Do you have a chandelier that is a little “off” in your dining room? Do you curse the electrician that didn’t bother to think about centering a hanging light fixture? Yeah, me too! I had this problem in our laundry room.
Granted, “most people” don’t hang chandeliers in their laundry room, but I wanted to do it. Except there was one problem. The confounded light fixture box was no where near centered on the room or the washer and dryer. Grrrr.
No worries, if you have enough wire and chain, you can simply swag your light fixture by installing a ceiling hook.
Materials:
- Flashlight
- Straight Pin
- Tape Measure
- Pencil
- Ceiling hook (screw in type)
Difficulty: Easy
Instructions:
The first and most important thing you have to do is locate the studs or ceiling joists.
Start by taking the flashlight and peeking beside the fixture box. Typically ceiling fixtures are mounted to a stud. But, some may have a brace installed (this is the case if the electrical box was installed with the intent of holding the weight of a ceiling fan or other heavy light fixture.)
In my case, the joist was right there (see photo above.) Locate the direction the joist runs, and then measure 16″ out from the joist on either side. This is a good location to start looking for another stud.
(I do have a stud finder, but half the time I can’t find the stud finder. Yes, I probably need a stud finder finder!) Next try rapping your knuckle on the ceiling around where the next stud should be. If it helps, close your eyes and feel for solid wood under the drywall as you knock. When you think you found that elusive stud, use the pin trick.
Insert a straight pin. If it goes all the way in, there is no stud there. If it goes in a little bit and then stops no matter how much you try to force it in, you found yourself a stud (let’s hope he’s a well mannered guy as well. Ha ha ha.)
Take your ceiling hook and screw it into the hole where your pin was. Pull down to test the strength.
Hang your chandelier onto the hook at the desired height.
Rewire your fixture to the electrical box (you can follow my tutorial for installing a light fixture if you need to.)
Voila! You now have a chandelier hanging exactly where you want it.
Do you like my adorable sunny yellow chandelier? Would you believe that she used to be a dated brass chandy? Do you have a Habitat ReStore near you? Check them out for inexpensive light fixtures.
You can read how I transformed her later this week over at Parentables.com.
Don’t forget…only two more days to enter to win a wall of organization from Flow Wall:
You could be the lucky winner of a Shelf and Jumbo Bin Set with a décor cube AND 2 sets of decor bins! (Please use the Rafflecopter widget for your entries on my laundry room reveal post.)
See y’all later!
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