Re-Store Your Lights

Do you ever get tired of the shiny contractor grade fixtures in your house? Well I have had it! They just don’t match my style, so I have taken it upon myself to correct the matter for as little cost as possible. This first item on my hit list… the vanity lights in our guest bathroom (after all this is the bathroom closest to my craft room). I really like the vanity just not the light fixtures!

After going to home store after home store looking for the perfect replacement lights to illuminate our guest bathroom I came up with one conclusion – It doesn’t exist. Well I guess I shouldn’t say it doesn’t exist, I should say it doesn’t exist in our budget. Yes I could go to a specialty shop and special order the perfect lights, however that comes with a high price. Now I am not saying that I won’t eventually take that step but I needed a quick (cheap) fix. So, after a bit of hunting I found the perfect replacement lights (globes included) at a Habitat ReStore. I have visited this shop for-a-cause on a few occasions usually to donate some items and then I drag my poor husband through the store until I have looked in every little corner(I wouldn’t want to miss the perfect refurbish). Now, with my love of refurbishing existing items, I was looking for globes that were different from the typical run of the mill home store version (our half bath has he only ones I liked and I don’t want every room to look the same). Well as luck would have it I found the perfect light fixture and globes in one piece (I liked the globes more then anything). Downside-IT’S WHITE. Upside-The whole light (fixture and globes) ONLY COST $6!! Now that is a steal! I did a little research once we made our big purchase and found the same exact light (chrome) at a home store and it cost wait for it… $49 (and that was with UGLY globes, new ones cost upward from $6 each)!!!!!! I think this was a GOOD purchase!

Let the modifications begin. First I started by removing the globes and covered the sockets with newspaper to prevent the paint from getting on the white portion of the socket.

Now for my big secret!! My new favorite item I cannot leave the home store without… CHALKBOARD SPRAY PAINT! Sounds odd to put this kind of paint on a light fixture however, the finish comes out flat and looks very similar to wrought iron. After prepping the fixture I moved on to the fun part… getting my spray on. I applied a few coats of paint to get full coverage.


After the fixture was fully covered in paint I moved onto the screws. Typically painting screws is not so easy, you know holding the screw and then you get paint all over your hand, I came up with the idea to stick the screws into Styrofoam and then paint!

And TaDa!!! New Vanity Lights!!


Connecting the fixtures to the wooden panel was easy, there was a nut that holds the fixture in place. I do have to admit my husband did do all the electrical work (he is a very handy man to have around). I really like how the lights turned out. They compliment the remodel very well. In total I spent approximately $12 ($6 on the light and $6 on the paint). Spray paint is my favorite quick (cheap) fix. Look for more spray paint fixes in blogs to come!

Sammy Gene Y