Adding an Overhead Light to a Bedroom

Overhead lighting is one of the best ways to add accent lighting to a bedroom. In all the interior decors we’ve seen, we all agree that overhead lights are indispensable. There’s no other lighting scheme that has the same interplay of illumination and shadow. For a lot of homeowners, it can be frustrating to need overhead lighting within a space and be unable to have it. In a lot of cases, we’ve found light switches wired to an outlet for a lamp, but let’s be honest, it’s nowhere near the same.

Overhead lighting is unique, and when a homeowner needs that particular scheme of lighting, nothing else comes close to the same interior decor. We’ve done multiple installs for overhead lights in the years that we’ve worked with electrical systems, and we have a bit of experience in the area. Here’s a typical example of what we do when we set out an overhead lighting system:

Adding an Overhead Light to a Room

Step 1 Turn off the power: The very first thing we do when dealing with any electrical lighting is to turn off the power, so we don’t inadvertently shock ourselves. Electrical house wiring can be hazardous.

Step 2 Situate the Light: Next, we locate where the light should go. Usually, in any room, the electrical light fixtures should be in the center of the room. We typically measure the length of the sides of the room and where they intersect, we mark as the point we’re going to fit the light fixture.

Step 3 Locate the Nearest Source of Power: There should be a junction box to connect the light fixture to. In the case of a bedroom that has an attic above it, there’s likely a switch box near the center of the floor. The location of this switch box makes life a lot easier for us since we can connect directly to this box. Otherwise, we’ll find the nearest switch box and connect the wires from there to the overhead light.

Step 4: Run the Wires and Install the Switch: In this install, we simply had to connect the wires to the switch box and then route the dimmer switch to it. It was a simple and straightforward installation.

Step 5: Install the Fixture: Fitting the light in is the very last part of the install.  We connect our wires where they have to go, ensuring that we get all the loose ends tied up and then restore power to the house by flipping the breaker back on. When we stick a bulb in and flip the switch, it should work.

Complications to Consider

Overhead light installations that have an attic above the bedrooms are usually easier to work with because there is less wire running to do. There’s also much more viable access to the ceiling to do the final installation, making for a much quicker process altogether. However, even though bedrooms don’t have attic access doesn’t mean it’s impossible to install a bedroom light there successfully. It merely takes a bit more effort.

Overhead light installation might seem like a simple thing for an amateur electrician to do. However, we’ve seen a lot of situations where clients called us after they tried to do it themselves and almost had their houses catch on fire. House wiring is finicky, and it usually requires a professional to get things like overhead light installation done right. Give LiveWire a call before you try to stick in an overhead light, chandelier installation, or any other light fixtures yourself. You might save yourself some time, effort, and worry!