DIY Ugly Scone Update

Along the same vein as the chandelier, we had some super ugly sconce lights on two walls in the house that we couldn't remove.
We tried.
It would have taken a lot more work (and money) than we were willing to put in, so we just updated them to make them more bearable. One was above John's desk and the other was in my ballet studio. We striped both of the walls black and white, so it may LOOK like the same wall, but it isn't :)
Also, apparently I deleted half of the photos off my camera between the time I did this (last month) and now. Oops. But you're all a very smart bunch and you really don't *need* pictures of the painting process, but if you want to see something similar, check out the CHANDELIER post. Sound good? Ok.
Here's John's first...

Check out the fluting on that baby. Reminiscent of a 90 year old women in the early 1920's, no? First, we used a $3.99 can of Rustoleum's UltraCover paint that works wonders on metal surfaces. It took about 2-3 coats for each of the sconces. Then we removed the fluted sconce cover and replaced the bulb.

And here's the after! We originally picked out a globe scone cover for John's, but it wouldn't fit against the wall. Afterwards he decided he would rather get an Edison style lightbulb instead and leave it uncovered. I'd like to find him a larger Edison bulb so that it's a bit more balanced, but here we are.

So there it is- much more masculine than the original and better suited to his minimalist desk.

And here is mine. I can't even. There are no words to match my dismay when we discovered just how attached this sconce was to the wall. We're talking extreme measures. Someone *really* loved this fixture.

I twisted off the decorative bulb at the bottom (hallelujah, praise the Lord!) and then painted it as well. We didn't realize the bottom decoration could be twisted off, so that was an extremely pleasant surprise and helped immensely right out of the gate.

My sconce cover is also from Lowe's and DID fit. I think it was about $7, so the total overhaul was much cheaper than we had originally expected. I still don't love them on the walls, but since they aren't going anywhere, the updates helped. If you're stuck with ugly sconces, don't despair! A little paint, some updated (or removed) covers and you'll be much better off. Or you could always use them for a coatrack ;)