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At The Picket Fence with Vanessa Hunt

Where Ideas for your Home Meet Inspiration for your Heart

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August 20, 2014

Repurposed Carriage Light

Good morning, At the Picket Fence friends! Redheaded Julie here with my “Repurposed Carriage Light”.

Last Summer, my Dad and I took down these rather nautical looking carriage lights from our front porch.

Repurposed Carriage Light Fixture

They still worked fine, but they looked really old and dirty. I was going to clean them and put them back up, but I opted for new ones because these were really looking bad. The wires looked worn out too, so they were becoming a fire hazard.

You see…we have a ton of trees which bring a ton of bugs to the exterior of our home. In fact, I spent last night brushing off all of our porch light fixtures. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many bugs and cobwebs. I love the trees, but they can be a nuisance.
I put the old carriage lights down in our basement and forgot about them. Until last month, I decided to bring one out and give it new life.

Repurposed Carriage Light Redhead Can Decorate

I knew it would make a cute rustic candle for our back yard.
I may bring it in and hang it in our kitchen because I love it so much.

Pretty Repurposed Carriage Light
I only had to do a couple things to turn this baby into a candle. First, I cleaned it off with a wet rag and pulled out the wires. Then, I painted it white with Behr Ultra Paint.

The color is Swiss Coffee. I wanted it to look rustic, so I sanded the edges with sand paper. Lastly, I had to figure out how to get a candle in there where it would get enough oxygen to stay lit. That’s when I tried a ball jar band and lid. Lucky for me, they fit the bottom perfectly. I used clear silicone caulk to glue the band in place. (The band to the lid is in there nice and snug, but the lid cap is removable-for use later.)

Repurpose Carriage Light by redheadcandecorate.com

When the silicone dried, I put a candle inside on top of the lid and tested it. The candle didn’t stay lit for long, it needed more air. So, we decided to drill holes in the top of the light fixture and in the lid for extra air flow.

Whew! It worked.

Drilled Air Holes

Repurposed Light Fixture

We have friends over for bonfires on occasion, so this was perfect for our back yard. While playing around with this “Repurposed Carriage Light”, I came up with a couple more ways to use it. As I mentioned earlier, the lid is removable.

This came in very handily for other ideas I had for this carriage light. I’m sharing those ideas this Friday on redheadcandecorate.com.

Hope to see you there!

By the way, here’s the new carriage lights.

What do you think?

(this was our porch last Halloween-I’m still in Summer mode)

halloween front porch 2013

Repurposed Carriage Light Redhead Can Decorate

 

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Comments

  1. Kerry Purcell says

    August 20, 2014 at 4:24 AM

    What a great idea. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    • Julie says

      August 20, 2014 at 1:48 PM

      Thank you, Kerry!

      Reply
  2. Anne@DesignDreams says

    August 20, 2014 at 4:29 AM

    Super pretty Julie! and congrats on being a contributor too!!

    Reply
    • Julie says

      August 20, 2014 at 1:49 PM

      Hi Anne! Thank you, so much! Hope you are doing well!

      Reply
  3. Joanne says

    August 20, 2014 at 7:56 AM

    Oh, I have to get my hands on a similar old porch light. I love the new lighter colour. It’s adorable with a candle.
    This would look nice in a Christmas arrangement inside, as well. Looking forward to your post on other uses come Friday.
    Nice to meet you, Julie. I’ll have to hop on over to your site and check on your other ideas.

    Reply
    • Julie says

      August 20, 2014 at 1:50 PM

      Great idea, Joanne!

      Reply
  4. Melvina@MySpringValleyHome says

    August 20, 2014 at 8:01 AM

    It looks great. What a good idea. I will be replacing my porch lights, now I’m thinking of ways I could use the old ones. I will check out your post on Friday.

    Reply
    • Julie says

      August 20, 2014 at 1:49 PM

      Thanks, Melvina…can’t wait!

      Reply
  5. AM Shield Corp says

    August 20, 2014 at 9:49 AM

    A repurposed carriage light?? You are so creative! Thanks for sharing 🙂

    Reply
  6. Marg says

    August 20, 2014 at 5:35 PM

    I am loving this for the light fixture

    Reply
    • Julie says

      September 5, 2014 at 6:36 PM

      Thanks, Marg!

      Reply
  7. Ann P. says

    August 23, 2014 at 7:08 PM

    A very ingenious idea!!!
    Ann P.

    Reply
    • Julie says

      September 5, 2014 at 6:35 PM

      That is quite a compliment, Ann! Thank you!!

      Reply
  8. Shirley@Housepitality Designs says

    August 25, 2014 at 7:32 PM

    Super cute idea!…love it!

    Reply
    • Julie says

      September 5, 2014 at 6:34 PM

      Thank you, Shirley!

      Reply

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    August 22, 2014 at 10:24 AM

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The month of June is coming to a close and it has The month of June is coming to a close and it has been JAM packed! The highlight by far though was my son's graduation from high school. When I started blogging, he was only 6 years old and some of you have been apart of my community here for that entire time. Now, he's 19 and there is a reason parents are told not to blink because the years truly do go faster than I ever could have imagined. He has become such an incredible young man we are so excited to see how God is going to unfold the next chapter of his life. We celebrated with parties galore (SO many open houses to attend!) and made memories we'll forever cherish. My mama heart was filled to bursting with the joy of it all! Now we're taking some time to just enjoy these warm, summer days making even more memories because, when you’re at this stage of parenting, you know all too well how much you need to grasp every opportunity to spend time together.

