home improvement Archives - Average But Inspired

Plain and simple: motorized skylight shades are the best things we’ve ever put in our home.

We loved the natural light from our skylights in our bedroom… until nighttime when the moon would shine in our eyes, or the morning when the sun would wake us up too early, or on summer days when the room would become unbearably hot in the afternoons.

OK, so yeah, there wasn’t too much time that we did love them.

Why we decided to install blackout motorized skylight shades

My husband rigged up temporary skylight shades with tension rods and blackout roller shades, but they were really ill-fitting, ugly, and could not be moved at all.

Temporary skylight shades were ill-fitting. — These were our janky temporary skylight shades that my husband rigged up with tension rods and roller shades cut to size (sort of).

The shade on my side of the bed didn’t even cover the whole skylight. Talk about junky.

With the moon interrupting my sleep on an increasingly regular basis, I couldn’t take it anymore, and we started looking for a more permanent solution.

The motorized skylight shades we chose

Thank you to SmartWings for providing the skylight shades featured in this post. The opinions expressed herein are all my own. Also, this post contains affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy for more information.

I came across SmartWings’ skylight shades, and the reviews were very positive, so we decided to give them a try.

We selected the SmartWings Motorized Premium Skylight Cellular Shades in white with blackout fabric (remember that moon I was telling you about?). The fact that each shade was made to fit each skylight with custom measurements was great because each of our skylight openings was slightly different in size.

And, we chose the remote control shade functionality (though there is a model that can be controlled via smartphone), and the solar panel charging feature so that we wouldn’t have to plug the shades in to recharge them in the future. If you get these shades, I definitely recommend the solar charging panel.

The skylight shades installation process

Apparently, people are surprised that you can install skylight shades on pre-existing skylights. That didn’t surprise me, but what DID surprise me was how easy the installation of our shades was.

The SmartWings skylight shades arrived almost completely assembled, so that was really nice. It only took a few minutes to put a couple of pieces in place, but it is important to know that there were some sharp or rough metal edges to the pieces that did need to be snapped into place.

From there, it was just a matter of hanging the shades in the skylight box. Because our skylights were framed out at the base, we didn’t even need to use anchors (which were included). We just screwed the shade frame right into the skylight frame.

Two sets of hands were definitely necessary (there is no way one person could hang these on their own), but they weren’t heavy, and hanging them went really quickly. My husband and I were both surprised by how fast we got them up. Hanging three shades probably took us an hour, and all we needed was a drill and two sets of hands.

Troubleshooting small gaps

As I mentioned earlier, the SmartWings skylight shades are custom-made to fit each skylight opening.

When measuring, you submit three sets of measurements for the width of the opening, and on one of my skylights, there was a significant difference between the top measurement and the bottom measurement.

The shades are made with the smallest measurement (otherwise they wouldn’t fit into the opening and the motor wouldn’t work), so when we hung that one shade, there were decent gaps in between the skylight frame and the frame of the shade.

These gaps allowed light to come through, so we pressed inexpensive foam backer rod into the gaps, and the light was eliminated. The backer rod isn’t visible in the gaps, so it really was a perfect solution.

To be clear, this is not a manufacturing defect; it’s just the nature of how the skylight shades have to be made. Thankfully, there’s a simple solution.

Did the motorized skylight shades make a difference?

I mean, if I could scream this I would: I wish we would have installed motorized skylight shades sooner!

The difference is insane. These are my favorite things we’ve ever put in our home.

First of all, that moon is not bothering me at night anymore. Thank goodness. The bedroom is so much darker and better for sleeping both at night and in the morning. (But let’s be real: with kids, I’m not sleeping too late anyway.)

Next, the ability to block the afternoon sun is incredible. And, we don’t have to close the shades all the way if we don’t want to. Even having them partially closed has drastically helped with that heat. I just know this is going to help with our air conditioning bills this summer.

The difference in my quality of life as it relates to my sleep and enjoyment of my bedroom is significant. (I can’t believe I’m saying that because of window treatments.)

At the end of the day, you don’t want your skylights to be a nuisance. They’re supposed to be a nice feature of your home. So if you’re dealing with glare, heat, or early-morning light, I genuinely think motorized blackout skylight shades are worth the investment.

Please ask me any questions in the comments below and I’ll do my best to answer them.

My house has many enormous, old radiators. Slowly but surely, I’ve been painting them to fix years of neglect (think chipping paint and/or rust spots), or poor paint color choices from previous owners (think mustard yellow).

I can honestly say that, until recently, radiator painting was my LEAST FAVORITE JOB IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD.

But now I’ve finally figured out how to paint a radiator the easy way, and I am happy to pass along my tips to you!

Before I figured out how to paint radiators with the method I’m going to tell you about, I painted them by hand. Each of the medium-sized radiators I brush-painted took about a week of half-day painting sessions to complete.

A week of stinky oil-based paint smell in my house, blocked off areas so that paint would not get smudged, and the mess that accompanies any painting job.

Needless to say, I was really dreading painting the radiators in my living room, which were gigantic yellow monstrosities. Here’s one . . .

And here’s the other. . .

I figured that each of these yellow beasts would take me about two weeks to refinish. And that’s why painting these radiators kept getting pushed to the bottom of the to-do list.

But now I know the SECRET of how to paint a radiator the easy way, and I am so glad to tell you that this method is life-changing. Seriously!

Supplies Needed to Paint a Radiator the Easy Way

Thank you to HomeRight for providing the product used in this post. The project and opinions are all my own. Also, this post contains affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy for more information.

