Lighting Makeover On a Budget

In our new house, we're updating a lot of the colors from gold hardware to nickel, so far mainly the doorknobs.  There are a few light fixtures that needed a modern upgrade.  But taking a stroll down the lighting aisle, and realizing that it would cost at least $30, probably more to replace our dated lighting, made me think of alternatives. 
I admit I am cheap (or I prefer the term "thrifty"), but I'm not saying that $30-50 is a ridiculous amount of money to ever spend, but the current light fixtures work, and so to buy new just for modern snobbery and vanity, made me think of less expensive options. 

So we painted them instead.

So in our kitchen there was this guy.

My husband took the fixture down, so watching him from a distance seemed like you first turn the breaker off to that circuit, unscrew the fixture from the ceiling, and untwist the wires and it's free to go paint.

So this is what Rhett gave me:

I cleaned off all the dust and grime, then held the fixture with one hand, and sprayed it with my other hand.

The first coat was Primer.  It's the gray spray paint, but it's labeled Primer and easy to find.

I'd just twist the fixture to get all the sides, spraying all the nooks and crannies.

After the primer dried 10 minutes, meaning me holding it for 10 minutes while I walked around getting other things done, I spray painted the actual paint.

I chose OIL RUBBED BRONZE.

Once again, walking around for 10-15 minutes holding it so it could dry and not smear, we then put it right back up. 

I held the fixture while Rhett re-twisted the wires and screwed back in.

And here is the result:

I was actually surprised how much of a difference it made to have the light fixture updated.  I'm sure most people would have walked in our house and not noticed the shiny gold, but I definitely noticed it, and I love the difference the bronze makes for just $3.00!

Here's another lighting fixture that got the Oil Rubbed Bronze makeover.

This weird chandelier was in our son's room, but we switched it to our craft room/ office to take advantage of those 5 light bulbs, we need all the light we can get in there!

So in between switching rooms, it got a paint job.

 

This was worse than the shiny gold, it was old, grimy wished-it-was-shiny-gold.

Same process, primer, 10 min, paint, 15 min, hang.

Finished!