While our sunroom mojo was still running on high from accomplishing our most daring painting task to date, I quickly followed up with two small electrical updates to the room. The first is seemingly minor, but to us makes a world of difference in making a room feel new: updating outlets. It’s something that was especially helpful in a room like our sunroom where the off-white outlets just look dirty against the white trim.
A basic new outlet and cover plate can run you as little as $2-3 so it’s not a pricey update – even for an outlet-riddled room like ours (there were nine in here). And the task of replacing them is pretty straightforward too. Maybe a bit tedious, but certainly not backbreaking. So I actually put together a little graphic tutorial for easy reference if anyone else wanted to update some outlets in their home. I’m not a trained as electrician in Perth, so I can’t say this is an expert how-to or that it’ll work for every home out there, but so far it has served us quite well.
Switching out all 9 outlets – plus two switches – took me a little over an hour. But it made the room feel a couple decades newer to our eyes (we’ve heard of folks who spray paint their outlet covers but you can’t spray the actual outlets so in our world it was worth the $25 that we spent to update all of the covers and the outlets themselves in one long-lasting fell swoop). Oh and for anyone looking to sell, this is one of those things that’s pretty straightforward and inexpensive but is actually good for resale (it makes the whole room feel updated and even more crisp when it’s combined with fresh paint on the walls).
Now on to my less successful electrical project in the room: adding a light to the ceiling fan.
This room has no lights in it. So just as it’s sun-filled during the day, it’s pitch dark at night. So when my mom enlightened me that they sell kits to add lights to existing ceiling fans we immediately had our game plan in mind (which included this vintage-ish Ceiling Fan Light Kit found at Home Depot).
I was pretty stoked about the price of the add-on light fixture ($20) and the schoolhouse style was pretty decent too. So in my excitement I kinda sorta might’ve skipped over the directions and started taking the fan apart to see how it connected (after turning the power off to the room). It was quickly apparent that this colorful mess of wires didn’t match up with the simple black and white wires that the light kit came with.
Convinced I had purchased the wrong kind of light kit, I returned it to the store and brought a picture of my wire situation to show the lighting lady at the store in hopes that she could point me in the direction of a kit that worked for my fan.
Well, after a short discussion (that uncomfortably involved the word “nipple” a lot) she informed that I did in fact have the right kit, I just wasn’t following instructions correctly (oops). Apparently I was supposed to pop out the small cover on the bottom of the fan (see below)…
…and connect the black and white wires on the kit to the two corresponding wires in the fan. I just had missed them because they were wrapped up in a plastic bag which, had I looked more closely, was labeled “for light.” Duh.
With renewed confidence I started piecing the light and fan together. I started by screwing the light fixture’s, um, nipple into the fan cover…
…and securing it in place with a nut.
Then – in what promised to be the easiest electrical connection I’d ever done – I simply plugged the wires from the light into the ones on the fan (blue into black was correct according to the instruction I had finally cracked open).
Certain I had done things right this time, I twisted the fan cover back into place and flipped the power back on.
And nothing happened. The fan would turn on, but not the light. I pulled the chain a few times to make sure it had switched on. I flipped the switch at the wall back and forth. I disconnected and reconnected the wires a couple of times.
Nothing.
After some Googling I found a few other things to try. First was buying another kit from the store, just in case the one I had gotten was a bum one. Nope, still didn’t work. Then I saw somewhere that I should try hardwiring it by exposing the wires (i.e. cutting off the provided plugs) but that didn’t make it any better.
So after all those attempts (and a couple of extra trips to the home improvement store) I’ve determined that the issue is not with my light or with my fan – it’s at my ceiling. I must be one of the lucky homeowners where the original fan installer opted not to connect the wires for the light up there, figuring they weren’t going to be used since he was just installing a fan without a light kit.
