I was still getting over my cold yesterday, and I was at that stage where I didn’t feel horrible, but I had no energy and just wanted to sleep. So the only studio project I could muster energy for was giving my pendant lights a makeover. Spray painting seemed about right for my energy level.
I’ve had these lights in this room for years now, but the more my vision for this room comes to life, the more the black pendants didn’t quite seem right. I like black as an accent, but these just seemed too dark and heavy with my mural and pink cabinets.
The other day, I mentioned the possibility of painting them gold, and most everyone seemed to think that would be a great idea. But then as I was scrolling through Instagram reels, I came across a reel where a woman made a pendant light out of a large bowl, and the finished light had a black cord with a shade that is white on the outside and gold on the inside. I love how this looks!
Unfortunately, I just took a screenshot rather than saving the reel, so I have no idea who this belongs to. If you recognize it, please let me know so that I can give proper credit!
So rather than painting my pendant lights all gold (which I worry might end up looking a bit garish), I decided to try this black/white/gold combo first and see what I thought. Here’s how mine turned out…
Because I didn’t want to go to the store, I just used what I had on hand. I might want to change the gold on the inside of the shade to another gold. This one seems to lack depth. But overall, I like it.
The process was quite easy. The large shade comes off of this light very easily.
For the gold, I started off using this Rust-Oleum Universal metallic in Pure Gold.
I’ve used this several times on various projects, including the plumbing pipes under the vanities in our master bathroom.
It was the perfect color for that application, but for the light, it looked a little dull.
So I went back over it with this Montana Gold spray paint. Their cans confuse me. I get these at Michael’s, and I’m pretty sure Montana Gold is the name of the brand, and not the color. But I don’t know where to find the color name. (Edit: I found the color! It’s on the top, and it’s called Goldchrome.)
So I sprayed that over the Rust-Oleum Pure Gold, and the Montana Gold is so much shinier and more metallic. It’s really a beautiful paint. For the outside of the shade, I used Rust-Oleum Painters Touch in a Flat White (from Home Depot).
Overall, I like the look. I like that the white shade has a lighter, airier look than the heavy black shade. And I love the idea of the gold inside the shade.
I need to raise the light a little more so that the gold shows more, but that’s where my energy ran out. Maybe I can get to that today.
But I’m still searching for the perfect gold. I actually ordered some gold leaf yesterday, so maybe I’ll use that. When it comes to a metallic finish, there’s really nothing that compares to actual gold leaf. (Well, I don’t mean actual gold leaf. That’s too expensive for me. I use imitation gold leaf, but it’s still way more metallic than any finish you’ll get with spray paint.)
So what do you think? Should I keep on with this black/white/gold plan? Keep the outside white, and find a better gold (possibly actual gold leaf) for the inside? Or should I forgo the white and do the entire shade (outside and inside) in gold? I’m pretty sure that whatever I do, I’m keeping the cord and the canopy black. I like how that looks.
Update:
My mom did three mockups for me with three different shade colors, and she included the bamboo window shades that I plan to use so that we can have a much better idea of what the pendant light will look like against the finished wall.
The first one with a gold shade is my least favorite. I prefer the gold to be in very small accent doses, and this is too much gold in one dose for my taste. Plus, I’d have two of them.
The first time I scrolled through the pictures, I wrote off the pink immediately. I’m not sure why I did that, because I actually really like it. And I like it more the more I look at it.
The white was my immediate favorite, but I don’t like that black canopy against the ceiling. And I think the very bottom rim on the outside of the shade needs to be gold instead of white. I wonder how it would look if I make the whole light white and gold, with no black at all. I could do the canopy and cord gold, the outside of the shade white, and the inside gold, with the gold wrapping around to the bottom rim on the outside.
But that pink sure is growing on me! 😀
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
