Have you ever noticed how much light switches and vents can date a home? You would if you lived in our house. Although we didn’t notice the rusty grates and yellowed outlets when we did our two walk-through’s, or inspection, they became disgustingly obvious once we moved in. Remarkable to see what some steel wool and paint can do to vent covers.  Also very much worth the price for new hardware for outlets, light switches and other random household wall coverings. Although you can buy new vent grates (instead of taking the painstaking slow process of painting the old like we did) I was a little concerned that new vents wouldn’t fit in the odd holes that are around the house. So, until we have a little more time and cash, we’ll just use what we got and act like its a fun learning process. 🙂

This is the upper full bath grate (gross) on the day we moved in.

Vent before.

Bathroom vent after some major scrubbing, a layer of primer and two coats of white glossy paint.

I mean, seriously, the toilet looks directly at that thing. There is no way the previous owners could not have noticed! Unless they were going for the “rust”ic-dirty look (is that even a thing?). Man, I crack myself up.

This is the primer I used: RustOleum Zinsser 1-2-3 Primer

And this is the paint: RustOleum “Painter’s Touch” White Gloss

The house with too many outlets.

This home has cable and phone lines in EVERY room, no joke. Why is would ever be necessary I have no idea, *hint* unless you were some sort of Russian spy and this was your teleconferencing Midwestern hub? *hint*

“Should we have two telephones in this room?” “Why, of course! And don’t you know that yellow plates are all the rage?” WTF

The upstairs living room has surround sound capabilities, complete with faux wood plates. Sexy. Try to contain yourself.

You might also notice that the previous owners did not believe in removing plates, or taping, before they painted. Look at the skill level.

The photo below is in the sun-room. Three different plate cover colors.

The left plate is white (we replaced it before the photo was taken) the middle plate was all corroded and gross, plus I have no idea what those hook-ups are even for, it is now a blank white plate.

Check out this lovely addition. Not only is it off-white, but it also has a decorative wainscoting detail and rusty old screws. Wonder whats behind this?

Check me out.

Yep, just a random hole. Because the plate was just too good to pass up.

Here is a look at the differences in switches we’re adding. We should also note, that the off-white switches wouldn’t bother us so much if a majority of them weren’t so dirty/sticky/gross.

Left: Old and busted, Right: New Hotness.

So there you have it! We’re lucky that plates, switches outlets are so affordable, since we have many more to go! We don’t yet have a photo, but we’re also replacing all the off-white/yellow outlets as well.

Thanks for checking in! – Sara