So this is where Sherry and I officially called the project a bust. Sure I could buy a taller ladder or rent a scaffold to help me access the wiring that’s 12 feet up in the air, but that seemed a bit extreme for what we assumed would be a quick and easy (and inexpensive) project. So for now, here’s our solution:
Yup, it’s a floor lamp stolen from the bedroom (since we noticed that we never turn it on in there thanks to an overhead light along with two bedside lamps). Not quite as elegant of a fix as true overhead light would have been – and who knows if we’ll properly wire things down the line – but for now it works.
What sort of electrical adventures have you guys been up to lately? Did anything go super easily (cough-outlets-cough)? Or did something turn out so hot (cough-stupidfan-cough)?
Our ceilings are all 12 foot tall. We’ve only lived here since March, but I’m already dreading the day we have to change the lightbulbs…. the set in the living room are directly above the sofa and console table so we’ll have to move ALL that and borrow a big ladder. Maybe we’ll just move….
Changing light bulbs shouldn’t be too bad. You can get a changer on an extension pole so there’s no need to rearrange your furntiture for that.
Tall ceilings are a good excuse to put in LED bulbs, since they take many, many years to burn out.
This may have been a blessing in disguise. I’d kill to get rid of the light part of my overhead fans. It just seems so “emergency light” to me — very functional but seriously unflattering. In fact, aside from hallways, I find overhead lighting in general a little harsh
After you furnish the room, I think you’ll be relieved to be using lamps instead! So much more lovely!
What’s the latest with painting the brick? Still on the fence?
We’re definitely still on the paint-it train! Will keep you posted when we finally get ‘er done!
xo
s
This was my thoughts exactly about ceiling fan lights. I have them in all rooms and never use them, unless we need ’emergency’ bright (unflattering) light for some task.
I notice on HGTV they rarely use ceiling lighting, beyond chandeliers, other pendants and recessed kitchen task lighting. An interior designer friend told me it’s usually considered a last resort. She says the same about CFLs and other flourescents, too.
I agree!!! I too, HATE overhead lighting. I also hate AC, so when I moved into my house last year I replaced all the overhead light fixtures with low profile ceiling fans (withOUT lights!) to help with the hot NE summers and also help distribute the heat better in the winter when we reverse the flow. In rooms where the switch does not control a wall outlet, I’ve positioned my furniture to be sure there’s a fan withing arms reach instead! Much more flattering!
I’m allowed to laugh at the fact that this post uses both the words “nipple” and “nut” …in the same sentence. Right?
I mean, that likely makes me the equivalent of a middle school boy. But I’m okay with that.
Haha, jackpot. It’s like one of our book tips that’s inadvertently named “One Night Stand Three Ways” (whoops, two innuendos in there).
xo
s
“One Night Stand Three Ways?!”
Okay, I may have to actually buy your book now. ;-)
Hahaha, how did we miss both of those “that’s what she said” opportunities? We proofed the book seven million times and it went right over our head every time. Haha!
xo
s
Thanks for the info! Sorry it isn’t working for you yet but know that you’ll figure it out for later. Hey, have y’all thought of just painting those outlets to match the wall color? We have done that sometimes, especially if we don’t want them to “stand out”. (I realize it’s not everyone’s “jam” as it’s harder and maybe not important….just wondering.) Love your sunroom!
Yeah, we tend to prefer not painting over them just because they scratch off. Once we have more furniture in there (and maybe even add built-ins under the window) it’ll obscure a lot of them!
xo
s
Other people’s shortcuts suck! We’ve been replacing our electric baseboard thermostats with programmable ones! Really simple, much like an outlet cover toughtest part was finding the right breakers for a couple heaters… Oh and my son’s humidifier makes his go all wonky so we’ll have to switch that one out.
oh my gosh! you can do that?! i so need to get on that. the thermostats for our baseboard heaters are probably original to the house and are either a hideous harvest yellow or black with a harvest yellow turner. and there are no numbers except for 60 and 90 and the word “COMFORT” in between. you have no idea how happy i am to have just read your comment! and to hear that it is easy is even better!
john and sherry, do you guys have child-proof outlets or do you put covers on them? we thought we had the whole plugs are danger, danger thing down, then last week my 2 1/2 year old son almost electrocuted himself on the one non-childproof no plug cover outlet in the house! off to get some more childproof outlets! (and boy, did this mama have a good cry after that!)
