Friday, February 12, 2010

Party Prep

So, as I'm sure you all already celebrated (or at least knew about it), this past Sunday was Superbowl Sunday. And, considering the fact that we have an absolutely amazing basement (thanks to our spiffy basement remodel), not to mention our ginormous flat screen TV, accompanied by some true surround sound (wired through the walls and ceiling by - yup, you guessed it, us), and to top it all off it our basement even features a built-in bar - our "lounge" was the perfect spot for a little bit of recreational celebration. Yup. The only thing missing (besides warm weather and a grill, that is!), was a bit of ambiance in the form of lights. Cue our next home improvement project.
Lucky for us, it was pretty straightforward. Well, mostly.
First, we took down the existing light fixtures (no worries, they aren't going to waste - we have some big plans in store for them).

Next, we took our first track lighting fixture that was in the kitchen (back before we realized that our kitchen lacked an AC vent... oops) and simply installed it in the basement.

We bought an identical fixture at Lowe's and installed it at the other end. Instant... well, light. Bright, eye-blinding light.


Not exactly the ambiance we were looking for for our Superbowl Party.

Enter our friend the dimmer switch.


Only this time we were installing a double dimmer switch. Ooooh, ahhhhh.
Apparently, however, they don't make dimmer switches double-dimmer compatible.
Oops. And here we thought this would be another easy project... you'd think we'd have learned by now!
So, after a few choice words and some dark-humored chuckles heard from the basement (I was upstairs cooking), Tom employed our patented technique for all new projects that don't install according to the instructions:
He rigged it.
Yessiree bob, and this time he didn't even pause to consider or ask if he should (because by this time he knew my work theory: if it didn't work, we would make it work!).
Apparently some things you just have to break first to get them to work.

So after a few more laughs from the depths of the basement, a few crunches and snaps, followed by more chuckles, I finally heard a triumphant "Yes!".
And incredibly, the new lights work! They add instant ambiance, are perfect for any situation (since they're dimmable), and really make the basement shine.


What about you? Have you done any simple lighting changes lately? Are you as amazed as I usually am at what a huge difference changing out a light fixture makes?

3 comments:

  1. OOh, I love the wide plank bead board stuff on the bar! And that red "M" is great too. Nice work!

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  2. I am super interesting in learning how your hubby rigged the light fixtures to dim together. Don't you just love how intuitive boys can be? It's fabulous!

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  3. Thanks, Amy! I'm interested in learning how he did it, too! I'm pretty sure it involves breaking the dimmer switches somehow, but that's about all I know about this project! And I totally love how intuitive boys can be, too! :)

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