Soffet for the Master Bedroom

Hello all! I'm new here and started lurking around the HT threads. I am simply amazed at the amount of craftsmanship, creativity, and artistic ability of people on this forum. You have inspired me to improve my home with an upgrade. I do not have funding for a home theater, as I am only 3 years out of college and paying back some hefty student loans. However that will not deter me from improving my home in an economical way.

here is some of my thought process for building a soffet/recessed ceiling.
the room is 133 in x 191 in or 11ft x 16 ft


I plan on making a 24 inch wide x 10 inch depth soffet with 8 recessed can lights.

2 or 4 wall sconces at the head board to provide individual light for each side of the bed.
I plan to have a spot in the soffet to add a light to shine on a 24 x 36 inch painting to hang over the bed that I'm currently working on.

I plan on painting a sky and a glow in the dark "night sky mural" (credit to Jeff for the name) overlay inspired by his thread, as well as dimable LED lights and a pair of 48" black lights on a timer to charge the phosphorous in the paint. I plan on putting 2 outlets in the soffet for the black lights and LEDs to plug into. As of right now I plan on using simple Christmas light timers, unless someone can suggest a better timer. The black lights need only be on for 5-10 minutes to charge the stars and i would like the leds to mimmick day and night... ie sunrise and sunset. The closest thing i have found that resemble this function, is an aquarium LED cover that mimmicks the sun and moon cycles, any economical suggestions on this task would help greatly.

here are a few products i plan to use

http://www.cheapdjgear.us/48_Blacklight_Fixture_p/f48a.htm

http://glowinc.com/detail.aspx?ID=86

http://www.amazon.com/TaoTronics-TT-SL001-Waterproof-Changing-Controller/dp/B004T0BM0O/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=X6QNC4OL08&coliid=I3FOMSZ1JS4ZTE

http://www.amazon.com/LEDWholesalers-LED-Lighting-Wireless-3317-DM/dp/B004T9T1XA/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=X6QNC4OL08&coliid=I1SQ31HQS01K92

http://www.menards.com/main/lighting-fans/indoor-lights/recessed-lights/5-recessed-cans-for-new-construction/p-1728564-c-6358.htm

http://www.menards.com/main/lighting-fans/indoor-lights/recessed-lights/5-steel-mini-housing-can-w-baffle/p-1728567-c-7499.htm
Edited by PaulFSemicolen - 2/16/13 at 1:30am

I was able to play around with SketchUp to build my design for my Master bedroom. Enjoy!



Of course the wall sconce will be different and the fan has a bowl light. there will be light dimmers for each sconce below those lights, and one for the canned lights next to the existing light switch.

Well the remodel has officially begun! I do not have the drywall yet, but I do have everything else
to get the project started.


I first started with the wall plate after locating and marking all the studs and rafters, and marking them with pencil and a chalk line.



My son decided to help me out today as well


I used 2x4's for the parallel runs, and started here because it would result in the most cuts and drilling. These
2x2's have forced me to pre-drill all my holes, so there is a lot of bit changing.



I had to take down and redo the front wall. I miss measured and needed to remove 1 7/16 ths of an inch to accommodate for the lower shelf.



Now that the first wall is done I can start on the opposite wall tomorrow. Gabriel started getting crabby and Mommy was
at work, so I needed to pay attention to him... He did not like the drill too much either.

Thanks for the info Jeff! I did plan on having two seperate outlets. I have a pair of electronic timers I got at the hardware store that will be used to
turn the black lights on every evening for about 15-20 minutes. As of this moment I have two LED stips of 15 foot lengths, and I will be looking to
get a 3rd when the money comes in to do so. I have not purchased the black lights yet, what is the link to the company you recomend?
I appriciate your help, the design looks like yours because I may have been looking at your exterior office build for insperation ^_^ Hope you
don't mind ~_^

Heres the Valentines day update. The 2nd wall when much quicker then the first. This side of the room had a rafter right along side my
24 inch mark which allowed me to just screw the 2x4 right up to it.



and just like that the other wall is up. I wanted to build the 2 side walls as well, but my wife was comming home
and she had plans. I will probably change my canned light config to be 3 on either long side and 1 on the short sides.


Work will have to persume after work today. ^_^

I finished the 2 side walls yesterday afternoon. I'm looking forward to building the shelf and getting all of the wiring mapped out.
It's nice to get a visual of how large the mural is going to be.

Thanks for the update Jeff!

I would have worked on the soffit last week, however my Grandpa passed away last Sunday and I was honored in being a pallbearer for him on Thursday.
I did get to work yesterday though for about 4 hours and finished the side shelves.