So scary! Glad everything’s ok!
We have covers on all of them (well, we have to do these now that they’re updated, but Clara’s never in this room alone since we have to fire up the heater, etc).
xo
s
For those considering thermostat replacement, my husband (a committed DIYer and tech geek) recently replaced our old ugly thermostats with Nest, nicknamed “the learning thermostat.” Among its many cool cost- and energy-saving features is an app that allows either of us to adjust the temperature in the house…from ANYWHERE! We’ve had it for about a month now and love it.
Sorry the ceiling fan didn’t work out. The lamp is a good temporary solution…I’m pretty sure you guys aren’t done with the ceiling light situation. :)
Nipple. One more for good measure. (I don’t even want to know!)
Haha!
xo
s
That stinks about the light! I always dislike fan lights anyway, they give out so little light.
As for the outlets, the change really looks amazing. I need to do my whole house. The previous owner spray painted and now they are all chipped and horrible looking. I wish I had your drive. :)
So sorry about the fan! What a frustrating project. Sounds like it was a major time suck too.
As of 2 weeks ago, we have offically replaced every single outlet, light switch, and cover in our house over a 3 year period. I’m pretty sure all were original (1959) and all were grimy and gross. No more! I also prefer to look of unpainted covers. Makes a big difference!
Boo! That sucks that you can’t get the light working! That would have been so spiffy! I didn’t even know those things existed. We need to do EVERY outlet in our house. We have black outlets with wood covers. Yuck- so dated. I want crisp and clean, like yours!
Sherry & John – can this be like a write in article asking for electricial & love advice?
Here’s the background . My fiance has a knack for being generally awesome. He built me a 8×12 shed … from scratch, Ana White style. I am still in love and in awe of it. Lately, I have been reading up DIY Bathroom Fan project. I saw it on other blogs and given the layout of my house, it looked pretty straight forward. I own a 1-level ranch.. how hard could it be?
On Saturday, my fiance told me he’s working on a Christmas present and to say out of the house. So, I went 50% Goodwill shopping, a yoga class, Starbucks and a trip to Home Depot (my idea of a perfect Saturday afternoon). I was told that if I see anything different to not say anything as it will eventually be a surprise and come together.
On Sunday, I went into the guest room – flipped on the switch and noticed the light in the guest bedroom (next to the bathroom) wasn’t work. Strange. Weird. No big deal. Maybe it was the lightbulb. I checked the box, switched the bulb and everything looked fine but the light still didn’t work.
Later, I was cleaning the bathroom and noticed the fan (shh! I didn’t say anything). But … I’m pretty sure some wires got cross when he hooked up the new fan.
I trust him to pieces in all fascets of life .. besides electricity. I told him that if we eventually do the projects on the light that I would like to hire an electrian for piece of mind. I trust him to pieces in all fascets of life .. besides electricity and don’t have the heart to tell him I’m worried about the quality of work/electricity aspect.
When he’s out of town, I want to hire a licensed electrician to check the wiring. Is that awful?
Worried with wiring, (hehe)
Nancy
Hmm, that’s a toughie. If I were you I’d casually mention “I know I’m not supposed to say anything, but the guest room light isn’t working so maybe you want to tell Santa?” – that way he can check it or have it checked without feeling like you’re going behind his back? Might give him the opportunity to fix it and make sure it’s all safe without having to bring someone else in without his knowledge, you know?
xo
s
Just in case you did decide on buying a tall ladder, Amazon is running a great sale today on the kind you would need. – Little Giant 12022, $300 off. (I don’t work for Amazon or Little Giant, just saw the sale then your post within a few clicks of each other – feel free not to post if you think it too ‘buy now!’)
