How to Create Unique Lighting for Your Outdoor Space

Hi there! It’s the season to entertain outside and enjoy our special outdoor spaces on the deck, patio, or sun room, right? I created a unique “lantern” for Farmhouse Style Magazine last year that I think you’ll enjoy. In just a few easy steps, you can turn a “hobo oven” into unique lighting for your outdoor space.

You could easily light up your antique booth with it and draw customers in with this unusual but functional project. Slap a price tag on it and it should fly out the door in no time.

You’ve probably seen these ovens in junk stores or garage sales and wondered, “What could I turn that into?” I wondered the same and came up with today’s idea. Maybe you have others? I’d love to hear them in the comments.

Other outdoor entertaining posts: (1) stenciled cooler  (2) junk angel (3) hydrangea wilting prevention

Materials to Create Unique Lantern

This post contains affiliate links for products necessary to complete the project. This is both for your convenience as well as to support my blog, as I receive a small compensation whenever you click on such a link and make any sort of purchase, for which I thank you.

Materials:

• Antique “hobo oven”
• Bowl of water
• Wire brush (if necessary)
• Steel wool (if necessary)
• Craft paint (any color, I chose “Forest Green”)
• 2” chip brush
• Lint-free rag or another 2” chip brush
• Paste wax
• Fairy lights

Step 1: Remove Rust from the Hobo Oven

Hobo ovens were meant to be used outdoors over an open fire. They offer a slightly more sophisticated way of preparing food than, say the hot-dog-on-a-stick method. It contains two internal racks and some vents on the sides that ostensibly provide some way of controlling the process.

I picked up this rusty old example at a garage sale some years ago. It has sat in my garage for quite a while now. Sometimes when I’m looking for new project ideas, I just wander around the garage and hope that inspiration hits. This time it did!

Often you find these ovens in pretty rough shape, covered with lots of rust, like mine. To remove the rust, I used a simple, straightforward method I describe in my blog post about how to clean and care for rusty vintage items.

Step 1: Wipe off surface rust “dust” and dirt with a sponge or rag. Dip the wire brush in some water and lightly scrub the oven surface to remove flaking rust. Wipe off with a lint-free rag and continue as necessary. Use steel wool dipped in water to remove rust from tight areas. Wipe down with the rag.

NOTE: You will likely want some rust behind in order to get the vintage look you’re after, so make sure not to rub off every speck of rust. If your oven only has light rust, you may skip the wire brush and simply use steel wool.

Step 2: Paint the Hobo Oven

Step 2: Squirt a puddle of craft paint onto a paper plate. Be careful not to apply the paint too thickly; water it down a bit if necessary; and wipe it off with your rag as you go along to allow some rust to show through.

This is not a scientific process but an artistic one, so play around with it!

Step 3: Wax Your Unique Lighting 

Step 3: After allowing the paint to dry completely (I recommend overnight), apply a thin coat of paste wax with a lint-free cloth. Let the wax sit for about 10 minutes, then buff it out with a clean, lint-free cloth or a clean chip brush until the surface is smooth and dry to the touch.

This coat of wax provides a light sheen and some protection against the elements, though I don’t recommend leaving your lantern outside for too long. Several coats of polyurethane would offer better protection if you’d like to leave it outside all summer.

Step 4: Add Fairy Lights to Your Unique Lantern

Step 4: Place a set of white fairy lights inside your lantern, plug them in, and enjoy the soft glow! [Note: I layered them on the two shelves.] It’s one of my favorite accessories on the deck, and I think you’ll enjoy it too.

Here you can see the project in the Summer 2019 Farmhouse Style magazine 🙂

Thanks so much for stopping by!
If you enjoyed your visit, click Subscribe below and gain access to
my Member Library, filled with price guides, DIY tutorials, vintage printables & more!

Bye for now,