Day 6 – Spray paint your light fixtures

This post is part of a 31 day series – “31 days to decorate your home on a budget.”  You can read through all the posts in this series here.

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When I first started following décor blogs, light fixture transformations amazed me!

The fact that you can take a light fixture like this:

and turn it into a light fixture like this is amazing!  And the fact that you can buy light fixtures for around $5 at thrift stores amazed me too!

This is what I started with – your basic, builder-grade, brassy dome light.

Then I found this beauty at Goodwill for $4.04!

(Thrift stores and yard sales are great prices to find light fixtures.  I find them ALL the time!  I am in the process of changing out most of the fixtures in our house and I usually find fixtures priced around $5 or less.)

(I found 2 just like this, this one is a little smaller.  I couldn’t find the before picture of the one I have in my hallway, so just imagine this is it. 🙂

I unscrewed the screws on the top and bottom of the cage part to release the glass pieces.  Then I hung it outside on a large garden hook or tree limb so I could paint it from all angles.  I also painted the chain, cord, and ceiling cover.

Enter my favorite spray paint – Krylon Brushed Metallic in Oil Rubbed Bronze (ORB).  (I buy it at Wal-mart for $3.94 a can.  But you can find it at any home improvement store.)

Spray on 2-3 light coats, let dry, and then put it back together.

Now comes the hard part, beg your husband to help you install it (or if you get really inpatient desperate just put it up yourself – AFTER turning off the power to the whole house at the breaker box, just to be safe )

And there you have it!  A beautiful, new-to you light fixture for $4 + the cost of paint.

Or if you already have a light fixture like this:

Just take it down, give it a coat of paint, and reinstall it!  For less than the cost of a can of paint!

 

Have you ever spray painted a light fixture?

Have you used Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint before?

{cj}