No way, thanks for the tip!
xo
s
My husband switched out a few dingy light switches this weekend too – the white plates make such a big difference!
Bummer about the new fan/light though! I’m sure you guys will come up with something great. We moved into our house a year and a half ago and still have 3 mystery switches that seem to control nothing. I wish every house came with a blue print showing how all wires and plumbing had been connected!
Lizzy, your mystery switches might control certain electrical outlets. One thing I learned (through trial, error, and lots of googling) while replacing our outlets and covers is that there is an extra hot wire connected to the outlets that are controlled by light switches and that there is a tab between the two hot wires that must be torn off (using pliers) in order for the light switch to work. If the previous owners changed the switches and outlets, they may not have torn off the tab, which breaks the electrical current between the two outlets to allow the outlet to turn off. If you don’t have ceiling lights in some rooms, but those rooms do have light switches, that is a good indication of the light switches contolling an outlet in that room. I’m not as entertaining as John and Sherry, nor are my pictures as pretty as theirs, but my blog (linked above if you click on my name) does have a tutorial on those particular types of outlets. Good luck!
When we redid our den, my husband did a lot of outlet switcheroos, updated some dangerously out of code wiring (i.e. an outside light that was plugged into an extension cord, which was then STUCK THROUGH the wall and into a plug on the inside of the house… seriously? What crazy former homeowner thought THAT was a good idea…) He also rewired the den for surround sound!
Eeks!
xo
s
When my mom bought her house, there was an extension cord hanging out of a hole in the wall on the front porch, presumably to plug in a wreath at Christmas time. Also, those candlestick lights people have in the windows were still in place…with the cords going down into holes in the window panes and electrical taped together. Scary!
Scary!!
xo
s
hey Ellen!!! fancy seeing you here!
wow, that cord through the window thing must have been scary!
A.
Ergh! I really, really need to change out the outlets in our house too! I’ll do you one better though because we still have the dark brown, 70s era outlets with white covers. It’s not pretty. I mean look at the first picture here: http://ridingescalators.blogspot.com/2012/09/maybe-bigger-really-is-better.html
And that’s all of the outlets and light switches. I’m putting it off until… I don’t know. Maybe I’ll just cover them all with furniture and pretend they’re not there? :)
Or maybe this post will kick my butt in gear and I’ll try the room-by-room approach. And while I’m at it I’ll change out the 70s era light fixtures in the bedroom. Or maybe that’s just getting way too ambitious. lol
Also – is it just me, or do all the outlets look like little surprised faces? :o
Hahah!
xo
s
Aw, good luck Chelsea!
xo
s
There’s a kit online that has little mustache stickers you can put on your outlets to give them a “face”. It’s so cute! I saw it on pinterest. If I could just give him a wee paintbrush and a beret. Oui Oui!!!
So funny!!
xo,
s
Looks much better! The hubs changed out every single outlet in the house when we moved in! The previous homeowner had painted over every single one.
We blogged about changing them, too. This is the post that led Kevin to start his Handyman Wednesday series! http://littlehousebigheart.com/2012/06/25/creative-outlet/
Such a fun series!
xo
s
Great tutorial on updating outlets! This is a bit odd, but I can remember installing outlets for the first time when I was about 10 years old… my carpenter Dad was remodeling our home and was awesome about letting me help. Those lessons have definitely come in handy over the years!
I updated all of my switches and still have the receptacles to replace on my lovely beige 80’s style switches and receptacles that are original to my home. Of course that’s after running through the attic adding a power wire to install new ceiling fans in all of the bedrooms and living room. Just as an adder note, when wiring electrical devices such as switches and receptacles, always turn the wire around the terminal screw in a clockwise direction (the same direction you turn the screw when tightening)- it is a code requirement. =)
Great tip Melissa!
xo
s
You guys totally read my mind this morning! As I was blow-drying my hair, I was wondering how in the world I get rid of the ugly cream colored switch plates in our home. Half are white, half are cream.
