Watch Out HGTV: My Home Improvement Project

The Before Picture

Who knew watching hours of HGTV shows could actually result in talent for the viewer? Too bad the new season of Design Star started this weekend because with talent like I possessed last week, I might be a contender. Or not!

Having lived in this house for 9 years, there are few of the original "decorating" pieces that could use an update. While I would love to just overhaul everything, it's not really practical. Unless, of course, I could convince one of those HGTV people to come and do over a room/house for me!! For FREE!

My outdoor light fixtures were starting to drive me crazy. We have a grey house with black shutters. Our outdoor lights were bronze. Yuck.

I'd seen on some other blogs how people would use spray paint to update fixtures, but always thought I'm not really that crafty. Looking at new lights, I realized however if I tried this project and failed it would not be too expensive to just replace them. In essence, I could try with hand at painting and, if I failed, I could replace them for under $100.

So off to the big home improvement store I went. I talked to the "paint guy" at the store, explained my plan, and asked for his help. Even though I came prepared with my online research of what I needed, it's always best to ask for help, too. Two cans of glossy interior/exterior enamel black spray paint and a sponge type sandpaper tool and I was ready. Total cost $8.50.

At home, I started with the light on the back deck. It's lower to the ground so no ladder needed. It's in the back so if I goofed up no one would know, and it's shaded in the afternoon so no sun glare. I laid down a tarp to catch any parts/screws I dropped, got a bucket to keep the parts on one spot, and then started disassembling the light.

Here is where I will leave out the 2 hours I spent in the basement with the circuit box trying to figure out which circuit breaker turned off the power to the deck. I'll also leave out the fact that my husband said be careful as you don't want to kill yourself with the power.

Needless to say; I soon realized I didn't need to turn off the power as I never actually go to the power source as that part of the light stayed intact. It was a fun start to the project, however, and now, as an added bonus, our circuit breaker is labeled accurately.

Now there was sanding to do, spray painting to do, and glass cleaning on my agenda. At first, I just spray painted on a sheet in the yard, but black grass not so pretty. The garage, while much hotter, was more protected and had less wind.

The first light took about 3 plus hours to do and a helpful husband to figure out reassembly of the parts. Let's just say I needed to watch how I took it apart just a little bit better.

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I loved the results. The light was a shiny black; it matched the decor on the deck, it looked sleek and modern and if you didn't look too closely you'd never know I had used spray paint to transform it from yucky bronze to fabulous black.

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The next day I tackled all the front lights. I created a little spray paint sheet for each light careful not to mix the parts of the various fixtures together and went to work. At one point, my hands looked like I had developed a rare skin condition called spotty black. Despite the "illness" and the mess, the work was easy. Again, my husband had to come to the rescue to put them all back together again. You might say I'm not good with puzzles and he is!

I only ended up using one can of spray paint so I can either tackle another home improvement task or I can return it and take the kids to Sonic for happy hour drinks. Half price slushes at Sonic are also one of my "Works for Me on Wednesday" activities.

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Wonder how our master bathroom light fixture might look black? Stay tuned!

The After pictures: The Front porch light, one of the bigger lights on the garage and the back deck light.