Mailbox Re-do

Pin It
I'm lucky enough to live in a neighborhood where our mailboxes are up on the house. Mine drops right into the garage, which is very convenient and secure--but the brass mail slot cover has never been pretty. I can't believe how long I lived with it! Many times I've eyeballed new boxes, new covers. I guess either I couldn't find what I wanted or didn't want to pay for what they cost. So, I removed the 4 screws holding it in place, sprayed it with gray primer then a spray of Rustoleum black satin. I made up the vinyl decal on my Silhouette (its only about 2 inches). Even the junk mail will look better with this mailbox.


Really, this project took all of about 10 minutes of work time (maybe 15 if you count the time the Silhouette was running)--plus overnight drying time. I had to find something to do last night because my internet was down!

Hallway Gallery and Repaint

Pin It
Why does even the smallest painting project seem to take over the house and take so LONG? I've been in my house for almost 9 years and the hallway is the only spot left that I have never painted (mostly because I didn't have the right kind of ladder to get up to the top of the stairwell). Well, I've had the right ladder for at least 3 years, so I can't use that as an excuse anymore.

Before:


The prep for painting takes so long! I re-textured the ceiling first and painted the ceiling. Then I got the walls painted in Sugar Wafer by Kilz (sadly, Walmart no longer carries this brand of paint, so I had it color matched at Lowe's). Of course, I had to repaint all the trim and door casings (I resisted the "while you're at it...." temptation to replace the casings to match the ones I did last year in my living and family rooms...but its on the list now). The hinges on the cupboard doors had been painted too many times to really work right, so I used a spray on paint stripper and cleaned them up. I then sprayed them with primer and some black spray paint and they look brand new and cost me nothing.



Most folks probably wouldn't notice much difference in the before/after, but I sure do! And, after a couple weeks I started working on my photo gallery wall that I've been wanting to do forever!


For the photo gallery I didn't want to put nail holes in my newly painted walls, so I used the Command Picture Hanging Strips--and that was slick! The strips say one will handle up to .5, so I used just one on the smaller pictures and 2 on the larger ones.



I uploaded some of my favorite vacation photos to Costco and printed them in black and white. I also spent WAY too much time weeding and placing vinyl on my knock off of a Ballard Design sign. Check out Infarrantly Creative's laundry version at http://www.infarrantlycreative.net/2010/09/ballard-inspired-laundry-sign.html . I think I spent about $7 in photos and the frames were .95-3.95 each, so less than $15. The canvas was a DI find that I repainted. The good news is that there is still space for more photos, so I guess I better get traveling.

New Outdoor Lights

Pin It

I've had really ugly brass (corroded brass at that) light fixtures outside on my garage. I've finally gotten around to replacing them. Eventually I'll do the ones over the front door too, but not today.

The first fixture took about 40 minutes, the second one about 5 minutes! Swapping sconces is pretty simple.

Turn the power off at the breaker box.

Unscrew the old fixture from the wall.

Undo the wire nuts and pull the fixture off.

I had to add a new mounting bracket since I didn't have one with the old fixture, but if you've already got a bracket, just skip to the next step.

Match the black wire from the new fixture to the black wire in the wall and screw together with the wire nut.

Match the white wire from the new fixture to the white wire in the wall and screw together with the wire nut.

Wrap the plain copper wire (sometimes coated in green plastic) around the green "ground" screw.

Cover it all up with the new fixture and screw it in place (depends on the fixture on how that is going to go).

Ta-da! So much better don't you think? I got these cuties from Lowe's for less than $20 each!