Thanks, I’ve found my next weekend project :)
Good luck Vanessa!
xo
s
I really want someone to invent a light that mounts on the ceiling, runs on batteries, and is controlled by a remote (a remote that can attach to the wall and look like a switch would be icing on the cake).
is this so hard?!?!?!
if you find one of these in existence..call me
Sincerely,
the girl with no overhead lights in her bedroom and a CEMENT ceiling
PS- you just get a wire tester thingy. would have told you right away if the outlets were live or if your light wires got any power when the power was on
Ooh that would be smart! Who’s up for the task of inventing that?
Oh yes and we have a wire tester thingie but it wasn’t clear to us if we had just shut off the wrong power or had the wall switched in the wrong direction (there are a bunch of mystery light switches in there) so we didn’t know if the wires just weren’t getting power from switches being off or on – or if it was a wiring at the ceiling thing. Hope that makes sense!
xo
s
there is something that you can plug anything in to that makes it be controlled by a remote. the remote is then wall-mounted. IKEA also sells battery powered lights that could probably be mounted (hung?) on the ceiling, or adhered with double-sided tape in some way. Or you could buy a battery powered lamp/light online. So, you buy the light. Buy the remote thingy. Mount the lamp/light, plug the light in to it, and voila! it would take a little shopping around, but all the items you want are avaialble–you’d just need to buy the light and the remote separately.
So smart!
xo
s
I’m sorry the light didn’t work out! It is definitely a pain being that high up in the air! My husband and I recently just decided to install a ceiling fan from our 15 ft ceiling. It was a lot of work, but we really love it. You can check it out if you want.
http://www.jjmodern.com/2012/11/15/fan-tastic-voyage/
Looks awesome! What a cool lofted room!
xo
s
I think I have white outlet covers but now I feel like I should check just to be sure. I guess I haven’t paid that much attention! :-P Thanks for the photo tutorial. This seems like something I can handle!
Hilarious. Nothing bugs my husband more than those beige outlets and outlet covers. I guarantee he has 10+ sets sitting in the garage. Apparently that’s just in case any of the white ones he has installed for every.single.outlet in our house decides to turn beige again.
And, thank you, I will now think of you in the unfortunate case I have to discuss nipples with a sales associate at Home Depot. Weird. :)
My husband and I have replacing our old outlets with fresh white ones, too. Our problem arose in the kitchen. When we took the plate off the outlets on the outside wall, we discovered that someone had sprayed insulation around the outlet, inside the electrical box. We can’t get the outlet out. Somehow we’ll have to chisel the insulation to the point we can take it out? Or take out the electrical box altogether?
We were short on time, so we just screwed on white outlet plates and moved onto other rooms in the house. We’ll tackle the kitchen outlets some other time.
Eeks, good luck with that Emily! How annoying!
xo
s
We actually just replaced all of our kitchen outlets and light switches as well as ceiling vents in the whole house this weekend. What a quick difference. And you can only imagine what the original 1970’s outlets and switches looked like in a kitchen. Yuckeroonies.
I freakin love your sunroom!! I would live in that room!!!
Haha, thanks Diana!
xo
s
Did you just pick up the outlets at Lowes? Anything specific to look for?
We just painted our kitchen a gray color and need to update our beige outlets but aren’t sure where to start but this guide is a great start!
We got ours at Home Depot (they’re all labeled so it’s pretty simple to get the ones you need). Hope it helps!
xo
s
The above poster is right – you guys sooo need a little giant! I got mine at Costco – a housewarming gift from my mom. LOVE that darn thing!
Thanks for the tip Kristen!
xo
s
So glad you posted steps for the outlet change- is it similar for a light switch?
