I have learned a lot since January. Which I realize was only 6 days ago, but still. I now know more about recessed lighting than I ever wanted to, and I learned it’s a bad idea for me to staple wires to anything, especially a ceiling.
After exhausting myself with recessed lighting options and roadblocks, I moved on to the LED lighting I’m going to install on the girl cave ceiling. Last Fall I bought 5 strands of tiny LED lights at IKEA which are on long, black, skinny strands of wire – perfect for a galaxy ceiling:
I’ve been going back and forth in my head and on the internet, trying to figure out the best method for installing the lighting on the ceiling. One option is to screw hooks through the ceiling drywall and into the joists, then loop the light strands from hook to hook in a zig-zaggy pattern. Other options include sticky poster goo, tape, or a staple gun. I need an option that won’t make it too impossible to remove the strands should one or more burn out, and an option that won’t cause the lights to pull out of the drywall over time, as gravity takes it’s toll.
Last weekend I bought 20 screw-in hooks at the local hardware store, and black spray paint made for metal. But after staring at the hooks, I decided they might be too bulky and make too much of a definite pattern, so I’d try the staple gun option first. I ordered a Stanley staple gun [#affiliate] on Amazon, which arrived on Saturday. So I started by stapling the wire to the wall next to an outlet near the floor, up the side & across the top of the built-in cupboard, and up the little bit of wall in the corner to the ceiling. Then I tried to staple the wire into the ceiling and that’s where I ran into trouble. I stapled through the wire a couple of times [which thankfully was through the center part between the 2 strands and not through the wire itself…] and managed to create a few divots in the ceiling paint:
It takes a lot more oomph than I thought it would to actually squeeze the trigger on the staple gun, which makes it hard to remain stable on the ladder and makes it hard to aim the staple correctly… This is when I realized that me + staple gun + ladder + electrical wire = not the smartest combination! Soooo… I’m giving up on the staple option and going back to the hooks in the joists option. So last night I spray painted the hooks black. Tonight after work I’ll start screwing them into the ceiling joists [which hopefully my new stud finder will help me locate].
Although now I’m wondering if electrical tape could work… it’s nice and non-abrasive and is easy to pull off even after it’s been stuck to something for a long time… and it would blend with the dark ceiling. I might have to consider that option.
I still haven’t hung up the LED lights on the ceiling. I never was able to find a decent way to attach them without them falling off, or the plaster of the ceiling chipping or turning to dust. Maybe someday…