Banish Old Brass with Paint
August 5, 2010 § 6 Comments
Brass will be back at some point, but there are lots of alternative metals on the market these days that make shiny, brassy… well… brass seem really dated and ordinary. I see these brass candelabra chandeliers everywhere. I even had one in my own home until I decided I couldn’t stand it anymore.
I suppose I could have replaced it at relatively low cost, but then I would have to take it down, etc, etc. I decided that the quickest fix was to paint it. So I got my tallest ladder, moved the table out of the way, and primed the brass. All of it. Then I gave it a coat of matte black acrylic paint. (I was liking it better already.) I then drew on the inner artist somewhere in me to apply several different colors: dark brown, burnt umber, lighter brown, in kind of a faux finish of sorts to make the finished product look more like oil-rubbed bronze (my version).
I even painted the little candlesticks a creamy yellow, found leather-like chandelier shades at my local home improvement store, and used a scrap of fabric for a chain cover. There. All set — I love it. Time to put the ladder away.
If you have old lighting in your home, you can either replace it or paint it! Just remember when working with lighting of any kind, turn off the power first!
Your Home & Color Coach 
Wow, really cool and very inspiring! We have a crappy old chandelier over the dining room table that definitely needs to be replaced or updated. I’ll be thinkin’ about this!
Great idea!! We sprayed some offensive brass on our fireplace recently because I couldn’t stand it for one more minute! Down with the brass!
What did you prime it with?
Hi Wanda,
Just regular all-purpose primer. Nothing fancy!
Thanks! I’m painting my brass light fixture in my dining room tomorrow. So glad I came upon your blog. I’ve been wanting to paint it, but didn’t want to take it down. You’ve been a lot of help!
You’ll love the end result. I’ve never looked back!