{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.
Ooooh…hope I’m not too late! We are several hundred $$ into just powerwashing & restaining our deck. It’s the classic “money pit” situation. A gift card would sure help!
Oh do we live in a fixer upper. Our house was built in the 60’s and we were the model home for our street. We always laugh and say we live in a model home. Anyway our house needs painted, and a new porch. My husband is working on painting the house this summer and 100 dollars sure would help pretty our old model home.
I need to spruce up my deck!
We have the same front door! Ours is white, but I was mentioning just a few weeks ago that I might want to paint it black. You have good taste Rhoda ;).
Would love some bright colored flowering plants for the front and a couple of hanging baskets for the front and a couple of huge pots for the back with flowers. 🙂
Our patio is in desperate need of some decorating. I would use the card to buy a new table and chairs.
Would love to do some outdoor work on the deck and some landscaping around it!! Thanks!!!
We are in the process of putting a wrap around porch roof over our existing deck. I could use this gift card for some beautiful hanging baskets for our new porch! Lowes is my favorite home improvement store – love shopping there.
I have a long list of things that I could do:
Stain deck
Paint and caulk cedar trim on house
Spruce up light fixtures
Plant flowers
Put in landscape rock
…the list could go on and on!
My mom is having similar issues with her outdoor lighting; I’d use the gift card to get her new fixtures and then use your tutorial to install them. 🙂
I’d love to buy some new plants and flowers!
Where to start? I would paint some of my outdoor furniture, change light fixtures by the front door, maybe buy another piece of furniture for the back deck, some pretty pillows, etc.
I would also love to change out our outdated outdoors lights!
I’d love to add some window boxes to our front yard!
Rhonda, I love your new porch lights, and I would love to change mine too….Still using the original lights that came with our home from the early seventies. They are barely hanging on….
I hope I’m not too late for the drawing. I need to replace the screens on my windows, as well as, update the lighting for my side and sliding doors. This gift card would help!
By the way, I love that you are sharing your renovations with us. It is inspiring to me. As a single lady, I often feel overwhelmed with all that needs to be done in my fixer.
Thanks, Rhoda! Stay Blessed!
Hang on, please! I know I’m late!!! 😉 But I really hope to be in the running! I am hoping to install an exterior light fixture indoors! This would be just the help to get me moving more quickly on this project! THANKS for hosting the give-away!
Your new fixtures look great! I admire that you install them yourself!
Flowers and sod are what we need for our backyard and Lowes has beautiful flowers!
I would use it for some landscaping that we need to do!
I would love to do redo my urban garden to make it more efficient
tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com