The outside lights on our house were ugly. I am sure they weren't in their youth, but they looked horrible. Whatever they were painted with just didn't hold up and they appeared to be dying a slow death.
Here is what they looked like.
Now, if lights weren't so expensive, I might just buy all new lights for the outside of our house. That would be 5 total. Instead, I figured that if I cleaned them up and covered them with a new coat of paint, they would do just fine.
I looked online for some people who seemed to know what they were doing to see what type of paint they used and what steps they used. Next, I scanned the aisle of Home Depot with my husband, looking at all of the different spray paint options. We finally agreed on Rust-Oleum in oil rubbed bronze. (Here is a link to it at Home Depot. It's the one with the primer built in that works on metallic surfaces.) I was waiting for the weather not to be too hot and then I got pregnant and could barely take care of myself, let alone take the time to spray paint exterior light fixtures.
Fast forward about a year later, and I FINALLY got around to painting these guys. It was a lot of work.
Here is what I did:
1) I unscrewed the glass portion and removed the bottom portion of the light, cleaned the glass and spray painted the bottom portion and the fasteners. These things were filthy so lightly sanding and cleaning everything by far took the largest portion of time.
2) I masked off the side of the house with newspaper around the light. I also removed the light bulbs and masked off the female light bulb threads. This allowed me to avoid having to disconnect the electrical wires to the light. Plus, I worried that since the lights were over 20 years old that I wouldn't be able to get them connected again.
3) I spray painted the base of the light attached to the house and applied multiple coats to everything.
4) Around 6 hours of work and two weekends later, I put everything back together again.
They look literally a million times better. I am hopeful that the paint will last for a number of years.
-Anna
Here is what they looked like.
 |
| looks like a pile of rust |
I looked online for some people who seemed to know what they were doing to see what type of paint they used and what steps they used. Next, I scanned the aisle of Home Depot with my husband, looking at all of the different spray paint options. We finally agreed on Rust-Oleum in oil rubbed bronze. (Here is a link to it at Home Depot. It's the one with the primer built in that works on metallic surfaces.) I was waiting for the weather not to be too hot and then I got pregnant and could barely take care of myself, let alone take the time to spray paint exterior light fixtures.
Fast forward about a year later, and I FINALLY got around to painting these guys. It was a lot of work.
Here is what I did:
1) I unscrewed the glass portion and removed the bottom portion of the light, cleaned the glass and spray painted the bottom portion and the fasteners. These things were filthy so lightly sanding and cleaning everything by far took the largest portion of time.
2) I masked off the side of the house with newspaper around the light. I also removed the light bulbs and masked off the female light bulb threads. This allowed me to avoid having to disconnect the electrical wires to the light. Plus, I worried that since the lights were over 20 years old that I wouldn't be able to get them connected again.
3) I spray painted the base of the light attached to the house and applied multiple coats to everything.
4) Around 6 hours of work and two weekends later, I put everything back together again.
 |
| like new |
-Anna
