Update your ugly recessed can, pot or downlight lights fast, easily & cheaply

We have a wonderful mid century split level home with gorgeously vaulted ceilings on the main level, and, at some point, recessed lighting was installed.

When we moved in, all of the lights worked, but slowly, they've been burning out, one by one.

The baffling or trim around the lights has become really yellow over the years, and quite gungy looking.

As well, the bulbs that are seated in the housings are all halogen - they get piping hot (no doubt contributing to the yellowing of the trims) and, halogens are expensive to run. In my personal experience they also don't tend to have as long a lifetime as incandescents or now, LEDs.

So. I was on a mission. My mission was three-fold:

1. Make the darned things look nicer. Let's face it - they were an eyesore.
2. Go with a more energy efficient, cheaper-to-run alternative.
3. It had to be dimmable.

image courtesy of Cree.com

2. If you can, remove the old light at this stage, before you head to the hardware store - I had to return my first purchase because it didn't fit depth wise - i.e. - the fixture housing was too shallow to accomodate the overly-deep fixture brand I had purchased. So, if you can pop off the old trim and remove the old bulb and measure the depth of the housing, this might save you a bit of headache.



Sew at Home Mummy Tip:
different retrofit manufacturers will have different depth of lights - check to see how deep your cans or housing is before you head to the hardware store to ensure a proper fit.







3. Screw in your new bulb (I went with a Cree brand LED retrofit, DR series -
... this was the shallowest 6" brand I could find, and it fit beautifully. I got it at that big-box orange and white home improvement store, and here's the Amazon link to the product for your reference (affiliate link)) and follow the manufacturer's instructions for pinching the metal pressure fittings while you're popping your new bulb into place.


It's that easy. Really.

So we went from this:

To this:


Now to work on all of the other lights, one by one!

...oh my goodness, the new ones look so much better!


This is the third bulb we've replaced with the Cree DR6 retrofit (affiliate link) over the last 6 months. I like them - they aren't too cool (very close to the yellow warmth of a 40W or 60W incandescent) and they dim nicely. And for $12 a bulb, they don't cost a ton. Plus, they look really awesome.

Happy DIY'ing!