July 1, 2015

Renovar: Simple Light Fixture Update

I'm baaaack! It's Jenny, back from Renovar Design. The past 2 months, my husband Marco visited you guys and made you free Printables for both Mother's Day and Father's Day. I hope you enjoyed having him for a bit of a change!

This month over at Renovar Design we have been busy updating & organizing our bathrooms. We are on a very tight budget because we are saving for a kitchen renovation. So, this is how I updated our light fixture for $3.00 dollars and in an hour ~ making this one of the quickest and easiest up-cycles you can do for your own home. (Seriously, I did this after work - which reads: after making dinner after work!)

Main Pic

Supplies Needed:
  1. Clean Cloth
  2. Multi-Purpose Cleaner
  3. Painters Tape
  4. Craft Paper or Packing Paper
  5. Spray Paint
To begin, I started with the major electrical portion of this DIY project. Brace yourselves people - wait for it....

Flip your light switch to the OFF position.

Yes, it REALLY is that easy. Now, proceed by removing your light bulbs. Then, carefully take down the light shades and set them aside to wash later.

Take your clean cloth and multi-purpose cleaner and wipe down the fixture good and clean. Make sure you get all the nooks and crannies. You don't want any dust because spray paint won't stick to dust particles. Also, if you have any rust (like I do) then you may need to take an extra step and sand your piece. Mine wasn't loose rust, so I was okay with just the wipe down. rusted light 2

Next you want to tape around the light fixture and your whole work space. You don't want to have spray paint getting on your walls.

light prep

Make sure you add paper into the light sockets too. You don't want paint to get into the electrical components of the fixture. I just tore off hand sized pieces of paper and balled them up and stuck them into the socket. (Again, make sure the light switch is turned OFF and stays OFF!)

light prep 2



Now that you have prepped your work surface, the next step is to spray paint. (Since we are in an enclosed space in the bathroom, you can chose to wear a mask if you want, I had the bathroom vent on to provide some airflow along with the bedroom windows open.) I also used a pencil to make sure I was getting paint into the crevices behind the paper.

spray painting 1


My preference is Rustoleum all in one paint and primer.  There are no affiliate links, this is just me and my 15+ years of experience talking.  It is my personal preference and what kind of paint gives me the best results.
While the paint dries, Take time to wash the shades.

The paint dries rather quickly. So, while the shades are drying. You can check to see if you need to do any touch-up painting. If not, then go ahead and take down the paper. By then, you are ready to put the shades back on. Put the light bulbs back-on. Flip your light switch back on and then step back and admire your finished project because that is all it takes to learn how to spray paint a light fixture!

light fixture after

close up after

I hope that this project inspires you to get a DIY project crossed off your to-do list this 4th of July this weekend!!

Don't forget to get connected via my blog, Pinterest, Facebook and Insta.

Until Next Month...

~Jenny!