Monday, February 08, 2010

Missions Accomplished!

On Thursday, the electrician arrived around 10:45 and he was gone by 1:15. I knew it! I knew that was an easy job. I still can't believe that stupid Milestone Electric had quoted me at $1200. Anyway this other guy from Keiser Electric was awesome. He was very efficient and pleasant. And he had red hair! (And no, I did not get a discount or anything for saying that. Not even the red hair part.)
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So can you see the difference between this picture...:

And this picture?:
Yes! It's that tiny little doodad on the ceiling there:

It's a little can light and I love it!:

Look how it brightens my "work station":

That's my little spot where I stand to do all my mixing, tossing, chopping, slicing and dicing. It's a perfect little spot and just over my left shoulder I can look through the "window" over the sink and see the TV in the living room.
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The electrician also replaced the ballast in the overhead fixture and now my kitchen is BRIGHT!:
I took that picture with no flash at about the same time in the evening as I took a similar picture in my February 01 post. But now you can SEE. I think that ballast may have been bad for a long time, because the overhead light is really freaking bright now. We don't remember it ever being that bright.
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The third thing the electrician did was replace the old heater fan/light fixture in the bathroom with a new one that also has an exhaust fan. If you are wondering why there was no exhaust fan in the bathroom, join the club. But actually it was because the bathroom has a window and the building code is that if there is a window you don't need a fan. I know! How stupid is that? You're going to sit there and use the bathroom with the window open? "Hey neighbor! Don't mind me, I'm just reading the newspaper here."
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Since the new fixture had the extra electrical apparatus, I had to change out the switchplate. Which meant I had to take down the lovely one that Carole made me last summer:

Fortunately, I had just enough paper left, so I covered the new one:

And as happy as I am, I'm going to have to call the electrician. I told him how I wanted the switches set up and he got those two new middle ones backward. The one on top was supposed to be the exhaust fan and the one on bottom the heater fan. So hopefully he can just come back and flip the thing over. I tried to do it myself, but it doesn't just pull right out and besides, electricity makes me nervous. Besides that, I'm as happy as a clam. We have the heater back in the bathroom as well as an exhaust fan, and I can see again in the kitchen. It's all good. And it was all less than $400. Ha!

9 comments:

VioletSky said...

Hope you got some of his business cards so you can hand them out when anyone asks: do you know a good electrician? (or are you keeping him for yourself?) Pot lights are great.

BTW, that is one funky looking lightswitch!, I've never seen that configuration.

Lone Grey Squirrel said...

Looking Good. Score one for the red heads.

Anonymous said...

Mind-boggling the difference in prices. Truly. Also mind-boggling is the spotlessly clean nature of your kitchen.

Big Brother said...

Good for you... sometimes these contractors take us for fools. We had someone come in this fall to redo the chimney since it was in a sad state, with pieces of brick all over the place. One contractor came over and quoted $15000 to redo it. I had seen a local guy redoing one so I asked for his card and got a quote of $5000 + tax. So we got a new chimney for a third of the price and they did a really fantastic job of finding brick that matched since our house brick no longer exists... it pays to shop around.

Jazz said...

OK Geewits, next time I need to get work done, I'm flying you up here to either do it or get someone to do it...

No discussion. I'll have beer.

Carole said...

Gee, everything looks great! You did a great job on your new switchplate too! I will have to get by someday soon to see it in person, but I can see how bright your kitchen is now, and I really like the little can light! Brightens up your "work station" so nicely. Yay!

geewits said...

VioletSky,
~~Oh, I would definitely share! As for the switch config: That was the easiest way to go because 4 across would be too wide for the space between the door and the towel bar. It's actually 3 pieces that snap together which is fine if you're going to cover it anyway.

LGS,
~~Thanks! (Mouse)

Xup,
~~I'm sure some people would think it looks cluttered because I have lots of stuff on the counters and don't even look at the floor!

Big Brother,
~~So you know how it feels! Yay for both of us for shopping around.

Jazz,
~~But how will I negotiate with these people if I can't speak French?

Carole,
~~Yes, I can't wait for you to come over and see it. And I found a new home for your switchplate.

Lolo said...

VERY NICE!!!!

Anonymous said...

Now we know what the TV ads and radio ads for Milestone Electric cost. About $400 per hour. Glad you got it done right.
Way to go Milestone.