Fix the lighting in the basement

So, I finally just bit the bullet and wired up that light over the workbench. I half expected to completely fuck up everything and have to call either an electrician or my brother-in-law to fix it.

However, I’m happy to report that it was just as easy as I hoped it would be, and we now have a pair of working flourescents over the workbench, along with a switch and some outlets. Which means I can actually see well enought to keep the workbench clean (I hope).

1. Workbench light
2. Pool table light
3. Wall switch
4. Switch in the furnace room
5. Sconces (I’m really reconsidering this one. Not because I don’t want to do it, but I think it may not be necessary once everything else is in place. Also, it limits our furniture placement, because things would need to look centered, etc.)
6. Additional outlets

I think the #3, the wall switch might be the next one I tackle. It seems like that’s the easiest of the list.

This is part of my Clean Sweep list (#11: There is ample and healthy lighting around me), but it’s also been on my “To-Do” list for quite some time. We built a rec room in our new basement that we spend a lot of time in, but it isn’t lit well enough.

1. There’s a workbench on the unfinished side of the basement that has almost no light. I took the banks of flourescents out of the rec room side and hung one of them over this workbench. I wired in the switch and an extra pair of outlets. And that’s where I stopped. All I have left to do is connect it to the existing circuit, and I know exactly how to do this, but I think I’m a little scared of it. I need to set aside an afternoon and just finish this already.
2. The pool table needs a pool table light. Not just for appearance, but because that end of the room has almost no light at all. All of the light in the room comes from 3 table lamps at the other end. Now, I realize I could just move one of those table lamps to the other end of the room, but that seems like a half-assed solution.
3. Tame the wall switch. My fiance’s brother originally did the wiring in that room for us, and for whatever reason, he wired, like, half the room to a single switch. Which means we can’t use that switch without turning off the computer, the modem, all the phones in the house, and probably a zillion other things. This switch needs to be re-wired to only operate one outlet.
4. In the little alcove where the furnace and the water heater are, we put a wall up between the light and it’s switch. Nobody thought to move the switch, so now I’ll have to re-wire that whole mess. That one’s going to be a little trickier.
5. We had originally talked about wall-sconces throughout the room. That one’s on the “Maybe” list.
6. I’d like to put an outlet on the wall behind the computer, too, but that might be tricky as well. Another maybe.

Sound like an ambitious enough goal?