Spray painting old hardware

Old houses like ours usually come with old windows. And old windows usually come with cracked paint, drafts and old hardware. While we're saving to replace our windows with energy-efficient ones, we spruced up the old guys with a fresh coat of white paint. The paint made a huge difference, but it also made the dingy old hardware stand out. I tried cleaning it, but that didn't work very well, so I decided to try spray-paint instead. Here's what the hardware looked like before (unfortunately I seem to have photographed one of the better ones - most were really discoloured or paint-covered):

I removed all the locks and placed them on some newspaper outside. Then I sprayed them (including the screws) with several thin coats of Krylon metallic spray paint in silver. It was a really easy project - the hardest part was remembering to put the lock in different positions, since different parts of the lock show when it's open versus closed.

I'm really happy with how the project turned out - it's a great temporary fix until we can afford new windows - and I'm already planning to update other hardware this way...like maybe doorknobs?

Pretty hanging plate display

My new bedroom lamps weren't the only thing I spray painted over the weekend. I also finally got around to spray painting a few plates I found at Value Village for less than $1 each - they're for a hanging plate display in my dining room.

Unfortunately I forgot to snap any "before" pics (oops), but here's an "after" shot of all three plates. The two on the left were already white, but different shades, so I spray painted them to better match (it's not perfect, but it's much better). The plate on the right had a pretty ugly floral pattern that I happily covered.

And here are a few shots of the whole shebang:

Like my gallery wall, I'm planning to add to it as I go. I just need more plates first.

Spray painted lamps DIY

I found these matching lamps on Kijiji:

It was a beautiful day on Sunday, so while Adam raked the lawn, I decided to spray paint. I started by taping off the parts of the lamps I didn't want to get paint on and then shook my can of spray paint like crazy for 1-2 minutes (that's our dog Maddie checking out my set up).

Next, I applied multiple thin coats of spray paint, allowing 1-2 minutes of drying time between coats. I've learned the hard way that there are two keys to a good paint job: keep the can 6-8 inches away from the surface you're painting and keep your paint can moving at all times (kind of like you're conducting an orchestra). The whole job took about 15 minutes (including 10 minutes of drying time).

And here's one inside, where the colour isn't quite so smurf-like. Lights off:

And lights on...

during the daytime, so admittedly it's not all that dramatic. I'm really happy with how these lamps turned out - I think it's my best spray painting job to-date. Now I'm on the hunt for some new bedside tables. I want something a little lighter, a little less clunky, and with storage (of course, you've never seen our bedside tables, so you have no idea what I'm talking about - pictures to come, I promise).