What Your Sharpie Can Do For You

Double click on the photos for a close up view.

Ready for a good laugh? You know how I've been hustling to finish The Guest Bedroom in The Historic House By The Water?

Well, as usual, my impatience got the better of me. This was the ceiling fixture (and terribly ugly ceiling), below, that was there when we bought the house. I wanted to replace it.



After an endless search, I realized that it wasn't the fixture that irritated me so much, it was the brushed metal finish. So I decided that I'd spray paint it a charcoal color. Never mind that I've never spray painted a light fixture before. How difficult could it be?

While waiting to fill Andrew in on my brilliant revelation (he was on the telephone), I thought I'd Sharpie a little spot on it to get an idea of how it would look in the color black. 45 minutes later, I had this, below.



Not too shabby, right? I only colored the metal part, not any of the wiring. The metal actually gleams through the marker a bit which sort of ended up looking like an oxidized copper of sorts. I really like it. And if you're wondering where that little metal piece at the bottom went, I chucked it into the gar-baaage. After I was finished, I took the rough side of a scrubby sponge and rubbed it around a bit so that the finish looked a little old and worn.

So what do you think of my freebie light fixture? Fabulous or fugly?

p.s. Andrew would like me to point out his oh-so-bee-you-tee-fully-improved-flat-ceiling. Thank you, honey!