When Tim asked if I would join his remodeling round up, I quickly started having heart palpitations. I am great at finding things that need remodeling, it’s the doing it part that gets me every time.

He doesn’t know this yet, but as soon as we get out of time of unemployment, I’m hiring him to come help us get started on our 1000 square foot unfinished 3rd story.

A re-modelers dream job. If I had cable and knew all the HGTV shows, I would apply for one of them, and my attic would get picked. 🙂
But right now, we’re living off that “attic fund”, so we’ll see how much is left when the time comes.

This is the remodel I started to tackle. I had such towering aspirations, but this is as far as I got.
Now, it’s getting linked up to The Inspired Room’s Procrastination Party, so I must finish it.
Do you think I can do it? I began pricing new islands and realized – whew….I need to do this myself. I AM OPEN TO IDEAS!!
At first I envisioned painting or decoupaging fabric on the drawers, but who am I kidding…do you know often I have to wipe these babies down? That’s why the doors are peeling to begin with. Yes, new fixtures I can do….
I am envisioning bead board on this back of this builder basic island, and I think that I might be able to manage it by myself. Am I in over my head?

Well, here’s what I did manage to pull off for Tim….it begins with my funny “blond” moment.

I was walking down the aisle of my favorite high class boutique -(GoodWill, of course) and I found 2 quaint matching old lanterns.

They appeared like something one would carry around during the Colonial Williamsburg time period. Even though I knew they weren’t antique, I envisioned enjoying the magical glow that the candlelight that would illuminate from our picnic table.

Well, I got them home, shared the excitement with my husband, and as I showed him…hmm…something vaguely familiar came to mind. A little finger pointed outside.
They looked suspiciously like something that hung next to our door…(without the light bulb).

OK, so my trash to treasure mojo left me…it was a blond moment…with FIVE kids, I deserve one. 🙂
I had purchased two outdoor lightening fixtures that were identical to ours, and had no idea. They had SUCH promise! But that didn’t stop me….I was going to fix them up and enjoy them as intended, and I did.

HA – whose laughing now? Can you believe how fantastic they look? And guess what? I did this with my favorite remodeling tool of all…my black spraypaint can, and a little paint brush.

I guess if you want to laugh at me you can.
Note to self: In order to light a candle under said latern, there needs to be some air flow.
Which there wasn’t, and the candle went out every time (but it sure looked cozy while it lasted – all of 30 seconds. 🙂
So when my Queen of Procrastination title stepped in for Tim’s remodeling round up, and I realized that the island was not going to get finished, I went for my old faithful.
Black Spraypaint! I already knew that my $1 Walmart indoor/outdoor brand had held up all winter through rain, sleet and snow, and so my remodeling light bulb went off.

I’ve decided to take “remodeling” out of its box and share what I did for my outside lighting fixtures… This will not be the remodel that drops your jaw, but this remodeling job took only 10 minutes, 1/8 of a bottle of spray paint and has saved me a lot of money.
Now granted, lighting fixtures are a wonderful way to dramatically change the outside appearance of ones house, but to upgrade right now would not be fiscally responsible.

Job, then lighting. No… job, then attic, then lighting. 🙂

I have broken every single rule in the Remodeling Guy handbook, but it worked.
I first just took my $1 spray paint and sprayed the entire top. First rule I broke?
I didn’t tape the outside. I know, my hubby wasn’t happy, but I had to paint the yellow anyhow.

I am going to admit I was wrong. “Honey, I should have listened to you. You’re right, it would have taken just one extra minute.”
The second rule I broke was that I didn’t take the lighting fixture down. In my humble opinion, great rule to break.
I grabbed my daughter’s craft brush (3rd rule broken), used my craft paint (indoor/outdoor, of course, I’m not that crazy), and painted down around the glass (4th rule).
I felt like I was painting the Mona Lisa.
And in a few minutes, it looks like I have a whole new lighting fixture. Isn’t that fun?
Who would have ever though to just spray paint the thing.

After

As you can see I have started the yellow touch ups but it started to rain (and that is why you don’t procrastinate on “before/after” projects). I also have started repainting all of my outdoor fixtures and it’s instant gratification – which is rare in a “remodel”.
Now go and check out all of Tim’s wonders.
His site is AMAZING!!

And if you couldn’t resist a bit more bedlam…this is my 5 year old daughter’s attempt at contributing. She couldn’t understand why I reacted the way I did when I love to paint everything white (yellow is close enough in her mind). She responded as any good spray paint apprentice would do, “Don’t worry, mom, we can just fix it.” 🙂 LOVE.IT. So true!