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