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For Christmas, my in-laws gave me fluorescent overhead lights like the ones below. It’s a pretty sweet gift considering we spend a lot of time out there for projects and we only had three not-so-bright light bulbs to light up the entire space.

(If you’re shopping for your own, here is a similar light fixture from Home Depot that should work very similarly to these.)

So far, I haven’t been very motivated to hang them, because it has been cold enough in the garage over the winter that I wasn’t working late, needing the extra light.

But I had some extra time Friday night after my work golf tournament (I am really bad at golf and just go for the social fun), so I set to work on some garage improvements, after mowing our jungle of a yard.

Earlier in the week, we were at The Home Depot for a late night supply trip, and I made a point to buy the bulbs for the lights that I needed to put up.

These bulbs from Home Depot should work with the light fixture linked above.

So to start, I came up with a plan for placement and how to turn them on. I decided I wanted more light towards the entrance of the garage, because that is where the least amount of light is.

(This picture was taken at the entrance, facing the door to the house, where the only existing lights were. You can see how dark it is by looking at the ceiling.)

I decided to plug the lights into the existing light sockets so that I could turn them all on at the same time. Plus, I would avoid having to wire another light switch.  To do this, I used a socket adapter, which you can buy for a few bucks. Here’s a link to the one we used:

The lights they choose for us are hanging lights, so I needed to measure where I was going to place the hooks for the chains to hang on.  The ceiling joists in our garage are 16 inches apart, which is standard for studs. The cord on the light was 5 feet long and there was an additional 4 inches from the end of the light to where the chain attached, which is a total of 64 inches (or four 16-inch spaced studs, PERFECT!).

The chain’s were made to be spaced 36 inches apart, but that doesn’t fall on a stud (which would have been at 32 inches), so I went ahead and put the chains on the 32 inch stud. This is fine because the chains just hang a little on angle instead of straight down. I also measured how far the current light is away from the wall, so that the new lights would be straight in line with the old lights.

After measuring, I drilled my holes and screwed in the hooks that came with the light’s hanging kit.

You’ll notice we even have popcorn ceiling in the garage. We won’t be removing it out there, though, like we did in the rest of the house, here.  Ha!

After attaching the hooks, it was time to hang the lights. Melissa is usually the official photographer when I’m working, and I’m not a huge fan of stopping to take photos. Thus, this pic:

After the lights were up, it was time to plug them in. The cord reaches pretty perfectly, but we’re planning some possible ways to cover it up or attach it to the ceiling so it’s less droopy and noticeable.

It works! At least the first one did. More on the second light in a bit.

I also want to share two smart tips from my father-in-law, who has these same lights in their garage:

1. Put the chains on the light first, then hang those on the hooks on the ceiling.  It was easier to hold the chains and put them on the hooks than to hold up the light and try and attach them from the hanging chains.

2. Put the bulbs in the light and plug it in before hanging them up.

This saved me, because one of the connections on the second light was bad. It got boxed up so we could return it for a new one. We weren’t able to exchange it until Sunday so it sat half-finished for 3 days.

Sunday when we got home from our Mother’s Day road-trip, we unloaded everything and put up the final light.

Check it out! Way more light!

I’m sure Melissa is already planning the next project for us to do out there now that we can work later into the night.

Have you been lighting up any dark areas of your house lately? We’ve also been working on another lighting project for the front porch, so check that out, too!