I hope your summer is off to a great start too dear friends! 🪴
“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts o “And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.” F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Happy first day of summer dear friends!! I can’t believe it’s been so long since I posted something new here but life has been crazy. I’ll have some new photos of house projects and life events to share with you soon but, got now, I’m just going to enjoy this gorgeous first day of summer after our ridiculously long, wet spring. ☀️
“It was June, and the world smelled of roses. Th “It was June, and the world smelled of roses. The sunshine was like powdered gold over the grassy hillside.” (Maud Hart Lovelace) 

Welcome June!
“No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom “No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.”
General Douglas MacArthur

Grateful today and every day for those who were vigilant to the point of death in the preservation of our freedom. May we honor their sacrifice by being vigilant too. #memorialday
“Those who know your name trust in you, for you, “Those who know your name trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.” Psalm 9:10
This is one of my most favorite projects from my b This is one of my most favorite projects from my book Life in Season! 

Because, if heaven has a fragrance, I’m fairly certain it smells like lilacs.

I think that somewhere along the way the verse in the Bible that said, ‘heaven will smell like lilacs’ just got lost in translation. But it HAD to have been in there at some point, right?

When I bury my head in the blossoms (which I absolutely MUST do every single time I walk past them), I immediately feel a stirring in my soul.

It seems like I wait forever for my lilac tree to bloom. Every year I anxiously watch as the buds begin to form on the branches and then when the blossoms finally burst forth I begin that agonizing process of deciding the absolute perfect moment to snip them and bring them inside.

And then, after all of that waiting and watching it’s just over…done. Because, unlike heaven, lilacs don’t last for an eternity. So, making my own lilac room spray seemed like the perfect way to enjoy their fragrance long after the blossoms have faded.

Here’s how to make it! Ingredients: Water, Vodka, Lilac fragrance oil. Directions: Fill spray bottle with 50/50 ratio of water to vodka. Add 12 drops of lilac oil. Give it a shake, spray and if the scent isn’t strong enough, simply add a few more drops of lilac oil.

Once you’ve made this lilac scented room spray you will be very tempted to spray it in every room in your house. And someone may want to use it in the bathroom to cover up other less…ummmm….pleasing aromas.

But, do not, I repeat do NOT, let them.

You’ve captured the fragrance of heaven in a bottle and you wouldn’t want to go and tarnish it now would you? 😉
We had two back to back days of sunshine (the most We had two back to back days of sunshine (the most we’ve had in a LONG time) and now we are back to pouring rain. This has officially confirmed what I’ve know to be true for awhile now.

I’m a MUCH better version of myself when the sun is shining! 🤪 So I’ll just be over here today plotting and planning how my husband and I can be snowbirds someday when the kids are out of the house.

If you could spend your winters (and apparently most of spring too!) in any part of the country, where would it be?
Happy weekend sweet friends!! We’ve had a LOT of Happy weekend sweet friends!! We’ve had a LOT of rain lately (which is saying something when you live in Oregon) and I’ll admit that it’s affecting my moods a bit. I feel like I’m dragging and struggling to find the energy to get stuff done. So don’t mind me if I’m over here looking at photos of my garden in the summertime and finding that it keeps me hopeful about those days to come. They will come, right?! 🤪. 

What are your favorite plants that you look forward to seeing in the summer?
We’re going to be giving our laundry room a make We’re going to be giving our laundry room a makeover soon. It’s LONG overdue! In fact, the folks from the counter company were just here taking measurements. While we have made some simple, inexpensive updates over the years, it still has many of the original elements from when the house was built in 1992.

Two of our bathrooms are also in need of major makeovers. And we’ve saved up enough money over the years to tackle those projects. But, for the most part, we made the decision to use the bulk of that money in another way. While we knew that it was financially wise to invest in our house, we also knew that the greatest investment we could make was in our children. 

I’ll admit, there are times where I see other people doing massive overhauls of their entire home in a matter of months and I feel a prick of envy. But, we decided that if our choice was between waiting a bit longer to enjoy a renovated bathroom or going on adventures as a family, we would choose adventures every time. And we don’t regret that decision for a single second. It’s not that we haven’t tackled home projects (we’ve done a lot!). It’s just that it’s been a slow and steady process. 

Most recently, we let our son pick where we would travel for spring break since this is his senior year of high school and we are trying to make up for lost time. With so much of life ‘paused’ for two years, we have appreciated these moments more than ever. And, since he’ll be heading to college in the fall, we are very aware of how important it is to spend this time together while we still have a modicum of control over everyone’s schedules.

We have many years left to remodel our home but only so much time left to make memories with our children.

And, while I’m always happy to look around my home and see rooms that are updated and more reflecting of our style, it doesn’t compare to the joy I feel when I look around my home and see the people I love the most who have been shaped by the many adventures we’ve experienced together.
Happy Saturday!! After endless days of rain (and h Happy Saturday!! After endless days of rain (and hail and snow) we are finally getting some sunshine and warmer temperatures. I’ll be honest, it’s really affected my spirits having one gloomy day after the next. So this is a much needed reprieve. Our cherry trees are showing off outside my kitchen window and we plan to get outside and make the most of these days while we have them.

What’s the weather like where you are?
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