Curb Appeal: Outdoor Lights Refreshed

Nothing is better than a fresh coat of paint to bring new life to something that is old and worn.  Last year when  we had the exterior of our house repainted it became evident that our light fixtures were showing the effects the Arizona sun and elements.

Since I have proven to my husband the wonders of Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint, this was the natural fix to our faded, dirty and tired lights.

This was such a quick and easy fix I often wonder why it took us so long to do it.  As you can see from the before pictures, the metal and paint was faded and starting to get a dirty, uncared for patina.  What you can't really see, is how filthy the glass was.

We simply took down the lights and gave them a quick wipe down with soapy water to get the dirt off.  Then we used some rubbing alcohol to do a final cleaning to remove any oils, etc. My husband taped off the electrical components.  A couple light coats of ORB gave them an instant freshening. 

 

It immediately looked so much better.  Note:  We have a couple different types of fixtures.  The ones on the garage have 2 smaller lights while the one by the front door has a single, larger bulb.

Here is a side-by-side comparison.  So much better.  I love how the fixtures have a new glow to them and how the glass now sparkles in the sunshine.

While we were at it, we also gave a fresh coat of paint to the doorbell plate which was a horrible gold color and the frame to our house number.  I love how now all of these elements match.

 

Such a quick and simple project.  It only took a few hours and the house looks so fresh.  I love it!

Kid's Bathroom Updates

A change of plans on trying to sell our rental house resulted in a few updates to the kids bathroom over the weekend.  We had picked up a few things to make some updates in our builder basic house and since our renters requested to stay, we decided to utilize those things in our current house - another builder basic.  The perils of living in a tract home neighborhood is that nearly every house on the block has the exact same fixtures, mirrors and look.

Since this is our forever house, our goal is to eliminate the cookie cutter appeal of the house to better reflect our taste and style.  We have done a few things like replace the cheap brass door handles with brushed nickel and change out a few of the light fixtures.  This weekend our focus was on the upstairs bathroom - also known as the kid's bathroom.

These mass produced homes are notorious for the "Hollywood" light fixtures in the bathrooms and the over-sized naked mirrors.  Another name for these standard features ... builder cheap and builder basic.

Our updates included a simple installation of a new, brushed nickel light fixture that we were able to find a local used building supply store at a deep discount.  My husband also installed a new "hotel" shower head that we picked up the used supply store as well.  When we bought this house, we were able to find some amazing new and gently used light fixtures at the local Habitat Store.  We recently found another similar store here so of course, we had to check it out for other possible updated fixtures. 

For the mirror we utilized some left over baseboard molding that was in the garage to create a simple frame.  Following some of the many tutorials out there, we mitered the corners and painted the molding white to match our existing trim.  Then we simply glued the molding directly to the front of the mirror (making sure to paint the back of the frame since it reflects slightly in the mirror).

I love how these simple changes give a fresh new look to an otherwise boring room.  Of course, these updates inspire me to want to do more changes.

Right now, since our kids are young, they bath in our Master bathroom since it is downstairs and a bit larger for us to assist them better.  However, soon they will begin to shower on their own.  I know kids are not good at hanging up towels properly on a towel bar.  I would love to put up board and batten on the wall opposite the sink to add to the beachy feel of our "fish" bathroom (every house we have lived in has had one).  The board and batten is ideal for hooks to hang towels as they secure better to solid wood.

Maybe I can get that done in the next few months!  In the mean time, I will enjoy the wonderful updates that my darling husband did last weekend!  Thanks!

{31 Days to a Functional Kitchen} Day 18: Lighting

Proper lighting in any room is quintessential in providing function, ambiance and style.  It is important to have proper general lighting, task lighting and even ambient lighting to make a space "work" for you.  This is no more important than in the kitchen.  I am so excited to share a major project that we took on last week with regards to lighting in our kitchen.

We live in a tract home community where matching builder grade finishes can be found in most of the homes in the neighborhood.  While I must say, many of the "standard finishes" in our community are quite nice, they are still standard.  There is nothing unique about them.  The outdated, super basic, (dare I say) cheap can lights in our kitchen did not fall into the "nice" category.

We have considered many options for replacing these lights over the past year.  After seriously looking at different lighting options over the past couple of months, we finally went for it.  It all started with a light fixture that my Father-In-Law had purchased for over his pool table, but then changed his mind.  After looking at it, we decided it would be great in our kitchen, with a couple of simple modifications - longer chain (we have vaulted ceilings) and a can of Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint to match the other lighting fixtures in the great room.

PLUS

We brought it home, held it up in the kitchen and decided it would work great.  The new light had a clean style and would provide great light since it used 3 bulbs and would hang much closer to the work surface.

I will say, I was so excited, that I had the entire thing painted the next day.  I couldn't wait to get it hung up.  I am sure you all can related to the excitement of a new project.

With a little help from my darling husband and our wonderful neighbors' 12' ladder, we hung it up last weekend and it has been so awesome using this light this week in the kitchen.

As you can see in this photo, we still had the can lights in the other two locations.  We had looked at so many different options for these two lights but knew that we needed the hanging light up before we made our final decision.  After looking at several different varieties of track lights and other directional lights, we decided upon a 3-light round base fixture from Home Depot. 

We selected this fixture because it gives us the ability to utilize the existing mount locations, direct the lights to the desired work surfaces and was in the bronze tone that we were looking to match.  Another reason we liked this fixture is that it was all metal without a glass bowl around the lights.  As of right now, the light over our kitchen table and the new bar fixture have different color bowls - the new one is white while the table chandelier is more of an antiqued bowl.  At some point we may get these all to match but for now, they look fine.

We found this awesome fixture at our Habi-Store - New in the box for dirt cheap!
This hangs over the kitchen table in the dining nook.  I love the filigree.

Overall, the lighting project has been amazing.  The kitchen looks great and the new fixtures bring warmth and light to our kitchen. 

I still am considering under cabinet lighting in a couple of areas but for now, the new spot lights bring great task lighting to our work surfaces.