Working on my backyard this year has been a little different for me. Usually, I don’t look forward to summer as much as most normal people do. I just don’t enjoy being hot. At all. So having the most simple yard to maintain is most always my goal.
This summer I have a 2 year old baby girl and the thought of being able to spend time in a beautiful yard with a fence and a swing set and a little pool just took over me this year!
Find the steps to create this beautiful brick walkway here.
A beautiful yard isn’t complete without a classically finished solar light chandelier! In my humble opinion.
I found this 1980’s brass 8 light chandelier on fb marketplace for $15. I jumped on it and sent the “‘is this available” message. Funny story, it was a friend of mine who had just moved onto my street! It was perfect for my project. I often see these chandeliers at my Habitat Restore as well.
I very much wanted this light to look expensive and like it came right out of the Restoration Hardware store (one of my favorites), so I put thought into the custom paint finish that I would give her. She is elegant and has refined curves with a little bit of an edge. She deserved her own custom paint finish.
The first step is to clean your chandelier. I sprayed her down with Krud Kutter and then rinsed with warm water and Ms. Myers bluebonnet dishsoap while brushing away any dust and debris with a scouring pad that also scratches my metal surface at the same time to give it tooth for the paint to stick to. I let it sit in the sun to dry and turned it upside down and let all of the water run out of the nooks and crannies. I wiped with a paper towel and then started painting.
I used Amy Howard at Home Spray Laquer in White Perfection. Find it here. I started with the chandelier upside down to get the under side moving from the center in front of me to the arm and then around to each arm. Let that dry and flip to paint the top side in the same order. I looked it over to make sure it was thoroughly covered in my white laquer.
Next step is to clip the sockets that the lightbulbs screw in to and wires off of the chandelier. I clipped all exposed wires so none would be seen.
I purchased the candle socket covers at Lowe’s in the lighting section and used clear gorilla glue to fill the cup base and sit the new covers down over the exposed metal rod. I made sure that each metal rod was touching the side of the socket cover for stability. After those were dry and in place I popped in my solar lights and boom!
The final decision for the custom paint finish was… alcohol ink!!!! I used Brea Reese alcohol ink in Cobalt green, Turquoise and Lake Blue with gold as my accent. You can find them here.
Here’s how it looks.
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