A Twisted Light + A Refresher

I had an urge to update the front porch light yesterday. It was just one of those totally-out-of-the-blue idea initiated by a realization that the existing light needed a good cleaning – I’m weirded out when bugs die inside light fixtures and then bake by the lightbulb as they lay on the glass.

Wait a minute, why would that light ever be installed at an angle? This makes no sense. Yes, I really did just notice this as I was taking the shot. It’s not close to being aligned with the beadboard ceiling and not close to being at an even 45-degree angle. What gives?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I don’t know exactly why the old homeowners made some of the fixes they did (interior doors serving as exterior doors, floor trim as door trim, oddly angled porch lights, etc). Anyways, I was taking the glass off to clean it up and de-bug the whole situation (and simultaneously paint the black frame to give it a little somethin’-somethin’) but once the encasement was removed I realized I could probably adjust this light easy enough by myself.

I guess I lucked out though, because as I was prepared to take the whole base down and reinstall it at a new angle, I realized I could just twist the base an inch counterclockwise and fix the problem. And throw a new energy efficient bulb into the mix. I also removed some of the crumbling insulation, and by remove, I mean to say that it spontaneously self-ejected itself from the lamp base all over my hair and tank top. Itch city.

But as I was sayin’, I really did want to give the newly straightened out and cleaned light a little boost, and like many projects, that boost came from a fresh coat of paint. The same Behr Exterior 2-in-1 paint that I used on the front door, actually. A little matchy-matchy idea that I wasn’t sure would fly, but it was just paint, so why not try? (Rhyme-y!) If you want specifics, this is Mixed Berry Jam (UL100-21) in an oh-so sultry satin base.

Lots of blue exposing itself along the rim of that paint lid, huh? I wish I had an in-house paint mixer (not just shaky arms).

And within just a few hours (it was humid so it took a bit longer to try) it was back up. Looking fresh, right? There’s seemingly nothing I can do to hide that loopy bulb… besides maybe finding more foggy glass. At least when the light isn’t on you can’t see it so obviously.

I love the power of paint. It does look kind of dorktastic matching the door like this, but I’ll leave it for a bit and see what happens.