Series: An 80's Kitchen DIY Reno- {Part 7- Wiring for Sconces thru a Header Beam & Adding Recessed Lights}

I actually want to talk about wiring for sconces and recessed lighting.  Wiring for three sconces was a MAJOR piece of the remodel for me.  Since our first walk-thru of the house, I had envisioned triple sconces over those windows.  In my mind, they were key to bringing a modern aesthetic to the space.  

However, it didn't go as planned.  With the wall open, I could see there was a pipe running 'perfectly' down the middle of the wall where I needed the middle sconce to go.  On top of that, when the electrician tried to add the other two sconces, he discovered double, solid wood header beams over both of the windows.  There was no dead space and no way to get a wire thru.  Ultimately the electrician said he couldn't wire for sconces and we settled on having a pendant over each window.  

I got it...I saw the problem, but I was BUMMED!  

(Side note, if you followed me on Instagram back then, you know I debated putting a cabinet

 between the windows for about a week.  Nobody liked the cabinet idea, lol!) 

So bummed that I was like, 'NOPE...not gonna accept that'.  I felt like I couldn't be the first or only person to run wiring thru a beam.  There HAD to be a way to do this. So to the 'internetz' I went.  I think I googled "How to run wiring thru a header beam".   And finally came across the graphic below showing that a stud could be notched out for wiring, and metal plates placed over the wires to protect them.  I felt like I had found a solution, so I sent my pics to my electrician to try to convince him to try it.

He said he would give it a try.  It was work, but he was able to make it happen.  Literally all my dreams are in this one picture!  Just kidding, but I was pretty happy!

Now that I am looking back at this picture, I see he literally bought the EXACT metal plates as what I sent him in the picture.  But hey, whatever it takes!

Wiring for Recessed Lighting

I mentioned before that even though were always planning to renovate the kitchen, we also had a water leak which caused the ceiling and wall to be opened up.  Since they were opened, we decided to go ahead and add recessed lighting.  

While shopping for the actual lights, I learned that there are two types: traditional can lighting and LED lighting.  Traditional can lights come in a retrofit style made for remodels, and it braces between or to a joist in the ceiling,I believe.  

There's also a newer LED type light that is pancake-ish thin, and has spring clips that secure it to the drywall inside the ceiling.  They come in 4", 5", and 6" widths. 

These are not the exact ones I used, but the same concept.  My electrician said it was easier to install because it doesn't have to be secured to the joists.  That also gives you more options on where to place it in the ceiling.  It can even go right below a joist.  It also has no bulbs to replace because it's LED.  If or when it goes out, you just clip in a new light. .  

What I liked about the LED recessed lights that I chose was that you have three options for the warmth of the light.  I think I picked the middle one.  They were also so easy to clip in, that I was able to put in the actual lights myself once the ceiling was repaired.  What I don't like about them is that I think they are a bit too modern for my 80's stippled ceiling.  I miss the actual 'recessing' of the light.  If I could do it over again, I would probably try to go with the traditional bulb recessed lights.  But after living with no overhead light in the space for quite some time, it's not a big deal.

Wiring for the new Microwave

One other major electrical item I had done was running power from the panel in the basement to the inside of my microwave cabinet. They had to drill up thru the floor and into the cabinet.  All the wiring is enclosed in galvanized metal pipe since it goes up thru the cabinet and not a wall.  You can see it in the far right corner of the cabinet in the pic below.  I sprayed it white when I painted the cabinet so that it would blend in.  Horrible pic, but you get the idea!

I'll be back tomorrow to share about the process of matching the existing door profile for a few doors I needed to replace. 

{An 80's Kitchen DIY Reno Series}

 

-Part 1 - Before and After

-Part 2- Modifying a Cabinet to Replace an Old Double Oven 

-Part 3- Demo, Carpentry, and Design Plans 

-Part 4- Demo Day

-Part 5- DIY Peninsula and Fridge Surround

-Part 6- Ordering Materials and Fixtures

-Part 7-Running Wiring for Sconces thru a Header Beam

-Part 8- Matching an Older Door Profile

-Part 9- Cabinet Painting and Compact Hinges

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Series: An 80's Kitchen DIY Reno- {Part 6- Ordering Materials and Fixtures}

I shared quite a few of my sources for the kitchen in the first post of this series, but I wanted to compile them all in one post.  One of my favorite finds for this remodel were the sconces.  There's a more expensive version that has a white lining inside where the light bulb is, but this one is a fraction of the cost.  I went thru two other sconces before finding this one.  I initially ordered 3-way adjustable sconces, but they were too large for my ceiling height.  Another sconce I tried, the joints couldn't support the weight of the sconce and they wouldn't stay in position.  The ones I chose gave me the aesthetic I wanted at a price point I could afford. 

