Move A Ceiling Light, step by step

Ever since we updated the light fixture in our bathroom back in April, one thing has been bothering us: its proximity to the shower curtain. Okay, two things in fact: its proximity to the shower curtain AND the fact that we did not have the energy to remedy the situation back in April (when we switched out the old light for a new one and did some slight drywall patching and painting- nothing nearly as involved as relocating the fixture box by a few feet).

So now that we have spent three months building up the energy to shift that light into the right spot, once and for all, we were ready to get going. The process began with measuring and marking the ceiling so that we could center the light directly in front of the window (which also would make it centered on the door). This way it would look like it was consistently supposed to be that way, instead of being centered in the room – which put it only a few inches away from the shower curtain – it was simply weird, weird, weird.

Then we turned off the power and disconnected the light from the fixture box.

We had kind of forgotten where our beams were in the ceiling so we began off by drilling a couple of quite small holes to see if we hit anything (nothing but drywall and air!) and then took it a step further by cutting a small hole in the drywall big sufficient to slip my hand into and feel around a bit. I could’ve simply used my drywall saw, but my Dremel Multimax was already out, so I grabbed that.

Once our little feel-around mission confirmed that our intended placement for the fixture box would not be thwarted by any beams, we chose to mark the shape that we’d need to cut out for the metal fixture box. Since we did not have any spare boxes around to assist us trace the squarish shape onto the ceiling, we made a swift template by pressing a piece of cardstock along the hard edges of the one that was still in the ceiling. It worked surprisingly well – as you can see from the impression below.

Once we cut out that template, we were able to trace it onto the ceiling so I’d know exactly where to cut – that way I’d cut it large sufficient for the whole box to fix through, but not so large that the fixture’s cover does not hide it all. Oh, and we do not typically mark in red sharpie but our pencil marks where disappearing on the gray paint so we went for red so we (and you folks) could see it more clearly. It was all going to get cut/covered anyway.

Then I used my drywall saw (which I at last worked up the energy to hunt down, since the Mutlimax would not cut the rounded corners as well) to put a bigger, fixture-boxed-sized hole in the ceiling.

It is starting to look striking, is not it? Okay, not truly. But this, my friends, is what progress looks like.

Before going into the attic to move the box, Sherry noticed a couple of screws that we’d need to remove from below, so she took care of that.

Taking those two screws out was all it took for it to hang loose in the existing space.

Now here is the lively part. Going in the attic. On a 98-degree day. The hot, cramped, un-air-conditioned, distinctly Nick-Lachey-less attic (yes, that was a 98 Degrees pun). The attic that requires crawling on your hands and knees across narrow beams (see big arrow below) through nasty blown insulation. And for this particular assignment, it in fact required crawling to simply about the furthest nook in said attic (see little arrow below).

In case my efforts to earn sympathy points were not obvious sufficient yet, allow me to lay it on a little thicker. By the time I was done moving the light fixture, it took FOUR trips back and forth to my attic work area (for various reasons – like needing another tool and Clara’s singing being too loud for Sherry to hear my calls for assistance). And since our attic access is located outside of our hall bath (and the only pathway to my destination was not direct), here is a map of the approximate trip I had to make each of those FOUR times by crawling on my hands and knees, in a sweltering full-of-insulation space that literally felt like a sauna.

In a word: it was miserable.

Now that I have sufficiently explained my less-than-ideal-humane conditions (have I not? do not worry – there is still more later), let us get back to the task at hand. Here is the situation up in the attic.

I am not an electrician. Nor am I apparently one to spend any more time in a cramped sweatbox than necessary (I was fairly much working in the fetal position it was so tight – which at least made my “I want my mommy” whimpers a bit more appropriate). So I only snapped this “after” photo of having moved the fixture box into it is new home. It took some unscrewing and rescrewing of the board that spanned between two beams, as well as moving the junction box (in foreground) so I would not have to add any actual wire. Did I mention I am not an electrician?

When I was done, I asked Sherry to take a picture of the hot, sweaty, hyper-ventilating mess that was The builder. She pointed the camera and said “smile.” This is the best I could do. Yes, that is sweat on my shirt.

But once I had cooled down, rehydrated, and (most importantly) showered in the hall bathroom – Sherry and I headed back to our bathroom to admire our progress.

Once we screwed the new fixture boxed up into the support boards (simply like we had unscrewed it in the original spot), it was time for the light itself to be reinstalled. We still need to patch the old hole (using this method) but Sherry agreed to do that part since, if you could not tell, I truly milked how difficult my part of this task was. See how much better our light fixture placement is now that it is centered on the window/toilet/door. It is like it was consistently meant to be this way. Whew.

Honestly, had it not been ten million degrees in our attic, this project would not have been that bad. The task itself was fairly straightforward, it was simply the conditions that made it challenging (crawling into the crammed little corner of the attic multiple times on a freakishly hot day made it a lot more complex than someone with especially straightforward attic-access on a mild day). Perhaps it is the universe’s way of saying “Yeah, you truly should have done this in April.” But for anyone who asked back in April why we did not simply “swiftly reposition the light fixture while we were switching it out” – this is why. All that attic work is a pain – and simply to access that part of the ceiling in short requires that you David Blane yourself (aka: assume the fetal position in a space so tight it might as well be a suitcase). So sometimes taking bigger projects and breaking them down into manageable phases that we tackle over time is what works best for us. That and complaining a lot after you are done with the especially annoying stuff. Haha.

Anyone else have lively in their attic or another similarly cramped & hot space lately? If you have not, I highly recommend it… or not. We will be back this afternoon with the patched ceiling and a bunch of shots of the whole room along with a budget breakdown because we are officially calling this little bathroom upgrade done. Woot! And – spoiler alert – we think all the sweat that we have put into this compact rectangle of a room was totally worth it. Simply do not ask me to crawl back into that corner of the attic for at least another week…

Psst- To follow this bathroom sprucing project from the start, check out this planning post, this painting post, this light-swapping post, this art and trim-painting post, this toilet-updating post, this window frosting and shampoo wrangling post, this door trimming post, this border tile demo post, and this border retiling post.