Spray Painting Light Fixtures

When we moved into the house, it suffered from a great mish-mash of materials. One area that stood out to me  (well besides the many many different kinds of flooring) was that all the light fixtures did not match.  I have this thing about matching, or at least been in the same group. We had several different styles and finishes to the lights. It would have been fine, except the light we all over the place in styles and after we took off the popcorn ceiling, really started to be noticeable.Well we were far to busy to spend any money really fixing the problem, and to be truthful out of my husband and myself, I was the only one who noticed it.

Since we were just a little tight on finances and I really did not want the lights to be the focal point of the rooms, I came up with the idea of spray painting the non-glass parts all the same color. I picked a hammered nickel spray paint. The hammered nickel makes a light textured look that helped them all to look the same even though they had slightly different styles.  We thought about spray painting the original ceiling fan in the living room too, but it looked so dated that there was not a good way to fix it. Plus getting new glass globes was pretty spending and it would require painting the fan blades. Instead, we went to Lowe’s where after about 2 seconds of discussing we grabbed a simple cheap ceiling fan with the intent to spray paint it too. We looked for a satin nickel finish so it would go with the rest of the house but to achieve that we either had to pay $40 more or go with a really “interesting” modern fan. Since we did not want the lights to be the focal point for the room, we went for the more traditional look. Besides, I want people to be looking at the great pictures on the mantel or neat art not my ceiling fan. I can imagine the conversation now, “Well you house is nice, but wait what’s this? It’s a spectacular unimaginable ceiling fan. I must be in love with your decorating style.”

To spray paint the fixtures, I took them down and washed all of the glass parts first. That actually helped a lot. The previous owner smoked and the glass went from a cloudy grey to a more clean white color. Then I used plastic bags and taped them down to cover the electrical parts. I also made sure to spray paint any of the screws that might be visible or cap pieces.

I only prayed on one coat really lightly. The texture works really well at hiding imperfections. Once we hung the lights back up, they looked great and became a part of the house, not a focal point. I think it also makes the house feel more cohesive and complete. It was really easy to do and only cost $4 for the spray paint. I also spray painted some of the heating registers at the same time too. We had dark brown and white heating registers, and when we took out the flooring and carpet they looked really dated.  Spray painting them updated them to a nice subtle finish and saved us about $15 a register. I like to save. See when I first wrote that I wrote I live to save instead, that might actually be a more accurate statement. I get really excited when we save money and a project looks great. So excited I often point it out to friends and family when they come over, completely negating the whole stealthy make it look more expensive vibe. It’s the same feeling when someone says something looks nice and you get so excited that you tell them it only cost you x-cheap dollars.  Hey, I believe that thriftiness is a sign of intelligence. Right?