About two years ago I posted about this on my old blog and I wanted to bring it over here to share the details and provide an update on how it’s held up over 2 years. So here’s the original post with an update at the end:
I LOVE quick projects that I can get done within an afternoon. I think I love them even more at the moment because of being in the midst of a kitchen remodel. Since the weather was gorgeous with a capital G yesterday, I decided to do a quick make over on my outside lights. I was inspired by this post on Thrifty Decor Chick that my husband sent me a while back. Here is what the once brass lights looked like before I painted them:
Step 1: I taped up some magazine pages to protect my siding from the spray paint.
Step 2: I took them mostly apart. Like Thrifty Decor Chick in the post I linked above, I did not want to deal with the electrical stuff, so I left up the part with the electrical in it and just took the rest off.
The above picture was in the middle of taking it apart. Basically I removed the little nut-type balls keeping it all together, took out the glass sides, brass side pieces, and the bulb.
Step 3: I cleaned all the parts. The glass on the right is what the glass looked like before cleaning and the glass on the left is what it looked like after cleaning.
Step 4: I painted all the brass pieces, let them dry for 10 minutes, then put it all back together and viola! A new-looking light fixture for just the cost of a can of spray paint. Like Thrifty Decor Chick, I also used Rustoleum’s Oil Rubbed Bronze.
Just so that you can remember what it looked like before, here is the side by side:
- I feel like this is such an easy fix that anyone could do, and it is so inexpensive!
- I will say however, that it was a little tricky putting these things back together. Not that they were hard to figure out, but there was some coordination of the fingers involved.
- I LOVE the way the glass looks now! I mean, hello shine!
- Now I really need to get on the task of power washing our house.
- I was not in any way compensated for using Rustoleum’s spray paint or mentioning them. This was just a project that I wanted to tackle on my own and I just happened to pick out their product. I felt the need to disclose this, but really, I don’t have enough readers to get paid to feature things, so have no fear, my opinions are not being influenced!
- I am very pleased with how they turned out, and I am hoping that because it is a paint appropriate for the outdoors, that it will last a while.
Two Years Later
So how are they holding up? Great. The paint still looks like new. I looked at them yesterday and decided that I need to take them apart and clean the glass again. It’s not awful, but it’s not quite as shiny and clean as it was two years ago. So when we get a few more nice days I’ll take a few minutes to take them apart and clean the glass again. I still think that for the price and time spent it’s one of the best updates bang for buck updates that I’ve done on our house. Now if this snow will just go away so that I can get out there.
Cat is a teacher turned stay-at-home mom of two boys. She shares crafts, DIY projects, kids’ activities, and a little bit about life in Ohio. Learn more about her and the blog on the About page.