Backstory (and sorry it’s long):
My husband and I have been afraid to switch out our bedroom dimmer switch (the whole electrocution thing scares us) without really knowing proper steps. We knew enough to shut the power off but the connecting which wire to which…is very MacGyver-dismantling-a-bomb type of scary. We’re too stubborn to call an electrician for this, so basically, we sit in the dark.. NO not really. We have bedside lamps bit the switch controls recessed lighting in our ceiling & our ceiling fan… both of which haven’t been used in.. cough.. a year ;) Any chance for help? :)
Oh yes, same deal for a light switch too. Just redo whatever you undo for the old switch (with the power off of course!).
xo
s
Christina,
defintely use their tip about doing one wire at a time! I took all the old wires out first and then had to try and remember where they went in the new switch (verrrrrry tricky!)
What I did was actually take a picture of the outlet after I unscrewed the plate to my local Ace and begged the guy to tell me what to do. My master bath had an light switch with three separate switches (over the sink light, light in the shower, separate fan)and was done in the 80’s so had sort of one long wire. Did not look like the diagram in my new switch box. Thank goodness, the Ace man pretty much drew out exactly what I had to do, told me where it was safe to tape, how to wrap the wire to meet code, etc. And, yes, it worked!!!!
So, Ace truly is the friendly place – might be worth a visit just to strengthen your resolve!
Sadly, turns out all the outlets are actually hard wired (which apparently was fine to do in the 80’s). I admit I’m still scared of hard wiring and am embracing my inner beige, but I’m happily replacing all the switches with the more modern Lutron switches. And, the beige actually looks fine with my walls, so not horribly upset.
When the light over our kitchen table burned out one day I did what any sensible person would do and changed out the bulb. Well, the light was still not working. I told my husband about it and we continued to eat in the dark for many months until one day, at a family gathering, my dad tried to turn the light on. Of course, he took it upon himself to figure out why it wasn’t working properly. After disassembling the whole fixture to check every wire in it and the switch, he decided to put a new bulb in. Turns out, I had replaced the burnt out bulb with another burnt out bulb. Go me.
No way!! Sounds like something that would happen to me!
xo
s
I did a similar thing where I replaced a dead bulb with a ‘grow bulb’ we had for plants in the winter. For months I kept thinking it’s so dim in here despite the wattage. Duh. We must have been getting our vitamin D though!
Hahaha, for some reason that has me cracking up! Totally something I would do!
xo
s
One day I’d love to paint the fixture in our living room, but the room is 2 stories tall, so I dont think I’ll ever be getting my husband to take it down for me haha. We are actually hiring painters to do that room because we are both afraid of heights haha.
This is slightly off topic, but my smoke detector was beeping and woke me up at 4am this morning, which was odd because we don’t have battery-operated ones – supposedly they’re all electric (see- it relates!). Anywho, I was wondering about the smoke alarms in your house. I assume Captain Careful is all for them, but have you guys found a way to be safe while still avoiding a decor eyesore?
Hm maybe there’s a battery backup (so if you lose power it still works) and you need to change the backup battery? Hope it helps! As for our house, we have smoke alarms (and carbon monoxide detectors all over – we even have some wired to our alarm system so they immediately alert the fire dept. if they go off). We’re crazy about that stuff (especially since we got Burger and had Clara- we want to keep them safe so they’re worth the little round circle on the ceiling for sure!).
xo
s
Hardwired smoke/fire/carbon detectors have battery backups, incase the fire, weather, whatever else, knocks the electricity out. Those batteries should be updated just like a regular battery only alarm does. The beeping is the battery monitor saying they need to be replaced.
I really like it when you do these kind of posts….you guys have a way of making me think I could actually do something that I never thought I would :-) Just thought I’d let you know that because you are probably normal bloggers that wonder if people like posts that are a little different from the norm :-) Maybe?Like teaching us how to be electricians :-)
Thanks Selina! Glad to help.
-John
Is it bad that I’m kind of laughing at John for going back to the store before looking at the directions? But major bummer that it didn’t work out. I have a ceiling fan with a light in my apartment, and I love having an overhead light that I can turn on from the doorway. Sort of makes me wonder why they didn’t just do a fan with a light in the first place. Glad that at least the cover switch was successful.
