop falling until you remove it and drywall or drywall over it. Going over this mess is a lot easier than taking it all down and drywalling to the studs... You probably won't miss the 3/4" you would gain from removing all the lath and plaster.

I highly recommend you get a hole saw exactly the size recommended by the instructions of the can you're putting in. It makes retrofit cans go in much easier. This one is 4&1/8" as specified and the can is a nice tight interference fit with the hole

LET THERE BE LIGHT! 

I have one more to put in over the tub but I ran out of the plastic grommets that fit into the metal can box so that the wire going in doesn't have its insulation ripped by the metal edge. (You know how metal boxes have breakouts? The little coin looking things? When you knock those out, you are supposed to put in a connector meant for the type of conduit you are using. Easiest and cheapest for Romex (plastic sheathed conduit) are the plastic click type. They have metal connectors too but they cost more and are harder to install but can be reused.

I am so happy to have that bathroom lit up brightly. Good lighting noticeably improves my mood. I'm still not sure what vanity light I'm going to use for above the mirror but I'm leaning towards a chrome "beauty bar". I think I have one kicking around somewhere. I'm kind of a light fixture hoarder...

Haha actually I have two.