When we moved in, our main bathroom had a chrome faucet, chrome light fixtures, and these “oil-rubbed bronze” towel racks.
It makes me feel pretentious to say, or even type, “oil-rubbed bronze,” so I'm just going to say “bronze” ok?
Now, I love the bronze towel racks. I think they go perfectly with the taupe walls. I love them so much that when it came time to replace the faucet (because Little Mister broke the old one, naturally), we took a big leap and bought a bronze faucet. It took me a few weeks to get used to the huge contrast of that dark bronze on a white sink, but it's all good now. The faucet and I are friends.
So that just left the light fixtures, still chrome, to stick out like a sore thumb. Here's the only “before” picture I could find of the light fixtures:
I didn't want to replace the light fixtures. They work perfectly fine and I think it's wasteful to replace things that don't need to be replaced. I'd heard for years about people spray painting fixtures in such situations, but was skeptical. I thought it would look like a spray painted light fixture. But I had some leftover “oil-rubbed bronze” spray paint from the front porch project three years ago, and figured I might as well try it. If it worked, it would be a free fix. If I messed it up, I'd have a reason to replace them.
I had exactly enough spray paint—primer and bronze—to coat the two fixtures. It was meant to be! And they look great. I feel so grown up with matching fixtures in the bathroom.
Of course, the shower hardware is still chrome. But it's going to stay that way. That's what shower curtains are for.
