Wednesday, September 15, 2010

porch light redo: {green to gorgeous}



I love green. Grass. Eyes. Salad. Grapes.

But not light fixtures. Please no.

However, our lovely little fixer-upper came with two outdoor light fixtures that are a hideously ugly green color that has caused me to shield my eyes every time I have walked up the front walk.

Okay, they are not THAT bad.

They did go really cute with our hideous green plastic screen door...



Well, the green door is gone now, as well as that pretty sky blue step. Praise Jesus.
But we still had the lovely green fixtures:



I have been wanting to buy shiny new, more modern fixtures for the longest time, but have been too cheap waiting for just the right moment. {picture me in the outdoor lighting aisle at Lowe's, staring up in wonder as the motion sensors blink on....off...on...off...}

Sigh. Not in the budget.

Then recently my good friend Beth blogged about her recent fantastic spray paint experience on her blog Between Three Sisters {check it out - she and her 2 sisters (hence the name) blog about DIY home projects, fantastic recipes, and more! }

Check out Beth's link {HERE} to learn her simple how-to on re-doing your own outdoor lighting with a can of wonderful spraypaint.

Today I decided to try it myself! I picked up a can of dark bronze metallic spray paint for around $7 (they have all different shades of metal) at Lowe's. I followed Beth's instructions and was surprised at how easy {and cheap!} this re-do was.

Removed the bolts and screws.



Laid the paint-splattered, dismantled green parts out on newspaper. All set to spray paint!

Beth was a lot neater than me in taping paper around the base of fixture -- but it all worked out!


Then I just spraypainted to my little heart's content. Two coats.
I love the result!



From gaudy green, to a much more classy dark bronze look. Without spending at least $80 on a set of new lights. If you haven't yet discovered the joys of spray painting things to make them "new" all I can say is: just do it once...you will be hooked! :)

Thank you for the inspiration, Beth!

Now it's time to get out the fall decor...and perhaps make a few new things?

JOY!