Easy Home Facelifts: Lighting

I am all for DIY as long as it’s simple and can be done in a few hours. You won’t find me replacing floors, but I have gotten pretty handy over the years. Recently Build.com reached out to me through the Hawke Influencer program. They are a convenient online home improvement warehouse. I was so excited to get shopping and do some projects around the house.

After spending a few hours pursuing the selections I finally landed on lighting. It was a tough decision between organizing the garage, the garden, or giving the interior and exterior a facelift with new light fixtures. I was amazed at the selection: from indoor to outdoor, flood, can, and lantern there were so many choices to pick from. What’s great is the variety of styles, brands, and cost. I opted for higher end fans, living in the desert they get used a lot, and saved on lights that are infrequently used.

Build.com made it easy to find just what I was looking for. They have an easy filter search engine to narrow down your choices. Build.com representatives are available for online chat or telephone to answer all your questions and help make decisions easier. Here’s a look at what everything looks like pre and post lighting facelift with a couple tips and reminders.

The old fan was just that, old. It worked fine, but was starting to squeak. The new fan makes a statement in the room. It is builder grade with dust armor so it can run another 17+ years.

This jelly jar lantern really changed the look of our back porch. I loved the vintage feel without being outdated. They remind me of the old telephone pole insulators.

The fan in the front bedroom didn’t have a light kit. It was as easy as determining the brand of the fan and selecting a kit with matching hardware. It’s nice to have hardwired light in the room again.

This might be my favorite update of them all. Our home is about 17 years old. The garage was wired for front lights, but my mother-in-law never got around to installing them. These fun bronzed lanterns were the perfect finish to our newly painted home.

Tips:

Remember to always turn off the circuit(s) running to the area you will be working on. Always work with someone else, a great safety tip and time saver. My husband, son, and mother-in-law were all my eyes when figuring which circuit switch to break.Before disconnecting old fixtures snap a picture with your phone to document the way things look. We found this especially helpful with the fans. Many wires for the lights, fan, dimmer, and grounding.

Before mounting everything, check your wiring and connections. Switch the power back on for a test run. Turn it back off before mounting and attaching your fixtures to the house. This is where a helper really comes in handy. I had my helper holler or knock if everything worked fine, then switched off my circuit again.