Men & directions = a mystery to me. Why do they resist? Hahah!
xo
s
One of these days I’m going to try to change the outlet behind my tv, it’s covered in so much paint it looks smoothed into the wall. Ugh, 40 year old condo.
nipple nipple nipple nipple nipple nipple nipple nipple nipple nipple nipple nipple nut
I am 12.
Haha!
xo
s
oh and can I add I just faux painted all my outlets?? I missed this post on how to just change them all out! ha! :-)
http://www.creativejuicesdecor.com/2012/11/how-to-painthide-electrical-outlets-and.html
Haha, so sorry Selina! Hope it looks great for a nice long time!
xo
s
This was a timely post, because we are currently planning to swap out our light-less ceiling fan in our bedroom for one with a light, and I never even knew a “light kit” existed! We might still just replace the whole thing, because in addition to not shedding light, it is brown and gold which clashes horribly with our new grey and white color scheme. But good to know there are options out there! Thanks for sharing!
Good luck Julia!
xo
s
Well, the white outlets do make a big impact. Too bad about the fan…I wouldn’t want to get any higher on a ladder either.
I have two beige outlets in the kitchen, all the other new switches were put in as white, but these two need to be changed … so thanks for the tutorial! (although electrical work is kind of frightening to me… even this simple looking task)
Sorry about the ceiling fan light. I must say, I’m surprised to see that you dont remove the outlet plate covers when you paint. I always wanted to paint around them but my mom would get mad and make me remove them. It’s one more step but it’s also easier to paint since you dont have to cut in around all the outlets/light switches. Just stick some painters tape over the plug and roll right over it.
I make a game out of it since I like to cut in (get right up on them but don’t get paint on them). Since we knew we were replacing them (and old yellowed ones are smaller than current ones) we knew no unpainted wall would show.
xo
s
I just did all of this in our newly wood panel painted family room. They were all brown and I changed them to white. We ran into a weird electrical situation with one of them, but it definitely pays off! I met you guys at the signing in Chicago and it was great. Thanks again!
Aw, it was awesome to meet you in Chicago Emily!
xo
s
I was amazed how easy it was to change out electrical things like lights and outlets…my husband taught me how recently!
I am beyond blessed to be married to a high voltage electrician, so I never feel bad about asking for anything that involved electrical :) No matter how many stink eyes I get!
Lucky duck!
xo
s
Just curious is switching out the switch just like the outlets? I haven’t tried this yet but my parents have mismatched plates,outlets and switches – it drives me bonkers!!
Thanks a bunch!
Yup, same thing – make sure the power’s off and just reconnect the new one just like the old one was connected.
xo
s
Love the white outlets!
My husband and I bought our first house this summer and every outlet in the house was two-prong. And the worst part – the outlets were almond or black and the covers were either white or wrapped in the same faux woodgrain wallpaper that covered the living and dinning room walls.
In the end we also switched out the dinning room dimmer switch which was the old school almond twisty knob with a fancy white slider switch. We also replaced the circa 70’s thermostat that popped out of the wall 5 inches with a $18 brand new Home Depot digital one.
So many small and cheap fixes that really do make a HUGE impact!
Isn’t it funny how sometimes it’s the little things that make the biggest difference?
xo
s
Okay, I have the two prong issue, too. Can I switch them out for 3 prong without bringing in an electrician and rewiring the house? (please say yes, please say yes, please say yes, please say yes…..)
Also, I think this house has every single ugly switch/outlet style/cover plate combination known to man.
We haven’t tackled that. Anyone know?
xo,
s
KarenH, yes! My hubs converted all of our two-prongs over to three. Just ask the dude at Lowes for a quick lesson and then you also have directions with the outlets. And YouTube. Lots of resources!
You can switch them out to 3, and a plug will work, but the third prong is for grounding. Switching the plug doesn’t automatically ground the wire. I believe each outlet has to be grounded, or the whole house is grounded.
It is not something to worry about for small electronics, but you wouldnt want to plug a computer, fridge, vacuum, or other expensive/large item into an ungrounded wire.
