Vintage Lantern Refurbished

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I have been looking for an old lantern for a few years now. I wanted a nice heavy one for outdoor use or indoor use. I was about to buy one I saw at Target just to settle, but then I stumbled upon a beautiful worn vintage lantern at our local antique store. It was incredibly heavy and it had a $15.00 price tag, so I immediately scooped it up.

My husband and I are working on creating some dreamy backyard ambiance. I showed some of our inspiration awhile back (read here) and now that summer is unofficially here, we are doing projects left and right. In a few weeks I will show you a corner area that we are working on with honeysuckle 🙂 You will see glimpses of that in the following pictures! Follow on instagram for more summer fun coming soon.

Now back to this lantern. The metal lid was in decent shape, but the bottom was rotted out. The wood structure was peeling, and the glass was dirty. I gave it some TLC and now I have a great outdoor lantern for lights, candles, and even a fun indoor piece that I fully plan on using for holiday decorating 🙂

Materials Needed To Refurbish a Vintage Lantern:

• Vintage Lantern
• Scrub Pad, Paint Brush
• Spray Paint and Clear Coat
• LED battery lights
• Small piece of wood (to replace bottom)

Here’s a nice close up of the before. First, I cleaned it up with just a scrub pad and a paint brush to get rid of all the peeling paint and dirt. I removed the glass to clean it and to get rid of all the yellowish film.

For this particular project, I went with a Rust-oleum paint and primer in one. I like this type for material that is both wood and metal for a protective coat. I always like to put a clear enamel coat too.

I added in some battery operated LED lights so I could use it outside. I also love how it looks inside. I can’t wait to use this in some fun holiday decorating.

I’ve also got some tall battery candles to use when it is outside. In the coming weeks, I have some other summer lighting DIY projects to share with you. A chemist is all about easy and quick projects, so that is what I will be featuring 🙂 We are adding some stuff to our backyard to make it the perfect summer evening retreat and I can’t wait to share!

Are you working on any fun projects for the summer?

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