A brand new coat...
As a child, I would receive a brand new coat each winter. I suppose my mother believed in fresh starts for the New Year.
Speaking of fresh, as this mild winter approached along with the onset of exterior house repairs in November, my husband and I assessed the battered post lights flanking the driveway. These two were in dire need of new coats... new coats of paint, that is. Still in great working condition, considering they're over ten years used, we decided to splurge on some effective spray paint. The project would be relatively easy, with prep work taking longer than the actual paint job. I always love a new project!
You can see how the original oiled bronze finish has weathered off the entire lantern. With the beating winds and direct sun, this was a job for Rust-oleum! First step was to carefully disassemble the lantern, unscrewing the removable parts and taking out the candle bulbs. The base was secured to the stone post cap, so we left that alone. The rest of the fixture casing, cap, finial and glass panels were brought into the house so I could wash everything thoroughly and paint them in the garage later. That would be my late night weekday project for sure.
After scrubbing loose paint with a wire brush and giving the base a good cleaning, I covered any parts that wouldn't be painted with aluminum foil. The foil is great because it is pliable and will mold to anything, staying in place. The inner sockets for the lights had to be covered as well as the entire stone cap atop the pillar. Any flyaway edges were secured with a bit of regular tape.
Using many different spray paints, Rust-oleum Universal Advanced Formula has consistently performed the best for outdoor use on all my previous projects. We chose a black satin finish. The beauty of this paint is that the primer is already in there, so each coat seals and protects. The trigger nozzle on this particular can is very comfortable to use and easy on your fingers. With gloved hands, two sprayed coats were just enough to give the base a proper face-lift.
Later one night that week, after removing all the glass and giving the other parts a good scrubbing, I set out newspaper to protect the garage floor, and elevated some of the smaller pieces on bottles and cans from the recyclable bin to adequately situate them. All parts received the same two-layer spray treatment.
The two cage pieces (sans the glass) needed to be flipped over so that an even coat would be applied all around, sealing the metal efficiently. It was really exciting to see these shape up. They looked as if we just bought them, right out of the box!
Once all the pieces in the garage dried and the weather cooperated rain-free a couple of days later, it was pretty simple to reassemble the lanterns. There you go! As good as new with a brand new coat...
xoxo-Sonya
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