New Foyer Light Fixture: Super Easy, Super Inexpensive

The LONG list of projects we have for this house includes switching out all of the dated, awful light fixtures that lurk around every corner.  Unfortunately, this could be a very expensive upgrade if we went out and simply purchased brand new lights for every room!  We have definitely been creative so far, in order to save money.

After ignoring our brassy, dusty, and very dated foyer light for almost 2 years now, we decided it was time to make a change..... a very inexpensive change.

I had seen a picture in the Pottery Barn catalog of this light fixture:

But at $270, there was NO WAY we could afford that right now!  So, we simply used the Pottery Barn picture as inspiration.

With not much money left in our monthly budget for home repairs, we used what we already had on hand.  Spray paint.  I always have lots of spray paint in the garage.

Take down the light fixture (please turn off the circuit breaker so that no one blows up)

Dust it and clean it really well.  Ours was yucky.

Separate all the parts you can, including screws, so that you can get everything covered in spraypaint.

I did three light coats of spray paint, letting the fixture dry about 1 hour in between.

We also removed the glass completely because, well, the glass was hideous.

We rehung it and it looks so much better already!  It probably won't be a permanent fixture, but it works much better until we can afford something different!

Here is what it was before:

And here it is after!  Not quite Pottery Barn, but close enough for us!

Our Foyer before:

After:

 Before:

 After: