Let there be light

All of you who are members of the HandyPeople Tribe, here is your opportunity to beam fondly upon one who is only slowly discovering your secrets…

We have two sets of overhead lights in our main room: a three-way switch/dimmer, and a separate single switch dimmer in the dining area. For the last year or so, we’ve had an occasional glitch in the dining room dimmer — it took a lot of jiggling (along with incantations, curses, and the occasional round of impact maintenance) to turn the light off. We’d flip the toggle to off, and the lights would turn off and then flick back on All By Themselves. On and off, on and off. Spooky!

Then the other day, we turned off the living room lights and they Just. Stayed. On. No amount of fussing would turn them off. Finally we had to kill the circuit in the breaker box and go to bed.

Normally this would be the time to cue the entrance of the Electrician. But we just spent a chunk of money getting our roof and driveway/sidewalks maintained, and every once in a while I get stubborn… And so I decided that before we called a guy (and although we know a woman master electrician, she sadly has moved away, and everyone else seems to be a guy), I would see if I could replace the switch myself.

Here is where all you HandyPeople can smile indulgently. I know in my head that I cannot blow up my house by wiring a switch wrong. But yeeps, the first time is scary!

I open up the wall and peered at the switch (with a flashlight because there is no sun in Seattle these days, and the circuit was off, so it was, you know, dark!).

I went to the store and bought two switches, one for each dimmer.

I came home and realized I had bought the wrong switches. My old switches were pre-wired. I bought switches with no wires.

I cursed.

I briefly contemplated going whole hog and stripping the existing wires myself, and wiring the new switch in.

I realized this was a bad idea and went back to the store. I bought two pre-wired switches.

I returned home. The new switches had different colored wires than the old! I went to the internet and learned.

I installed the first switch. It worked! Chortle!

I installed the second switch. I got it all the way into the wall before I discovered the dimming mechanism was broken.

I sighed.

I went back to the store. By now, the Returns person and I are on a first-name basis. I bought a new switch.

And installed it.

I know, really, all this white space and wordcount for a non-story. A grown woman did a home repair project all by herself. But GAZE UPON MY TRIUMPH!

 
My dad is an engineer. He is going to be so proud. (*waves at father through the internet*)

Enjoy your day. Go do something that makes you feel like the master of your own destiny!