Works For Me: Paint It Black!

We recently had the exterior of our house re-painted, and it turned out lovely.  But it meant that the 25-year old light fixtures looked that much more blech.  Thanks to our kitchen remodel, the house budget is a bit strapped, so I needed a creative solution to spruce up the old lights. 

Thanks to some inspiration from an HGTV show, I decided to try painting them black.  I bought some high-gloss paint for metal at Lowe's, and my light fixtures went from this:

To this:

(And yes, I've tried cleaning that glass.  Tried and tried and tried.  Unfortunately that's 25 years' worth of dirt and bug juice, and it's not going anywhere.  I've decided to pretend that it's frosted glass.)

I painted all four exterior light fixtures this way, and it looked so nice that I had to keep going.  I painted our glass door next.  Here's an old picture for the "before":

...and here's the "after":

Spurred on by the cheap creativity (and perhaps the paint fumes?) I became obsessed:  what else can I paint black?  I went on to do our decorative lamp pole, mailbox and street number.  They all look great.  As I continued to look frantically for something else to paint black, Hubs stepped in and took the paint away, afraid I might do one of the children next (they do need a little sprucing up...)

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Have a tip you'd like to share?  Leave your clever WFMW tips below, and be sure to check in with the guidelines here first.  Remember to link directly to your WFMW post, not to the front page of your blog.

AND, while I have your kind attention, don't forget about the Fall, Y'all! Bloggy Giveaway over at my other blog.  It'll be loads of fun!  Be thinking about what you'd like to giveaway, and join us!

 

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Comments

[WorksForMom]

Wow, those little improvements are so drastic to the eye. I love it!

[Jill]

You have inspired me. That might be just the facelift my house needs. I (and the home) thank you!

[phyllis]

it's a great change. nice work!

[Laura in KY]

Wow ~ those look really nice! Great idea!!

[Heather]

Great work. I know that crazy-woman-with -a-paintbrush feeling. We now have painter's tape blue trim in our hallway and writing over ever door because when I start I can't seem to stop. There is something beautiful and wonderful about making something over all nice and clean without having to actually find a way to get years of gunk off. :)

[Kandy]

It all looks great!

Have you tried taking using salt and ice cubes to clean the glass? It always worked great to get set in coffee stains out of our glass coffee pots in the restaurants I managed...it might work on your fixtures too...? Worth a shot at least LOL

Then too, I like your idea of pretending its frosted glass LOL

[Sincerely Anna]

Nice job! The black makes a huge difference. I'm such a scaredy cat about doing stuff like this, but I think I just needed to see these photos - it looks great!

[Mandy Houk]

First, let me apologize for my double linking! I forgot to put what my post was about in my first link. Sorry ...

But I love your black paint! We had a white and bright gold ceiling fan in our old house, while every other metal thing we own is wrought iron. That fan drove me nuts but I couldn't justify buying a new one just for looks. So I got Rustoleum's hammered finish (paint and painted over all the brassy stuff and it looked wonderful!

Now we're in another sprucer-upper, so I'm glad for the reminder about the magic of black!

(Honey? Could you hand me that brush?)

[An Ordinary Mom]

I am all over the resourceful and frugal ways to fix things!

[Overwhelmed With Joy!]

Wow, it's amazing what black paint will do. I love it! :) I'm going to have to try this around the outside of our house.

[Sherri@NoiseOverload]

I almost spent $300 on new light fixtures this past weekend but couldn't make up my mind which ones to buy. I'm so glad now. I'll have to try this first. Thanks.

[Mandy Houk]

Okay, I am the Biggest Loser, no matter who the show awards the distinction to this season.

First, I put up my link with no note about what my post is about. So I had to put up another link.

And now, I have discovered that I somehow put both of those first links in wrong, so neither link goes to my post!

So, I have thoroughly littered Shannon's lovely linky list with yet a third link.

As if anyone would actually want to take advice from me now!

I am SO sorry! (Is there any way for you to delete my broken links, Shannon?)

[Lynnae @ From Under the Clutter]

Your house looks fantastic!

[jen]

I thought it was frosted glass!
And I love your improvements. I did much of the same stuff in our old house, only I used matte black - gave it all a wrought iron look that somehow suited that place.

[Lori~Simple Life at Home]

Looks great!!! And I thought it was frosted glass too! I especially like the door frame.

[Karen@FamilyBriefs]

WOW!!! These look great! Hard to believe it's the same stuff with just black paint on them! Thanks for sharing - we're in the process of painting our house (for almost 2 years now :), and I'm sure I could do a lot with a little black paint! Thanks for the tip & for being a great host as usual (even though I didn't win the Dyson I desperately need :)

[Ann Kroeker]

I love it, you clever girl!

A few years ago I had a can of paint and was doing the same thing, painting everything in sight--except it was white. Couldn't stop.

[PinkJeweledCat]

My WFMW this week is about how easy it is to use most Public Libraries these days. I really think that you did a wonderful job with the paint. Until you said something about the glass, my assumption based only on the pictures and not having seen it in person, was that it was indeed frosted. HeeHee. Ta for now dahling!

[Melissa]

I love the frosted glass and the black paint! It looks fantastic! I redid our bathroom a few years ago. I painted it to look like we were sitting in the ocean. The bottom of the walls is a blue green, with waves at the top of the water, then the next part of the walls is sky blue. Well, it looked so good, I decided to paint the ceiling sky blue too! Then put on pasty clouds and pasty fish. I love being in that room! So do all of our guests! Good thing I ran out of paint though....hard to tell what I would have painted next!

[Karla ~ Looking Towards Heaven]

your front door area is GORGEOUS!

Blessings,
Karla

[Amy]

I thought it was frosted glass too! Of course we can't see bug remains from here.

Love the after's. My husband groans when he sees me looking intently at something. I must get a 'must paint now' look on my face.

[childlife]

Wow - who would of thought a little black paint could make such a difference?

[SAHMmy Says]

Looks great--and hey, until you confessed, I thought it WAS frosted glass :)

[Crystal Wilson]

I so need to do that around my house. I just need to budget the paint. I hate all the brass around the house. I can't wait to put a powder black paint over everything!

[Laura]

LOL! I thought it WAS frosted glass, you shouldn't have told your secret!

BTW, have you tried Bar Keeper's Friend? It gets rid of everything without scratching, so if you really don't like the frosted look, you might give it a try - look for it around where they sell the Ajax.

But, hey, the frosted looks works for me! :-)