Just Say No To OSHA

If you're a Facebook fan of The Tall Chick, then you already know the chandelier is hung in its forever place.  Let me repeat...It is hung in its forever place.  I am never touching that light fixture again, for a couple of reasons.  Reason #1, I love it.  Reason #2, I'm not willing to risk my life again.

So, what do I mean by risking my life and the post title, "just say no to OSHA"?  Well, let's just say that this Tall Chick miscalculated exactly how tall she was and how tall our ladders were.  I grossly undercalculated and once we had cut the new hole in the stairwell to get the light to hang perfectly in the center (because the original light was at the top of the stairs), we didn't have a ladder that was tall enough.  Imagine that!  Me miscalculate!?!?  You all know how much I love math!  Hmph!

Anywho, once we realized the ladder wouldn't reach and we now had TWO holes in our ceiling, desperation set in.  I refused to take no for an answer despite Mr. Man's pleas about The Babe needing her mother and how it just wasn't worth it.  I just shook my head, said whatever, and begged Mr. Man to hold the ladder while I did this.

Please join me in laughing at the title of the
 top book, Stand Up For Your Life.  :)

That's right folks, I used books to hold up my ladder.  Brilliantly stupid.  If you can't tell from the picture, basically I had to prop up one side on books to bring it level with the other side.  This allowed me to climb up and reach the tip-top of the ceiling in the middle of the stairwell.  We tried a million other ladder combinations before I hit rock bottom and did this, but it worked.  And I survived.  And the light works.  And The Babe still has her momma :)  But, it was sooo not OSHA approved.  Don't tell.

Before we got to all the ladder drama, though, we had to move the ceiling box.  Here's a quick series of pictures to help guide you through how we did this.  Basically, we reused all of the ceiling box components and just cut a new hole in ceiling directly in the middle of the stairwell.  We had to add some electrical line onto the existing, but it was easy to join it up in a new junction box.  I won't bore you with the step-by-step, but if you're curious how to do this yourself, you can look up some easy directions here or email me and I'll give you the 4-1-1.

Once we got the light box moved, it was time to install the light.  This is when the project stalled for one night while we contemplated how we were going to reach the top of the ceiling.  Neither one of us came up with any cheap ideas, so enter Harry Potter's magical books.  :)  This is what the light looked like once we finally got it installed.

Finally installed!  Only one more step to go!

From the beginning of this project, I had been contemplating a creative way to cover the old chain and electrical wires without using paint.  I finally decided that I would make a chain cover out of coordinating fabric.  It was super easy and here are a few quick pictures!  Basically, I just cut fabric twice the length of the chain (so it would be scrunchy) and then hemmed it with iron on hem tape and then applied velcro so it can be removed later if needed.

Once I got the cord cover ready, it was time to head back up the ladder.  I also changed out the light bulbs to these slightly funkier round bulbs.  I love these so much more than the traditional candle shapes.  

So after risking life and limb for my $30 chandelier, it's done.  So take that OSHA!  We did it!  :)  And now I have to take one more minute to celebrate with this before and after.

I don't know about you, but I'm glad this project is over!  I think I'm going to take it easy for a couple of days; Momma needs a break!

Have you ever risked life and limb for a home project?  If you have, let me know I'm not alone!  :)

PS - If you're a new reader and missed the complete project tutorial including costs, click **here**!  Please also become a Facebook **fan** so you get all the latest updates from The Tall Chick!

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