{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.
I was just at Lowes looking at light fixtures. I love the ones you picked. Just perfect. I too installed a light fixture myself. We are women hear us roar. LOL
We have been remodeling for the past 3 years starting on the inside (finally finished) and moving outdoors. We just this weekend had new double doors installed in an attached storage building on our carport and we now need to replace two ceiling light fixtures on that carport. The BRASS ones there now were installed when the house was built almost 30 years ago!
I love the one you picked for the back porch! I’m trying to save up to completely redo our half bath downstairs and remove the 70’s vanity. We have them upstairs too, but I have to concentrate on one bath at a time. 🙂
Thanks for the chance at a gift card!
We just bought a house that needs a lot of TLC. It would be hard to decide what was needed the most. We are transforming a ranch into a Craftsman style ranch, I love the lights you found. We also need door knobs.
A new kitchen light above the table!
We need outdoor lights too, ours is just wires no light @ all. You picked very pretty ones.
we’ve been in this house almost 20 years and the kitchen eat in area fixture only half works. I have my eye on one that I want but can’t get my hands on.
We have an older home and our doors are not energy efficient so we have been saving up to replace our doors.
I would love to update my outdoor light fixtures! You did a great job.
We really need to update our front door as well as our garden that’s right next to it 🙂
We’re working on landscaping this spring/ summer. We are in serious need of some plants and a patio. Thanks for a great giveaway!
I would replace two lights over my bar in the kitchen. Builder grade quality in there now and I can’t stand them!!!
Our back porch is sadly in need of some fixing up! I’d love to do something out there, maybe extend the patio? Stain the concrete?
I love your blogs and empathize with you over your past. It seems you are doing much better now. Congrats on the new home. I have one question. Is there a way to attach a photo? My home is very similar to yours and wanted to show you some of it. The kitchen cabinets appear to be the exact same ones. However, (and despite my wishes), we only stripped, sanded and sealed them. Before we move in, we are completely remodeling our 1974 home we just purchased. A gift card would be awesome to replace some of the light fixtures, which all need replaced. Thanks so much for your ideas and best wishes with your new home.
I have a very dated covered back porch with an even more dated leaning patio table and scruffy chairs. I’d love to update the area by power-washing the floor, painting the area, and eventually updating the patio furniture.
I just got remarried 2 years ago to my Prom date from 1979. I sold my house and we have been updating his, now our house. It was built in the 80’s . So 80’s and Bachelor pad…can I say needed alot of redo. From painting baby blue doors and base boards to taking down wall paper. We still have much to do, One is to redo the bathroom which definatly needs new light fixtures. Getting lots of ideas from your blog! Love it!
We have a continuous reno going on at my house. And now, unfortunately, we have just run across some more problems & have run out of moola! I would love to win this. First thing on my list is to fix the problem…but then go to the master bedroom!
I would like to use the gift card on supplies for a small garden in our back yard 🙂
I would like to add some hydrangeas to our landscape. I love Lowe’s!
I think I would like to change out the toilet in my master bathroom. I believe it may be the original one in the house and my house was built in the late 60s.