Lindsay Ballard, Author at Makely

Last week, I was beyond honored to join the Home Depot in Atlanta to swing my hammer in support of our military veterans. The Home Depot (and it’s non-profit Home Depot Foundation) is wrapping up its “Celebration of Service” projects, where it completed 200 service projects and donated $9 million in grants to enhance the lives of U.S. military veterans and highlight the needs and opportunities they face. Friday (Veterans Day) was the final day of projects, which is where my hammer swinging came into play.

A group of 9 bloggers, along with many Home Depot employees, worked on refurbishing housing for homeless veterans. There were quite a few projects being worked on that day, but my specific task was to build a few wooden benches. Kate from Centsational Girl (left) and Stacy from Not Just a Housewife (right) were on my build team, so we certainly had a team that knew its way around power tools.

For the next three years, the Home Depot Foundation is placing special emphasis on serving U.S. military veterans who are facing growing financial and physical hardships at home as they return to civilian life. They will invest over $30 million to help ease the burdens of this deserving group by repairing and renovating homes for military veterans. This year alone, they have contributed $9 million toward that goal.

My little part of the “Celebration of Service” was building this bench for the group of homeless veterans in Atlanta. It was a fun project (once we deciphered the plans!), and it’s a nice, solid bench.

Your little part is going to be to help me.

I am looking for a Central Texas (Austin Area) military family who has a ‘Wish List’ of services from Home Depot for the Gift of Good Program. The family will need to provide 2-3 photos and a brief statement of needs.

My chosen family is guaranteed to receive $500 worth of goods and holiday décor from Home Depot (I’ll be knocking on their door!) and then entered to win a $20,000 prize of home improvements from Home Depot. The family must own their home.

For the purpose of this program, a military family is defined by a household that includes a resident who is either currently serving or is a veteran of any branch of the U.S. Military. Please send submissions or nominations to livingwithlindsay@gmail.com. Submissions must be sent by Sunday, November 20th. The nominated family will be confirmed via email on November 28, 2011.

If you don’t live in my area, but know folks who do, please, please, please forward this blog post to them in case they know of a family who deserves to be nominated.

Update: If you know of a military family in need in another metro area, check these out these blogs:

Anywhere in the US: Military Avenue
Northern Connecticut area: My Military Life
Pensacola, FL area: Wife [Widow] of a Wounded Marine
Knoxville,TN area: Wife of a Wounded Soldier
Austin, TX area: Living with Lindsay
Salt Lake City area: Not just a Housewife
Montgomery, AL area: Perfectly Imperfect Blog
Northern California: Centsational Girl

It’s been a while since I’ve updated you on the progress in our master bedroom. It’s been slow going, but we are thiiiiiiissssssss close to being finished. Today, I’m going to show you my little chandelier that now hangs in our bay window.

A few months ago, my sweet friend JJ from Blah Blah Blahger came to visit, and we hit up some thrift stores looking for a project. I needed a small chandelier for the bedroom, and she had the brilliant idea of gutting this early 1990s brass beauty that we found at the ReStore for about $15.

I’ve shown you that photo before, and several readers have emailed that they have the exact fixtures hanging in their entryway and want them gone. Have no fear! I can help.

The process I used to transform this outdated fixture is very straight forward. I simply unscrewed the pieces until I was able to separate the glass enclosure from the chandelier. I then took apart the top section of sockets from the bottom section so that it would be easier to paint. When I am taking apart wiring that I want to put back together, I always take pictures so I’ll know how to reassemble it.

Once I had it apart, I spray painted the pieces I was reusing – the 2 sections of lights, the socket covers, the pipe that holds them together and the pieces you use to connect the fixture to the ceiling. I spray primed them with gray primer and spray painted them a black gloss. Then, I used the new Krylon Glitter Blast in Starry Night on just the main part of the chandelier. I also sprayed the Glitter Blast clear sealer on it so that the glitter wouldn’t flake off. I’ve been wanting to try the Glitter Blast for a while, and I really liked the look it gave the fixture (although I wish the glitter was solid black and not black and silver – there’s currently no solid black option). You can see that it’s not incredibly sparkly, but it glimmers in the sunlight, which is perfect for my space.

I rewired the chandelier back together (here’s a step by step tutorial if you need it) and hung it using a new black chain that I picked up at Home Depot. My sweet husband had to add a box in the ceiling for this since there was no place to install it where I wanted it to go. At one point, he was hanging from a ceiling joist in the pitch black attic with one arm, looking for a tiny LED light and hoping not to fall through the ceiling. He’s a good man.

In the end, it looks so charming hanging in our bay window by day…

…and by night.

Next up, accessories and non-temporary shades. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Have you ever taken apart an old light fixture to create a “new” one?

Giving the Gift of Good

Mastering the Master Bedroom {Updating an Outdated Light Fixture}