Can Lights

There were (and still are) MANY dated (90's) things in our new house when we moved in. 

One that has been bothering me daily for awhile are the black inserts in the recessed can lights. There were 12 black can light inserts with compact fluorescent bulbs in the main areas (kitchen, hallways, upstairs landing.) They that had to warm up when you turned them on... I know they save energy and last forever, but sometimes when you flip a switch you just want the lights to turn on! I would go to tuck my boys in and have to wait...and wait... until I could see... not cool. I looked into buying new white inserts but decided to save my money and fix the problem with stuff I already had. 

I *wish* I had taken a picture of the ceilings with all of the black "spots" but once I decided they needed to go I took them down so fast I didn't even think about documenting the ugliness. You will have to imagine 12 of these on the ceilings. 

Black insert, yellowing ring and "needs to warm up" light bulb...

I had a few cans of this primer left over from another project so I put some newspaper down in the garage, cleaned the inserts- they were really dirt, dead bugs, grime etc... The water was brown when I was washing them, blah. I let them dry and then started spraying them...

I sprayed them with two coats, trying to fill in all of the edges with primer. The next step wasn't necessary but I think it made all the difference. Before our house was put up for sale, the bank that owned it had hired a paint company to paint every wall and ceiling the same neutral off-white color... I had matched the paint for a little trick that helps me when painting the walls, so I painted the insides of the inserts the same off white color... so they match the ceiling. 

Batch one...

Then I painted the yellowing rims around each of the fixtures on the ceiling.  I painted them with the ceiling paint. 

Installed in the new inserts and 

new regular incandescent light bulbs. 

Much better. No one will notice them, which is the idea right?

Now I need to deal with the smoke alarm with the missing cover... (the black blob in the middle). 

Updated "Threshold"

I have no idea if threshold is the real technical term for it, but I am going with that. Dave went to Home Depot to try and find a new one.. A brushed or satin nickel one, to match the doorknob... They told him that you can't just buy one, they come with the whole door kit. No thanks, not buying a new door anytime soon. So I bought some satin nickel spray paint (I am learning that spray paint is my new easy-go-to problem solver!) and got started.

First I cleaned and prepped the area. Getting more paint drips left behind off...

I taped the area around the threshold off...

First thin coat... I dried it with the hair dryer and let it sit for 30 min before doing another coat. Left it over night and then did one last coat in the morning...

The bottom of the door isn't painted, it is a lip of rubber that is gray... 

I have no idea how it will wear but I will keep you posted. The last brass/gold thing to go is the dead bolt, but since we had to pay for the locks to be changed right before we moved in, that will have to wait... Unless I decide someday I am bored and spray paint it too ;)