Remember back when I told you finally decided on the lights for the kitchen? If not, that’s okay. It was awhile ago. We chose the Ranarp pendant lights from Ikea. Here’s the post about it.
We really liked the black and white cloth-covered cord and the metal details. Made it feel a little nicer and gives it more character. Even though we know it’s from Ikea. And now all of you know it’s from Ikea, too. 🙂
You’ll also notice the color description says off-white, but it matches really well with all the other white we have in the kitchen, so I’d say it’s more like an actual white. Just not a bright white.
On Saturday, Wyatt decided we could go ahead and hang the light over the sink, even though we weren’t ready to hang the ones over the dining room table. The one over the sink was a basic light hanging project since we had already installed the necessary box in the ceiling. The first step was trimming the wiring down to a more manageable size. Wyatt had left plenty of extra when he replaced the can light with the junction box.
For the dining room table, Wyatt will have to go up in the attic and cut new holes and add more wiring to the circuit. So that will be a little more involved. Not hard, but more than he wanted to tackle when the attic is really cold while the snow fell all weekend.
So, he got to work hanging the light kit.
The instructions are always fun. Whoever thought it was a great idea to make instructions with no words, I’d like to meet them and tell them they got the idea all wrong. Wyatt didn’t have any trouble though.
Until he realized the metal plate that came with the light was too large to fit under the ceiling cover thing.
We were pretty bummed for a bit, but then he decided he could go to the garage and grind down the edge a little bit until it fit. A few minutes later and we were back in business.
He also applied a thin bead of caulk before he attached the cover to give it a perfectly clean white edge.
Then, it was back the basics of following the instructions and installed the light by connecting the wire and threading them through the tube. For more information on switching out a light fixture. You can see this post or this one. Or leave a comment and Wyatt can answer your questions.
He had a little trouble threading the fabric cord through the hole in the ceiling cover.
And then it was time to attach everything to the ceiling.
Since it was a pendant, we had to decide how high to hang it. We decided to center it between the top and middle shelves.
He was careful to clean his smudgy fingerprints off the white so I wouldn’t complain later. He knows me well.
Finally, we were all done. The cord needs to straighten out a little, but I think it will relax as it hangs there. It already looks even better than this.
I tried a couple different light bulbs and ended up selecting one of the curly bulbs because it was the most white light. The yellow bulb contrasted too much with our LED can lights that are a bright white. I raved about them in this post.
See the difference in the light looking a little more yellow on the left hand image and white on the right? (Okay, maybe not, but you can tell in person.)
It’s been a really long time since we had a light over the sink and I forgot how nice it is to have that task lighting.
Plus, it’s pretty.
What did you do this weekend? We had snow all day Saturday so we didn’t do too much but it’s mostly melted by now.
Yea!!!! I like it…..it looks great! And it makes such a “noticeable” difference!
Just wait until you see today’s post! Crazy progress happening here. 🙂
I’ll be waiting…… 🙂
I just installed this and I don’t know how to get the white cover to attach. Any tips? I don’t see anywhere on the metal plate for it to attach to and the wordless instructions are no help!
Hi Kami,
In the seventh picture you can see a hook sticking out of the metal plate. You need to hook the plastic piece that the cord threaded through on that hook. That should hold the weight of the light. You can kind of see that on the page marked 2. Then you should be able to pull the slack through the bottom hole of the cover. Then tighten the screw on the bottom of that cover (the second arrow).
If that is only clear as mud, let me know and Wyatt will try to figure out how to post a video of it.
Thanks for reading!
Melissa
Hello! Not sure if you’ll see this comment so long after your installation, but thought I would try! We just tried to install this above our sink today as well. What did you do with the extra green/yellow wire? Did you just twist them together? The housing for our electrical seems slightly too small for the white plate… we just screwed one side of it in and they other does not have a screw, though it still seems flush against the ceiling. Did you have this problem as well?
Last question… where exactly did he apply the line of caulk? We are going to see if our local Home Depot will grind down the plate to fit under the cover too!
Thanks so much!
Sorry for the delay in response, but yes, I did see this comment! I believe we may have trimmed off any way too big wire, but you’ll be surprised how much you can cram in there if you sort of fold it up (neatly?) and tuck it in. I agree the parts and pieces don’t fit exactly–bummer! We applied the caulk to the bottom edge of the cover (the part that goes against the ceiling, and then when we pushed it up to the ceiling, the caulk created a smooth seal all the way around between the ceiling and the cover. Make sense?
First off, Wyatt is a boss! I’m having a problem with the electrical box, not accepting the Ikea mount, and then the Ikea bracket not accepting the cover, any tips to get this up so I don’t have to hear it from the Mrs? -Best.
Thanks Daniel! In the first picture of the mount, the two big holes connected to the channels should align with two screw/bolt holes that are a part of the electrical box. Once the bracket is attached, the clear plastic hook attached to the cord will hook on the metal bracket hook. Then on the cover, you can unscrew that brass colored piece. it “locks” the cord in place by clamping onto the wire. So with that unscrewed, you should be able to slide the cover up tight to the ceiling. Let me know if you have any other issues.
-Wyatt
Also how much grinding of the plate was necessary?
Overall, I probably took off less than 1/8th of an inch from the diameter (across), maybe closer to 1/16th of an inch.
-Wyatt
The light looks great! We’re hoping to install the Ranarp pendants above our bathroom vanity. Do you know if it’s safe for damp environments?
Thanks! I would for sure check with the Ikea before installing it! But we are using one over our sink in the kitchen with no issues…