Giving New Life to an Old School House Light Fixture

Renovations to an old home can be tricky.  Bringing an old home up to modern standards of living while staying true to the age of the home is a fine balancing act.

When B and I started planning out our course of action for our kitchen, dining room and laundry, we knew we wanted to infuse our modern tastes while still fitting within the age and style of our house.  For me, that often translates into mixing old and new elements into each space.

In our laundry / mudroom that didn’t exist before, it was especially important to make sure the room didn’t feel completely new where everywhere else in the house still has the vibe of an older home.

When it came to lighting, I envisioned something simple but still unique and I’ve always been drawn to schoolhouse style lights.  We had two antique fixtures stored in our garage that we bought at a public auction and I knew right away they’d be perfect for our current project.

While I initially considered keeping the look of the original metal, when I actually looked at the bases of these light fixtures, they were in pretty rough shape. They were rusty and the natural metal wasn’t that nice looking. In person, the bases looked pretty cheap.  It was obvious that in order to use these lights, something had to be done to freshen them up. 

Because our main palette is black, white and grey, I decided to give the bases a fresh coat of matte, black spray paint.  I cleaned them up (I have two), lightly sanded them to clean off any loose rust and then gave them a good cleaning again.  Once dry, it was time to spray paint. 

I gave the bases a few light coats of paint letting the paint dry thoroughly between each coat.  I did do a little extra sanding between coats because I am not the best spray painter.

I love that these lights are a bit oversized so they make a statement without being overwhelming.  I also love that the shape of the globe plays off the shape of the pendants over our island. It’s funny how things work out sometimes.

Progress is slowly starting to show in the pantry and it’s by far my favorite part of our renovation so far.