The Easiest Way to Refresh a Light Fixture

I love me a massive before and after that took days upon weeks to create. (Like that time we painted our kitchen cabinets or sanded concrete countertops ’til we were blue in the face… the process was rough but man the feeling afterward was awesome seeing all of the labor pay off.)

But there are days I look around some of the rooms still to be tackled in this house, and I wish I had a magic wand just for a day. Bippity boppity boo- poof! New light fixture!

The latest bathroom makeover project at least felt like magic, even if I do still have to be a muggle.

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I debated even writing a post about this one because it’s almost too simple. But simple is pretty daggum fab!

Back when I was making plans for Olivia’s bathroom (which also doubles as a guest bath), I really toyed with the idea of removing all of our faucets and light fixtures in this room to spray paint an antique brass and then put them right back.

But we realized it was going to be a lot of trouble, and the whole point of this room makeover was to beautify it for as little moolah and as little effort as we could. The faucets and light fixture were already in great shape, so I decided why bother?

The only thing that made the vanity light in this space look a tad dated were the frosted shades really, so I searched all over Amazon, Home Depot, and Lowe’s until I found these simple clear seeded glass replacement shades in the Lowe’s aisle last week. They’re actually the same shades we used in the Lowe’s bathroom makeover this past spring.

I unscrewed the frosted ones, replaced them with the seeded glass, and swapped out the regular bulbs for these LED Edison style ones.

I’m AMAZED how that one little switch made all the difference, and the light is so much brighter in here now when it felt so dim and dingy before.

I’ve been putting the finishing touches on the newly painted cabinets in here this week too that I’ll be sharing more of soon.

So far, here’s where we are on the ol’ to do list:

• Paint walls Magnolia Home Weekend
• Paint trim Benjamin Moore Simply White
• Paint doors Benjamin Moore Wrought Iron
• Paint sink and tub/shower with Rustoleum Tub & Tile Refinishing Kit
• Refresh light fixture
• Paint vanity cabinet (so close to crossing this one off!)
• Paint tile grout
• Hang wall decor (halfway finished)
• Decorate

Woot! The hard part’s over really. As for the floors, we’re keeping those simple too with just a good cleaning, freshening up the grout, and adding a pretty bath mat. I debated painting those too, but I’m totally cool with avoiding paint fumes for quite a while after we had to be kicked out for a couple of consecutive weekends while the sink/tub paint smell went away. Ya know… all that loveliness that comes with DIY.

Totally worth it though, even if a magic wand would probably be easier.

Have you done any great light fixture refreshes in the past? Have any tricks of your own for jazzing them up on the cheap? Feel free to link your own projects if you have them. 🙂

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