Today I am sharing a simple update I genuinely wish I had done sooner.
When we bought our house, it had a recessed light with a fourteen-foot vaulted ceiling in front of our front door.
I have to admit canned lighting has its place but not in a foyer.
It was the perfect spot for a statement pendant light, but I was worried it would be a pain to switch out; it turns out I was wrong; a recessed lighting conversion kit makes it easy to convert to pendant lighting.
Yay for an easy DIY!
How to easily turn recessed lighting into a pendant light.
You can see from this before shot how empty the space above the door was.
What you will need:
NOTE: Obviously, infomercials work as we own a Little Giant Ladder. :-
So let’s get back to how easy this is; all it takes is a recessed light converter!
Do you know about these?!?!?
I had no clue that for twenty dollars and 25 minutes, we were able to add some serious visual interest!!
To Install pendant light:
The steps are easy to follow, but I am listing them below to give you an idea but follow the directions enclosed.
One of the things I liked about this kit converter is that you screw a socket pigtail into the existing can housing and that connection connects the old wiring to the kit, so you won’t need to mess with the original wiring.
- Turn off the circuit breaker- always flip the light switch off as an extra safety measure.
- Remove the existing can light and lightbulb
- Screw in the pigtail socket
- Install the channel brace inside the opening and secure the mounting bracket.
- Attach the ground wire -sounds scary, but it isn’t, I promise!
- Connect the connections from the pigtail to your new pendant fixture.
- Add the medallion if you need to cover the hole (it is paintable). If I had something to change anything, I would paint mine black. It doesn’t attach to the ceiling and is held in place by the fixture itself.
The Light Fixture
Because the kit can hold up to 50 lbs, it would have held just about all the light fixtures I was looking at.
I found the perfect light at Lumens, which is from their ED line by Ellen DeGeneres line.
I searched for a pendant with texture, visual impact (size), neutral in color, and a bonus; this one weighs only 17 lbs.
Once I found this one with the linen look, I knew it would be perfect for our lake house.
The photo shows the medallion a little off-kilter, and I adjusted it once I saw this! 🙂
It was so easy to convert this recessed light into a pendant that I cannot believe it took us almost five years to do this.
I love it!
If you are still freaked out about hanging your light or perhaps afraid of ladders, I did have our local electrician quote this, and it was very reasonable to have the job done.
Looking for additional lighting tips? Check these out.
Until next time,
-Libbie
If you like this, you may also be interested in these easy DIYs:
Oh my goodness! 1st of all I absolutely love this, it turned out so incredibly super cute and it’s the perfect thing for your entry way! Thanks for sharing the info on the convert kit because I was considering changing out a couple recessed lights in our kitchen with pendant lights, but it all depends on what we do over the island. But it’s good to know what to look for in case I do make that change! Thank you for sharing think it turned out fabulous my friend!
You always make my day brighter! Thank you, Dee!
So glad to know about the converter kit! That’s amazing. I love when you can fix a problem easily! Great job! And thanks for sharing.
Love the updated look!
Thank you, Paula. We love the new fixture. I am now looking around to see where we can add another!
This looks great. Love the idea!
The new lamp looks amazing. I have recessed lighting everywhere – good to know about these converters, I had never heard of them before!
Thanks! I now want to change out three more!
I agree, it turned out great Libbie
I had no idea this could be done, but what a great, and different look for the entry.
What a cool find! The new pendant really fills the space and draws your eye up. Thanks for sharing.
What a great find, It looks great.
What!!!! There’s a recessed light converter kit! Why did I not know that? I can’t wait to share that little fact with my hubby. We hate our recessed lights in the passage. It always feels like we’re walking along an upside-down airport landing strip.
I know right?!?! I had no idea. I’m working on some bathroom lights now.
Wow! Who knew there was such a thing! Thanks for sharing this.
So much bang for the buck!! It’s nice to know that a project like this is so doable. Your new light looks smashing.
Thanks so much for joining the Grace at Home party at Imparting Grace. I’m featuring you this week!
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