DIY Upgrade your basic light fixtures with a little spray paint!

After pricing new light fixtures at the Home Depot I was inspired again by a pin on Pintrest.com and decided that I could update my basic light fixtures rather than buying new ones. 

Okay, so here is what I'm starting with.  This is your basic kit home room lighting.  Other than what I have upgraded, I have Brass everything (uggg...)  As I've mentioned before, my house needs an update and I'm on a budget so here's what we decided to do.

Materials:

Grey Krylon Primer (around $5)

Brushed Metalic Krylon Satin Metalic Paint (around $5)

MinWax Polyuethain Semi Gloss (around $5)

1 sheet of sandpaper (on hand)

Painters tape

Total Cost:  $15 because I had to buy all the spray paint.  I was able to redo my return air vent on my stairway so the true cost of this project was $7.50.

I started with your basic home light fixture:



Step 1:  After taking the light fixture apart I sanded down the brass base and the smaller pieces.  After sanding them, I wiped them down.  It was time to get ride of the brass look!  I taped the exposed light fixture up with painters tape and primed the fixture.

Step 2: The can states that it drys in 10 minutes but I choose to let it dry for about 30 to 45 minutes until I applied the next coat.  The next step was the Krylon Brushed Metalic paint.  This was a first for me so I wasn't sure what to expect.  I sprayed it on and it looked suprisingly great! 

Step 3: After about 45 minutes, I sprayed a light coat of the Poly on and let that dry for about 20 minutes. 

I was finished and I have to say it looks like a brand new light.  We are going to use this fixture in our basement and we're not ready to put it up but it looks great!  I was very pleased with this, so pleased that I started looking around at all the fixtures around my house and wanted to redo everything today!  But... I have to work at 4am in the morning and I need a little sleep.  :-) 

Here's how it turned out!  I am very pleased and now I've taken down my return air vent on my stair way and I've started that too.  I will finish that tomorrow evening and post pics then.

Total cost about $7.50.  This look jives with me a lot better than the brass look! 

I hope this helps inspire you! 

Thanks for looking,

Amanda and Ben

DIY Frame your Bathroom Mirror

Again, Pintrest inspired project number 2...

We have your typical standard boring bathroom mirror in our master bathroom.  I was browsing around Pintrest a few weeks ago and found a nice easy solution to updating the bathroom mirror and we thought; what the heck let's give it a shot!  ;-)

Just like the first project, there are things that I would do a little differently but overall I am very happy with the way it turned out. 

Here's what we started with:

Project Items Used:

Chop Saw for trimming the molding

4 pieces of Molding (less than $40)

Liquid Nails/for Mirrors / 1 tube (around $5)

Painters tape

Project Costs:

Around $45

Time:

Start to Finish: less than 2 hours not including time to set

Step 1:

Measure your mirror and wood and cut the edges at a 45% angle

Step 2:

Line the back side of the cut molding with Liquid Nails.  We used the Liquid Nails made for Mirrors on this project.  We were very generous with the application.  So generous in fact, we actually experience some run off and had to clean up our mess.  Tip, just be mindful of how close you apply the liquid nails to the edge of your molding.

Step 3:

Apply the molding to the mirror.  You will have to push on it and hold it into place for several minutes on each piece.  Repeat the process insuring that your edges are connecting correctly.

Step 4:

Take your painters tape and tape the corners together and the middle piece of your molding to ensure that molding sets correctly.  You will need to let this set for a few hours before removing the tape.  (Plenty of time to start a new project!)  ;-)

After a few hours, remove the tape and you have your new framed bathroom mirror! 

I have to say this is such an improvement to our old mirror!  We still have many many projects to go but this is one more step in the right direction.  Now we just need to replace our lights above the mirror!  :-) 

Lessons Learned:

1.  Don't apply liquid nails too close to the edge of the molding.

2.  Ensure your edges match up close to perfect. ( this is really hard and we are still trying to master this one)

Good Luck from Amanda and Ben!