Recessed Lighting in a Long Hallway

I am at the tail end of a long running renovation for my nephew. Family jobs are complicated (like families) and the finer points of these undertakings deserve a dedicated post but, for purposes of our story, the end of this complete interior renovation is near and most everyone is unscathed.

The job has grown considerably from fairly humble beginnings. The growth was everyone’s fault, it was both organic and forced and the single client I set out to work for became a couple along the way. Families have a way of growing…

So, this started out because my nephew hated his house, but evolved into a 3 person collaboration — my nephew loves his fiancée. In much the same way as Tom Waits‘ music changed when Kathleen Brennan came on board, this renovation blossomed and morphed in strange and beautiful ways.

It has been a long road and of my final tasks has been to install recessed lighting in a hallway which leads to the back bedrooms. I left it for last as I was not quite sure which way to go with it. The ceiling was full already with a smoke detector, a pull down attic stair and a centered light fixture. I took the path of least resistance, ticking most everything off the list before I took it up.

When I began laying out the position for the three can lights I found my trepidation warranted. I quickly discovered that because of framing, the length of the hall and the attic door, there was no way to space these cans evenly. So, on a real deadline and in difficult circumstances, I began considering the modification of framing.

During a smoke break, I told Tyson that there was no way I could make the layout work. “I can get it close…” I said, to which Tyson replied: “Close might have to be good enough”. And then, like a shaft of light through broken clouds, it hit me: Why not get it close? Why not work with what you have? Why add stress and strain by going into full demo and rebuild mode so things can be perfect? Why is right — perfectly symmetrical and if perfect is right, then is right the right thing to do? In this case I decided it wasn’t, I decided, with some help from my friend … that close was close enough.