The KEY to painting a radiator is a spray painter. I am telling you that it makes all the difference in the world (and is MUCH cheaper than hiring a painter to tackle your radiators). I used the HomeRight Finish Max Sprayer for the first radiator I refinished in this room, and the HomeRight Super Finish Max Sprayer for the second radiator I refinished in this room. Both sprayers worked great for refinishing radiators, but you can read about why I liked the Finish Max Extra Fine Finish Sprayer more in the updated portion of this post near the end!
3M Advanced Masking Film
Scotch Blue Painter’s Tape
Spray Painting Mask (I wore a head sock like this; no joke. I didn’t post a photo of myself in it because I looked a little bit like a murderer or a terrorist.)
Rustoleum Metal Primer
Rustoleum Protective Enamel (I used a Satin finish)
Acetone (for thinning the oil-based paint to use in the sprayer) (NOTE: if you use the HomeRight Super Finish Max Sprayer I talk about in the updated section of this post below, you will not need Acetone.)
Mineral spirits (for cleaning up the sprayer once you’re finished)
Wire brush
TSP pre-paint cleaner
Vacuum with a hose extension or long feather dusters
Recommended: lead paint testing kit

Instructions for How to Paint a Radiator

Before you do anything, make sure the radiator is turned off! Painting radiators is a job best done in the spring or summer, when you’re not using them.

Step One: Remove Loose Paint

Begin by scraping any loose paint areas from the radiator using the metal brush.

VERY IMPORTANT: YOUR RADIATOR COULD HAVE LEAD PAINT ON IT. MAKE SURE TO USE ALL PROPER PRECAUTIONS BEFORE SCRAPING PAINT, AS INHALATION OF LEAD PAINT CAN HAVE SERIOUS HEALTH CONSEQUENCES. TO LEARN MORE, PLEASE VISIT THIS LINK.

Step Two: Clean the Radiator

Next, clean the radiator like the Queen of England is coming to visit, and her butler will be giving the place a white-glove inspection.

Begin by vacuuming as much dust off of it as you can, and then washing it down with TSP. Once it’s dry, dust it again. I promise you, it will still be dirty.

Step Three: Protect Surrounding Surfaces

After you’ve cleaned the radiator, protect the entire area around the radiator with the masking film. Tape it everywhere. The last thing you want is oil-based paint all over your walls or floors.

The masking film is actually really easy to hang and goes up pretty quickly. I told my kids it was our new curtains; they were not impressed.

Step Four: Prime the Radiator

Once you have the entire area protected, set up your sprayer and thin the primer according to the manufacturer’s directions. (NOTE: if you use the HomeRight Super Finish Max Sprayer I talk about in the updated section of this post below, you will not need to thin the primer.)

Then spray the entire radiator with primer. It will already look a million times better!

(TIP: If you’ve never before used the sprayer you’ll be using for this job, you should test it out on a piece of cardboard first.)

(TIP: Oil-based paint smells REALLY, REALLY bad. Make sure you have the windows open and a fan going when you do this.)

Step Five: Paint the Radiator

Let the primer dry according to the manufacturer’s directions, and then spray the protective enamel as the topcoat. Smile at your spouse or significant other because you’re so happy with the way this project is going! Seriously – you will not believe how much time you’re saving because of using the paint sprayer.

Once the entire radiator is sufficiently covered, clean the paint sprayer like the Queen’s butler will also be giving it the white glove inspection. Prepare yourself that it will be a pain, simply because you’ve used oil-based paint for your radiator painting project, and oil-based paint is chronically frustrating and time-consuming to clean up.

Still, even though the clean-up process is a bit involved, the entire project can be completed in less than a day, which is SO MUCH FASTER than hand brushing a radiator.

The finish is SO smooth (unlike the finish on the radiators that I hand-brushed), and I am thrilled with the result! I vow to NEVER paint a radiator by hand again. Never.

Thank goodness the mustard yellow radiator paint is gone!

I still have one of the radiators in my living room left to paint, but I’ll get that done in the next month or so. I wanted to make sure this method actually worked before I tackled both of the yellow beasts at once!

Update: Radiator Painting with HomeRight Super Finish Max Sprayer

Although I planned to spray paint that second radiator last fall, I didn’t get around to it before we turned the heat back on. It all worked out in the end, however, because HomeRight came out with a new version of the Finish Max Sprayer, the HomeRight Super Finish Max Sprayer, which has a few more features that made radiator painting even easier than when I originally wrote this post!

The feature I liked best about this new version of the sprayer is that I didn’t have to thin the primer, and I only thinned the radiator paint a tiny bit (and just as a precaution).

I don’t even think thinning the paint was necessary; I only thinned it a little because I still had acetone left from the radiator I spray-painted last year. Not having to thin the paint and do straining tests to see if it will work in the sprayer was a huge timesaver!

I also really liked that this new version of the sprayer has a flow control dial built right in, so I could easily adjust the amount of paint coming out of the sprayer depending on which part of the radiator I was working on.

The Super Finish Max Sprayer also comes with different nozzles and air caps so it can be used on a wide array of projects like cabinets, furniture, fences, decks, and more. (I most recently used it to paint my oak kitchen cabinets!)

I took my yellow radiator from this . . .

to this . . .

even faster than I did the first time around.

I cannot emphasize how much easier the HomeRight Finish Max Sprayer and the HomeRight Super Finish Max Sprayer made this job. Anyone who knows me has heard me complain about hand-painting my radiators in the past. I promise that all anyone’s heard about this project is how wonderfully easy it was!

If you have any radiators to paint in your home, I absolutely recommend that you use this approach to paint them – do not hand-paint them. You will want to pull your hair out!

How We Fixed Our Too-Bright Skylights With Motorized Blackout Shades