I'm sure if you're a fan of garage sales and thrift shops, you've seen your share of ugly light fixtures. Even if you haven't seen ugly, I'm sure you've seen some that you've liked the elements and shape of the light fixture, but the color not so much.
Right now a finish that is very popular is "Oil Rubbed Bronze".
To take your light fixtures from not-so-hot to updated, all you need is spray paint. The one I used, and recommended to me, is made by Rustoleum. It's called Rustoleum Metallic Oil Rubbed Bronze and we got it at Lowe's.
Dust the light fixture, put down some drop cloths outside or in the garage, put on some gloves to protect against oil rubbed bronze HANDS, and spray away! For hanging light fixtures, like chandeliers, we hung the fixture from a nail in the garage.
The fixtures used in the house were as follows:
a dirty brass color, came with the house, one was in Lily's room, one in the dining room
Before
After
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Dining Room:
Had one of the bedroom fixtures previously.
Bought for $5 at a garage sale, shades bought 8 for $2 at a sale.
Was brownish gold (no pics, sorry), now oil rubbed bronze
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Living Room:
Old fixture: A mixture of cracked brass, crystal, frosted glass. Dirty.
Had hundreds of bugs in it before we took it down.
UGLY
After: A fixture Doug's mom was no longer using.
Was black, now bronze. Will put shades on the bulbs.
Pictures of kitchen, hallway, and bathroom fixtures coming soon!