The other day I turned on the kitchen lights and noticed one of the two pendants above the table wasn’t working.
No big deal, right? The previous owners had left a spare bulb since these fixtures take small, uncommon bulbs. I popped it in—and nothing. My quick fix didn’t work.
I’m no electrician, but I hoped I could diagnose and fix the issue without calling a pro or replacing the whole fixture. We don’t have a sentimental attachment to these pendants and we’ll probably swap them for a larger fixture over the island when we start renovating the kitchen. That project isn’t happening yet, though, so I decided to try and save this one first. I shut off power to the whole house (call me Captain Better Safe Than Sorry) and took the light down.
I tightened the wire nuts in the ceiling, thinking something might have loosened. No luck.
I swapped bulbs with the working pendant in case the spare was defective. Still nothing.
I removed and reattached the fixture entirely out of desperation. Still no light.
At this point my partner, Sherry, suggested I “leave it alone for now” because she could see I was getting frustrated. She was probably right—during one attempt I dropped a screwdriver on my face and may have cursed loudly. Progress was not my friend.
I even trimmed the frayed wire ends to expose fresh wire, hoping that would help. It only made the wires shorter and did nothing for the dead pendant.
Thanks for staying with me through this thrilling blow-by-blow. Ready to admit defeat, I prepared to reassemble the fixture so no wires were exposed while we shop for a replacement. That’s when I noticed something on the bottom of the socket: the white wire feeding into the light had come loose. I hadn’t seen it earlier, so it probably started loose and my fiddling knocked it free. After some careful disassembly of the socket, I reattached the white wire and secured it in place.
And that, friends, is how I got this light working again.
Don’t mind the crooked shade in the photo—I straightened it after I snapped the picture, after Sherry pointed out it looked off.
The exact details of this fix won’t apply to every lighting issue, but it’s a reminder that a little persistence (and maybe a dropped screwdriver) can pay off. It’s a lot like when we fixed the pocket door at our last house by trying different approaches until something worked. Maybe the money saved by repairing this pendant will go toward a nicer permanent fixture when we finally start the kitchen overhaul. Sherry already has her eye on a white option, but knowing us we might wait too long and it’ll sell out, nudging us toward a DIY solution or a trip to a local lighting shop. And yes, that’s the second post today to end with a terrible pun. You’re welcome.