I realized they were not painted green as I originally thought, but they were once bronze and had turned green. I looked up ways to clean bronze and the most common answer is...you can't! I did find one recipe for a rub you put on and let sit, then rinse and polish. The main ingredient, vinegar! Vinegar + salt + flour = messy, smelly hands. It was supposed to be like paste, but mine was more like bread dough...
Once it was rinsed, hubby and I looked the lights over and decided to go with the original plan and buy new ones. In addition to the green tinge, several of the glass/plastic pieces were broken and would have needed to be replaced. We found some nice ones this weekend and we are excited to see how they will look.
We drove by the house Friday evening and here is what it looks like...
Since we could not work on the house we decided to start collecting supplies for our various projects. Friday night we collected paint chips for all rooms in the house. Saturday our first stop was a tile store...we are tiling the laundry room, halls, and eventually the two bathrooms off the halls. We were not excited about any of the tiles, so next stop was the window shop. We decided to get the living room window and two guest room windows replace as a start. The current windows and sliding doors are original and all need to be replaced eventually, but we cannot do them all at once. The first three should go in after the roof work is completed.
Next stop, Lowe's for flooring. We got our wood for the master retreat and decided to get their tile. We bought a light tile and are now having second thoughts because we found a darker one that we like as well...maybe my first blog poll?? I'll have to think about it. We are hoping to be able to get back into the house Monday evening and continue working...maybe I will finally get the rest of the glue off the laundry room floor!
Good try on the lights, Lauren! I've come to welcome the smell of vinegar in cleaning, since it's so effective when paired with baking soda and doesn't involve chemicals. I do usually wear gloves, though! =) We'll be anxious to see the new lights and tile. So bizarre to see your house inside a tent, eh?
ReplyDeleteLove reading about all your projects! Wish I was close enough to come help! Had to laugh at the picture of the lights & your bread dough comment!
ReplyDelete