Spray paint recessed light trim to give your ceiling lights a quick update! Sharing all the tips, tricks & answering your questions of how to paint recessed light trim in less than 5 minutes for just a few dollars & only 1 can of spray paint!
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Tips for How to Paint Recessed Light Trim
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Can you Paint Recessed Light Trim
Yes, you can paint recessed light trim.
It is a great way to update your ceiling lights for just a few dollars & painting recessed light trim couldn’t be an easier home DIY project.
I am very thankful that our farmhouse already had a lot of recessed light trim to begin with.
Honestly, this is our first house that has ceiling lights in it.
In our last house, we literally had one floor lamp in the living room & I always felt like I was siting in the dark.
Can You Paint Recessed Light Trim that is Black
Our new house has a ton of “huge” recessed lights…black ones.
I really don’t understand why you wouldn’t pick recessed lights the same color as your ceiling?
They are in every room & they are UGLY….
Rather than draw your eye to the room they draw your eye to the ceiling.
In my opinion, they look like mini space ships stuck in ceiling & are not the best design idea!
Black Recessed Light Trim Before
We had not tried to paint recessed light trim before because I thought I had to change them out completely & that it would be costly & messy.
I didn’t realize I could take out the black can insert of the light & paint recessed light trim white with only spray paint.
So, if you were wondering if you can paint recessed light trim… yes, you can & SHOULD if yours are ugly like mine were.
Taking out the Recessed Lights to Spray Paint
Some recessed light trim pop right out!
All you need to do is unscrew the bulb & pull it out.
Spray Paint Recessed Light Trim in the Living Room
Tips to Prep your Recessed Light Trim before Painting
Don’t forget to lay down an old sheet or drop cloth before you paint recessed light trim.
Also, when using spray paint it is best to do it outside & save your lungs & the air inside your home from the strong paint smell!
For our living room recessed lights all we had to do was to take out the light bulbs, pull out the black insert part, spray paint it, & pop it back in after it dried.
Recessed Light Trim After
All told, it took less than 5 minutes to spray paint recessed light trim.
The recessed lights look SO much better now painted white to match our living room ceiling!
*Update* We are still spray painting the recessed lights around our farmhouse!
Spray Paint Recessed Light Trim in our kitchen with Bead Board Ceiling
For the recessed lights in our kitchen, I had to unhook the can light covers from the ceiling in order to spray paint it.
I was able to spray paint all of these recessed lights with just one can of paint!
Before & After Spray Painting Recessed Light Trim
You can really see here the difference the paint makes between our old recessed light before painting & what it looks like after!
We decided on a flat paint since we have been painting our ceilings with a flat paint & wanted them to blend in with the rest of our ceiling.
We found our spray paint at Lowes.
I hope this post inspires you & answers all your questions about how to spray paint recessed lights at your home!
by Tara Lehman
Don’t forget to pin how to spray paint recessed light trim & save it to your favorite DIY Project Pinterest board!
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Was wondering what paint you used. Was it metal trim or plastic? Has the paint held up to the heat? Thanks.
Thanks so much for stopping by to check out how we painted our recessed lights Art! I used Valspar spray paint suitable for metal because the trim is metal. I wasn’t worried about using one specially for heat because we used LED bulbs and they don’t heat up that much. The trim still looks great now 3 years later and I haven’t had to touch them up since.
Hi… there are so many different shades of white not sure what color to use… I agree flat will probably look the best but not sure what shade of white.
Thank you for stopping by to check out my post on how to paint recessed light trim. We chose just a basic shade of white that is a close match to our ceiling paint. You could take a sample of your ceiling paint to the store and pick out what white flat spray paint is that is the closest match.