{GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED}
The winner is: #262: Chelsea Duncan!
Our Lowe’s challenge this month was to spruce up an outdoor area and give it more curb appeal. I knew instantly what I would do and that is, change out these pitiful light fixtures. Lowes has some really nice ones for not a lot of money.
I picked out these two beauties and they were $40 each. Not bad at all for adding that curb appeal.
This pretty little black lantern will go over the front door.
I got out the ladder and started taking down the old fixture. If you have been following my blog for awhile, you know that I am not afraid to tackle light fixtures and changed out every light fixture in my old house myself. It’s not hard once you get the hang of it. I’ll show you more on that below.
The old one came down. YAY!
And the new one went up. Look how cute it looks with my glass front door!
It’s very simple and elegant with seeded glass.
Here’s are simple instructions on DIYing your own light fixtures. Someone asked me this and YES, turn OFF the power to your lightswitch by turning off the breaker. I will confess, that I sometimes just make sure the switch is in the OFF position on the wall and that stops the power from coming through too, but that is not the proper way to do it. Do as I say, not as I do. Be safe!
Here’s the back porch fixture. I thought I’d show you how easy it is to connect these. Black wire to black wire and white one to white. Wrap the copper ground wire around the little screw that is marked Ground. Screw the plate in and line up the bolts. 
The base of the fixture has holes that the screws slide through and then the cap nut goes on top.
Much better, don’t you think?
Beautiful and simple Craftsman style fixture and now the porch will look SO much better. I can hardly wait to get on this porch to enjoy it all!
And Lowes is giving away to ONE of my readers a $100 giftcard to help you out with a project of your own! What will you spend your giftcard on if you win?
Do you have an outdoor project you’d like to do soon? Tell me in the comments and I’ll choose a winner in a few days!
Note: I received a Lowes giftcard to complete my outdoor project.
Hello! I am new to your web-site and really admire your do it yourself attitude! I too am always looking to see what I can do myself instead of paying someone else. My husband is not much of a do it yourselfer, but that’s ok……. because my neighbor is! My use with a Lowe’s gift card is that I am in need of a new screen/storm door. When we moved into our home 7 years ago there wasn’t one! Can you believe it? I have since bought an old timey screen door at Lowe’s for around $32.00. It has definitely seen better days! I would love to have a new screen/storm door, mainly because our front door is solid and when it is shut say the summer and winter months you can’t see out! I would love in the very hot and colder months to be able to throw in the storm part of the door and see to the outside! I absolutely love that! Thank you for your consideration and I love forward to learning and seeing more from your web-site!
So many projects but a fountain for my back yard tops them!
Barb
I hang all the light fixtures in my house too! Congratulations on your new home. I can’t wait to see all the DIY projects you have planned. I am getting ready to DIY coffered ceilings in my master bedroom and would use the gift card towards the moulding materials. Thanks!
I would love to have a Lowe’s gift card and would use it on a ceiling fan for the family room. Thanks!
We’re moving into our new home in July, so we’ll have a ton of projects. I know we’ll need a lawn mower and a ton of paint. I think there is also a part of the fence we’ll have to repair to make it dog friendly. 🙂
Spruce up my front porch!!
I would like to put up a pergola or an arbor.
Our house needs the interior painted and have new blinds.
We have a basement window that is broken! Not just the glass- the casing, too!
I am hoping to do a lot of landscaping projects this summer. New light fixtures throughout the whole house would be nice to tackle too. Love the lights you chose.
I would use the gift card for my spring planting – flowers and vegetables. Love those lights.
We need a new storm door for the front door very badly!
My kids have all moved out and I’m updating my house… first on my list is a security light for the drive-way area…. then the list goes on and on and on…..lol
I am needing new fans on my deck and this would be a great start.
I have a non-functioning light fixture at the back door that really needs replacing. The fixtures you found are really smart looking.
With $100, I would head straight to the garden/deck/patio aisle!
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Love the light fixtures! We are getting anxious to dig in to our backyard! We have 281 ft of fencing that has to be trimmed under by hand so we will be adding a planter bed all along to save ourselves a few hours off the lawn maintenance time 🙂 also I very much enjoy that you used a different light on the front and back, I did that also and I’ve had several people ask if I forgot one, ha!
I think I’d copy you and get the same fixtures for my front and back doors.
We have the same front door, actually. Only mine is painted red. 🙂
Rhoda, it is so much fun watching you create a home out of an empty house. I am working on creating curb appeal for the outside of my home as well. We have lived there 17 years and just this year, built rock flower beds in front of the house and landscaped a desolate front walkway. I too need some new outdoor lights. My are faded and too small for where they are located. Can’t wait to see what else you will do.
I would replace my outside fixtures, too! They are about 30 years old and need updating!