Ever since we updated the light fixture in our bathroom back in April, one thing has been nagging at us: how close it sat to the shower curtain. And to be honest, the other issue was that we didn’t have the energy at the time to move it a few feet over when we swapped the old light for the new one and did a bit of drywall patching and painting. Relocating the fixture box was more involved than the quick swap we originally tackled.
After three months of building up the motivation, we finally decided to move the light into the right spot. The first step was measuring and marking the ceiling so the fixture would be centered directly in front of the window and aligned with the door. That placement reads as intentional; being centered in the room had left the light only inches from the shower curtain and it simply looked off.
We started by turning off the power and disconnecting the fixture from the existing box. Since we weren’t fully sure where the ceiling joists were, we drilled a few tiny exploratory holes to make sure we wouldn’t hit a beam. Finding only drywall and air, we cut a small access hole just large enough to slip a hand in and feel around. My Dremel Multimax was already out, so I used it to make the initial opening, then switched to a drywall saw for the rounded corners.
Once I confirmed there were no obstructions, we needed a template for the new fixture box. We didn’t have a spare box to trace, so we made a quick template by pressing a piece of cardstock against the edges of the existing box still in the ceiling. That left a perfect impression and allowed us to trace the exact shape where the new opening would go. Since the ceiling paint is a dark gray and pencil marks were hard to see, we used a red Sharpie so the cutting line would be clear; it was all going to be covered anyway.
Cutting the hole to the correct size was important — large enough for the box to fit through, but not so large that the fixture’s cover couldn’t hide the edges. After cutting the opening with the drywall saw, we unscrewed two screws that held the original support in place, which allowed the fixture to hang loose and be moved.
The attic work was the most challenging part. Our attic access is cramped and unconditioned, and on a 98-degree day it felt like a sauna. The work required crawling on hands and knees across narrow beams through blown insulation to reach a tight corner where the support needed to be adjusted. It took four trips back and forth for tools and adjustments, each one a sweaty, uncomfortable crawl through a space barely big enough to wriggle through. In short: miserable conditions made the job far tougher than it would have been on a milder day.
Up in the attic I repositioned the support board between two beams and moved the junction box slightly so we wouldn’t have to add new wiring. I’ll be honest: I’m not an electrician, and I kept the work simple so it wouldn’t require complex rewiring. The fixture box was reattached to the newly secured support and the junction box was left accessible in its new spot. When I came down, hot, sweaty, and relieved, Sherry took a photo of me — a less-than-glamorous reminder that attic work is no fun.
After cooling off and rinsing the sweat out of my shirt, we went back into the bathroom to reinstall the light. The fixture screwed into the newly positioned box just like it had in the old location. We still need to patch the original hole in the ceiling — Sherry will handle the patching and finishing — but the fixture now sits perfectly centered on the window, toilet, and door. It looks like it was always meant to be there.
If it hadn’t been so hot in the attic the project would have been fairly straightforward. The actual tasks — measuring, cutting, moving the box, and reinstalling the light — were simple. The difficulty came from limited attic access and the extreme heat, which turned several quick trips into a sweaty ordeal. For anyone wondering why we didn’t reposition the light back in April while we had the fixture out: accessing and working in that portion of the attic is a pain and sometimes it’s smarter to break a bigger project into manageable phases over time.
Despite the tough conditions, we’re calling this little bathroom upgrade finished. We’ll patch the ceiling, take some final photos, and share a brief budget roundup later, but already it feels worth the sweat. Just don’t ask me to crawl back into that corner of the attic for at least another week.
Psst — To follow this bathroom project from the start, see our earlier planning and progress posts.