I am by no means an expert on any of this, but it is something I would ask an electrician about if you have an older home. My house was built in the 1940s and when we bought it nothing was grounded and we were still on fuses! Thankfully we have an electrician in the family who only charged for materials, for a new service wire, ground wire, and put everything on circuits.
If you google a bit you can probably find someone to explain it better than me, but I did find this thread that might be useful:
http://www.inspectionnews.net/home_inspection/va-fha-hud-disaster-insurance-inspections-home-inspection-commercial-inspection/15254-no-grounded-outlets.html
That third hole is not just for looks! The reason to have three pronged outlets is grounding. If something has a three pronged plug, it’s probably because it actually needs that grounding wire, so just replacing the outlets is a bad idea because it will imply that the wiring is up to a level that it is not, and it can put your electronics, etc. in danger, not to mention that electrical shorts can cause fires. If something goes wrong, either the thing you’re trying to plus in or the things around it will be fried. That being said, if you remove the outlet cover and find out there’s an unused (copper) grounding wire, then go for it.
Yes, this is what we’ve heard too! Be careful about just switching things out without paying attention to grounding wires for safety!
xo
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Thanks for this tutorial! I rent a townhouse, and the owner painted not only the outlet covers but the OUTLETS THEMSELVES. So I painted my room (with her permission) a beautiful grey, but have all salmon colored outlets. If I can get her to approve the cost, I’ll go replace them myself!
Our sunroom has the same issue of no lighting, we haven’t begun to tackle that room yet, but this article was a great “what to watch out for” so thanks.
On another lighting note. We installed a lamp/fan combo in our bathroom this summer and realized after we did so that we could no longer have the lights on and also use the hair dryer…good times.
After talking to his uncle whose an electrician, my husband was able to move the wiring for the bathroom (and the bedroom and the family room…yay old house wiring) to an open junction box that has more watts or volts or something so that it could handle us having more than one thing running at a time. Now, not only can I blow dry my hair with a light on, no one has to stop watching TV when I vacuum. Win-win.
So if you live in a house where you have issues with blown fuses due to too many outlets on one breaker, check to see if you have an open one with more “juice” that you could switch everything. It’s made our home a much happier place!
Great tip Kate!
xo
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Husband just replaced a bunch of our old icky outlets and switches…big difference. Just curious to know why you don’t remove outlets to paint so the paint goes closer to the outlet hole? Maybe you could revive an old trend and put faux brick paneling above the real brick wall so you have one nice cohesive wall. You guys are trendsetters for sure. Or perhaps I just gave you an idea for the next April fools post. :)
We knew we would be replacing the covers (and these are old so they’re smaller than standard ones today) so we didn’t worry about removing them while painting.
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So excited you posted this outlet update! We’re in the process of repainting our entire fixer-upper of a house (the entire thing was beige when we bought it) and all the outlets are beige too which just look grimy to me. I was intimidated to replace them all but am thrilled to see how easy it is!
I wish our outlet switch worked as well as yours! When we switched out our outlets (including the light switch), it blew the power to the whole room and we couldn’t get it turn back on. It wasn’t a room we used often, so the next time we had an electrician at the house (for an unrelated bathroom heater matter), we had him fix it. I wasn’t there, so I don’t remember what the trouble was, but I remember my husband telling me that one of the wires in the light switch was a grounded copper wire that would have electricuted me if I had accidentally touched it. Haven’t been near any electricity DIY’s since.
Yikes! So glad you’re ok!
xo
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I need to switch out a few switches to white also, but I’m too skeeered to try it myself!!
I did that last year to all the outlets in our 50’s ranch, but replaced them with GFI outlets (not cheap!) since we don’t have a ground wire, and rewiring the house would have been even more expensive. It does make a world of difference!
And painting outlets, covers, or register vents, especially in place is awful!! You might think it looks good, but the next owner probably won’t and unscrewing painted screws is no fun!!