1.Gold Sconce | 2.Marble Tile | 3.Sink Strainer | 4.Sink | 5.Soap Dispenser | 6.Faucet

The sink and strainer were both by Kohler.  The stone installers picked up the sink when they came to measure the countertops so they would have it for fabrication. I had purchased and installed the faucet a couple of years earlier and was able to reuse it.  I was also able to find a matching soap dispenser by the same manufacturer.

I ordered pretty much all of my materials before work began.  Sometimes, things can be delayed unexpectantly.   Perfect example, when I initially ordered the sink, it was on back order for months because there had been a fire at the Kohler factory. Had I waited until the last minute to order and that problem arose, I probably would have had to choose another sink.   If it's something you're not willing to negotiate on, you don't want to have your project delayed for that item. 

1.Microwave | 2.Cabinet Knobs and Pulls | 3.Double Oven | 4.Gas Cooktop | 5.Vent Hood

The double oven had already been installed, but the vent hood and gas stove were still to come.  I went with a countertop microwave to go inside the new peninsula.  I needed to verify it's dimensions to size the new cabinet appropriately.  There are some built-in microwaves, but I couldn't justify the cost difference when we literally just use it for making popcorn, tea, and reheating a few meals!  I ordered the cabinet hardware ahead of time as well to make sure that all the different tones of gold in the space would coordinate.  

Having all the materials ready to go meant there would be no order delays. So next up was running wiring for the sconces, microwave, and recessed lighting.  I'll share what went wrong and what went right with that process tomorrow!

(Post may contain affiliate links.  There is no charge to you if you click the links, but allows me to make a small commission to help support this blog!)

{An 80's Kitchen DIY Reno Series}

 

-Part 1 - Before and After

-Part 2- Modifying a Cabinet to Replace an Old Double Oven 

-Part 3- Demo, Carpentry, and Design Plans 

-Part 4- Demo Day

-Part 5- DIY Peninsula and Fridge Surround

-Part 6- Ordering Materials and Fixtures

-Part 7-Running Wiring for Sconces thru a Header Beam

-Part 8- Matching an Older Door Profile

-Part 9- Cabinet Painting and Compact Hinges

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Series: An 80's Kitchen DIY Reno- {Part 5-DIY Peninsula and Built-in Fridge}

Let's get after it, shall we!  The biggest obstacle for me for this project was demo.  I had never done it before, and there's something slightly terrifying about tearing up perfectly good cabinets in case you can't fix it!   Even if they are older.  But once the demo was done and the floors were patched, I knew there wasn't anything that couldn't be rebuilt.  That I could do.

Building the Peninsula

Below is the cabinet base for the peninsula.  It added extra storage along the wall and attached to the existing end cabinet.  It would also be the new location for the microwave, since a vent hood would be put in over the stove.

This is where I left off after demo.

I used cardboard and wood scraps to visualize the countertop.   

I ended up feeling like the countertop would need additional support, so I added the small wall using 2x4's.

The side walls and back were made of 3/4" plywood.  I screwed it into the studs on the wall, and into the existing cabinet. I also used my brad nailer, to nail down into the floor so the peninsula wouldn't shift or move. 

The 2x4's were covered with 1/4" maple plywood.  I just used one big piece to cover the entire outside wall of the peninsula facing the fridge.  I added baseboards and then the entire peninsula was trimmed out with 3" wide board and batten trim.  

The face of the cabinet was trimmed with 1x2's and 1x3's.

Creating a Built-in Fridge

The original refrigerator cabinet was half-depth, and I wanted to create a full built-in cabinet.

The back and top of the original cabinet stayed. I didn't get a picture, but I used pieces of 1x2 to space the side wall from the lower cabinet.  The countertop extended beyond the base cabinets and left a gap.  So the 1x2 pieces gave me something to screw the large side wall into.  I also added 1x2 shelf supports to the board to help me to screw the shelves in since I was working alone.

The outside wall was screwed into the shelves and the top piece of the old cabinet.  I added an additional board along the ceiling in the front of the cabinet, so that I could attach the face frame.  I later covered the inside ceiling with 1/4" plywood.

I made a couple of mistakes here.  I didn't account for the crown.  So, when I installed the doors, they butted up against the crown.  I had to remove them and add a piece of 3/4" square molding to the upper part of the frame to give the doors space down from the crown molding.  I also didn't account for the additional width of my new cabinet, so my doors were a little too small for the 1x2 face frames I added.  I had to add more 3/4" square molding to the sides of the openings to properly space the doors.  But it was still cheaper than ordering two new doors, and once they were painted you wouldn't be able to tell.