It was rather comical for me to lift and mount these shelves by myself. they measures in at 128"x28" or 10.5'x2.5'
I only dropped the first one once and was bonked on the head ^_^



Pardon my mess. My wife has not put her clothes away yet. She might have to rewash some of them
with excess saw dust and drywall dust that fell down. o.O

Milestone acheived! Finished framing the soffit today. ^_^

I'm still researching on how to do my Sunrise Sunset effect using my LED track lighting. I'm getting
sloser with some Items I've found on Ebay, but still no definitive answer. Again if anyone knows how
to accomplish this please let me know.

Here is the controller I've found that is closests to what I want.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-product-12V-24V-12A-3-Channels-Touch-Panel-Multi-function-Controller-/360549516424?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53f26d0488

I am trying to accomplish a sunrise/ sunset in real time using these LED strips that is hands free
set on a timmer to dim in/out with changing colors to mimmick Day/Night cycle.

On with the pictures!
I planned just enough wood to get the framing completed.





I started to pre wire the canned lights and out lets. I need more wire though...

Thanks! I was sitting at the lumber yard for about 45 minutes going through them to make sure most were straight. Of the ones that weren't straight, I kne I was going to chop up, most of my cut pieces wound up being under 35 inches. So the little bit of arc or curve was not going to matter too much. as far as strength, I'm able to do pull ups any where on the soffit. I'm 6'5" and 210 lbs, so not bad. ^_^

I was able to make some major head way on the soffit this weekend. IE. my weekend Wed-Fri.

It started out with the purchasing of my drywall and a few more electrical supplies.


Yup I have a 5 speed Mercury Cougar with a hitch I had installed to pull my 4x6 trailer, to which I use for my Hot Air Balloon Hobby/Business. ^_^


I put togeather the first junction box and sealed her off as the wire is now HOT. I still need to wire 2 more switches from the lower wall
before I seal all this up. one for the Soffit canned lights, and the other for the LED light strip.


Junction box number 2 set up for the outlet and bed side wall sconces.


Dimmer switch installed and ready to go. I will remove the wall plate for paint. I will not install the Sconce until the walls are painted.


Just to show what we decided on for the bed side sconce


There was enough slack in my HVAC that I was able to just pull it down 10 inches and remount it on the frame. I will sitll need to go
back and seal up the hole to the attic from where the register once was.


Gabriel was Happy to help out today =P

I plan to start doing some drywall today, but I have to find a friend to help with the longer pieces that I'll
have to lift over my head. ~_^

Just some drywalling. I had a few hours to work yesterday. I've cut the peices to size and they are small
enough that I can pre set a few screws, lift the board over my head, hold in place with one hand, and drill
with the other. I little tiresome, but I'm moving right along. =P

No pics yet, nothing really note worthy, I just worked on electrical this weekend and tried to get my dimmers all set up. 1 of the 3
i purchased was defective. No real lose, I was able to return it. The dimmer was discontuned so I picked up 3 1000W rotary dimmers
for 15 bucks. Not bad, but one did not work =/. Hopfully I can finish up the drywall this week, it's tough having a little one who is
starting to crawl. I need to be in the garage to cut the drywall and I can't leave him by him self for too long ^_^

Wow what a busy month its been!
I've been working a lot on my Hot Air Balloon rebuild and in what is left of my free time
I've been able to work a little on the soffet.

I got a package in the mail APR 03. ^_^ Gabriel was happy for the bubble wrap!


Of course I had to try them out.


I started with my big pieces first.


Was a little tricky getting the register to line up, but We got her done right.


Just a few days ago I nearly finished the drywalling, obligations took me away for the
remainder of my time.





Almost ready for Mudding and paint. ^_^
Till next time!
Paul

So I finished all of the electrical and I've run into an issue.
I'm running all of my lights on an existing 15 amp Circuit Breaker.
this breaker currently powers the Master Bedroom, Closet, and Master Bath.
which currently has about 5 outlets, a cieling fan/light, closet light, Bathroom GFI,
Bathroom fan, and Bathroom Vanaty light. I'm adding the 2 new outlets, 8 canned lights,
amd 2 wall sconces.

Here's my delema. The dimmer switch controlling the canned lights
has power going to the switch. Verified by an flow detector. However I cannot
get the canned lights to come on. After turning the power on, when I turned
the dimmer on, I heard a pop and the switch smelled of electrical burns... never a good thing.
so I swapped the dimmer out with a normal (mind you used) switch I had laying
around and still nothing... This is my layout. any input would help me out greatly!
Paul



PS the wall sconce set up works as planned and looks fantastic!

silly me. that extra switch I found is a 3-way switch. And I connected both hot wires (The one in and out) to the travelers wire spot and nothing to the Hot terminal. I will have to get another single pole switch to test out my connection from that point. Thanks for the help Dave!