Ceiling fan lights part 2 + remote control

<-- Before - we just had a ceiling fan, no lights. The switch that controls this fan is also in the middle of the room, far from the door/entrance.

Still on a high from yesterday's success with replacing the ceiling fan lights in the blue room, we decided to go ahead with the plans to DIY the installation of ceiling fan lights in the 4th BR - we had purchased the materials already and planned to have them professionally installed (or wait for Ahya to visit). 

This was a bit more ambitious because we also wanted to either have the switch transferred to the entrance area (if we were hiring a professional electrician) and/or have a remote control installed.

Since we decided to DIY, a remote control would have to do. It also works out well because we can always install the remote control holder near the door. 

For this, we purchased a Harbor Breeze 4-light Incandescent light kit for $33 - they also sell a 4 light LED light kit for the same price, we decided to go with the incandescent kit because of the higher wattage capacity (you can always install lower-watt bulbs) and a Yukihalu remote control kit. 

The Yukihalu remote controls both the fan and the light, got this for $18 at Amazon. Per the product description, they have the smallest remote module in the market, other brands' modules are much bigger (harder to fit in the fan housing).

This was a super simple project, electrically-speaking (is this a proper term?) as everything was neatly labeled. The hardest part was attaching the remote module and getting everything attached to the wires and getting it out of the way of the main fan. We eventually had to attach this outside of the housing because there was no way for it to fit inside.  

This isn't fully finished yet as it currently is using the 60 watt incandescent bulbs included in the kit. We've ordered 60 watt equivalent daylight bulbs from Amazon ($15 for two 3-packs). 

Ceiling Fan Light - blue room

<-- Before photo

So far as DIY projects go, this weekend has been a very productive weekend for us.

This week, we decided to tackle ceiling fan lights and what triggered this DIY frenzy was that when we set up Swe-cha's study area downstairs and moved our torchlight beside his table, it left the blue room dark. Blue room is where the husband set up his home office, it does have an existing ceiling fan with a light, but the light is a single halogen bulb and it gives off a dim, yellow light. 

I started looking for electricians and getting quotes for installing overhead lights (recessed lights, most probably) and found that it will cost between $500 - $700 to get them installed and this quote snowballed when I also concluded that since we were going to have someone come and do this, we might as well get lights installed in the 4th bedroom as well. 4th BR is a longer room and will probably require 6 lights and will cost another $800 - $900. 

Now that we were looking at around $1600,... it didn't seem so simple anymore. 

So I started looking at what we already have and what we can do.... and it occurred to me that we already have ceiling fans installed in ALL BEDROOMS! So perhaps we can just go on from there.

It took a while but I did find the Minka-Aire K9515-1 Universal 12 1/4" light kit with frosted white glass. This was a good fit for blue room because it had a low profile. It takes 3 candelabra bulbs (E12 base) and hubby quickly found 100w-equivalent daylight bulbs for it. 

Cost: 

- $41 for the Minka-Aire light kit

- two 2-pack Feit 100w equivalent daylight bulbs for $17 each. Yep, the bulbs almost cost as much as the light kit itself).

- Labor: free 

Also found this awesome fixture from Amazon for $8 - it attaches to a single bulb socket and allows you to attach 5 more bulbs. We installed this in our garage where we only have the 1 bulb in the ceiling and instantly, the place looks so much brighter. 

Pictured is the new light fixture with five 60-watt equivalent daylight LED bulbs (just 8 watts each). Suddenly, it makes our garage so much brighter and I see how old & dingy-looking the garage is - we'll probably want to plan for a garage-related cleanup & remodeling project next spring. 

Study Area ver 2.0

 

When Covid-19 came out last schoolyear and we stared doing remote-schooling in March 2020, we set up Swe-cha's laptop in a corner of the dining table. That worked because they met with the teacher 3x a week, no more than an hour each time. 

When this schoolyear started, we initially stuck with the same set up but after a week, I knew it wasn't working. There were too many distractions because it was also where we ate and sometimes played games on tablets, phones and game consoles. 

So last week, I ordered another work table for Daddy (a 6-ft folding table or a training table), we got it yesterday and set Daddy's workstation up on the new table. The 4-ft folding table he was using was then brought down to this corner where we set up a study area for Swe-cha.  

I think this will also work out better because he has Physical Ed on some days and he will have enough space to exercise in front of the camera in this area. 

Hope this works out!