Now it finally felt like the new kitchen was starting to take shape!  I caulked all the seams on the peninsula and it was almost time to paint.  I still needed to have wiring run for the new microwave, sconces, and recessed lights.  But before I get to that, tomorrow I'm going to share the materials and fixtures I ordered for the electrical and the rest of the renovation.

(Post may contain affiliate links.  There is no charge to you if you click the links, but allows me to make a small commission to help support this blog!)

{An 80's Kitchen DIY Reno Series}

 

-Part 1 - Before and After

-Part 2- Modifying a Cabinet to Replace an Old Double Oven 

-Part 3- Demo, Carpentry, and Design Plans 

-Part 4- Demo Day

-Part 5- DIY Peninsula and Fridge Surround

-Part 6- Ordering Materials and Fixtures

-Part 7-Running Wiring for Sconces thru a Header Beam

Part 8- Matching an Older Door Profile

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Series: An 80's Kitchen DIY Reno- {Part 4-Demo Day}

Last year after a water leak, the kitchen was at it's worst.  Thankfully insurance was going to repair the wall and ceiling.  And yes it would also cover replacing the laminate backsplash, but of course you can't match 30 year old laminate, so that would mean I would need to cover replacing the old countertop.  I didn't want to replace the countertop without modifying the cabinets first.  I felt like I couldn't move forward with repairing anything without doing the carpentry work first.  

Since we had planned on updating the kitchen anyway, it wasn't a complete disappointment, but the timing just wasn't ideal.  However, I also didn't want to do repairs, only to reopen walls and redo work in the future for updates. 

By late April, I was finally on the schedule to begin work, but the contractor canceled a couple of days before work was to begin.  This was the height of my frustration.   I don't like chaos.  I don't like disorder.  So after living with my kitchen opened up for over a month, I'd had enough and began demolition  myself.  I had sent so many drawings, and explained what I wanted to so many contractors, that I was like, "I can do this myself."  And at this point the kitchen was already a mess, so it wasn't like I could make it much worse!

The first piece to come out was the cabinet over the windows.  There was an overhead light that ran thru the cabinet.  So I made sure to cut off the power before cutting the wire. Next I removed all the doors to lighten it.  I thought I would find some screws inside the cabinet that would be screwed into the studs.  But instead there were tons of nails across the entire length of the cabinet. I ended up dismantling it piece by piece, taking off the doors first, then the face frame, and so on..  You can see it in the floor up above. 

 Ok one piece down, I was feeling more confident.  Next up was removing the peninsula.  I made a cut in the wood face of the countertop, then lifted it up and broke it along the seam.  Next I took out the two pieces of wood that created the peninsula.  I also removed the raised molding pieces on the paneling, so the new cabinet would be flush to the wall.  I did save the pieces to reinstall after the new cabinet was built.  I also removed that side panel on the cabinet below to connect this cabinet with the new one I would be building.

So happy to have this piece gone!

This was the progress on day one.

The floor somehow butted up against the original peninsula wall.  I wasn't expecting this, and it wasn't going to be covered by my new cabinet.  But thankfully, the floors were already going to be refinished because of the water leak, so I ended up having the gap patched before I put in my new cabinet.

On the refrigerator side, I removed the doors as well before demo, because I was going to use them on my new cabinet.  It's not pictured, but I relocated the fridge before beginning work!

I didn't get as many pictures of the work, but the challenge with it was that it wasn't a stand-alone cabinet.  The frame, the back, and top of the cabinet continued on into the other cabinets on that wall. So in removing the old fridge surround, I left the board that ran along the ceiling and back and notched around it to fit my new surround.  It wasn't a perfectly clean demo, but the rough parts were going to be covered up.

I also removed the small bit of chair rail that turned the corner on this side of the wall.  I later removed the baseboard and quarter round to install the new surround.  The demo again left a gap in the wood floor.

A few days later, I had the floors patched to cover the gaps.  

The patch was not flush AT ALL with the existing floors. I don't think this picture quite shows the difference in height. I was really concerned that they wouldn't sand down and be flush.  

I was assured that they would, and they did.  But floor refinishing was a future thing. Now, I could begin construction of the new cabinetry.

{Updating an 80's Kitchen Series}

 

-Part 1 - Before and After

-Part 2- Modifying a Cabinet to Replace an Old Double Oven 

-Part 3- Demo, Carpentry, and Design Plans 

-Part 4- Demo Day

-Part 5- DIY Peninsula and Built-in Fridge

-Part 6- Ordering Materials and Fixtures

-Part 7-Running Wiring for Sconces thru a Header Beam

Part 8- Matching an Older Door Profile

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