Fire Alarms: Do Not Paint…

So yeah, the fire alarms in our condo are hard-wired to the walls [aka no batteries to change, and excruciatingly loud when they go off] and over the years have become very ugly and yellowed.  Particularly the 3 upstairs alarms – one in each bedroom, and one in the hallway about 15 feet up.  They all say “Do Not Paint” on them.  So last weekend I finally got the last of them painted.  You saw that coming, right?

Here’s a before and after shot of the one in the upstairs hallway [looking straight up from 15 feet below]:

Muuuuuuch better.  I made sure not to paint over the green light. Or the red light. Or the slots where the smoke and fire get in. So I think we’re good.  That bright white thing next to it is a heat alarm, which are all over the condo.

I don’t have before pictures of the 2 in the bedrooms, but they were as ugly and yellowed as the one in the hallway WOOF.  I painted the alarm in the girl cave Benjamin Moore Violet Mist to match the walls, and the one in the master bedroom Benjamin Moore White Dove to match the walls in there.  The one in the hallway is also painted White Dove, which doesn’t match the ceiling paint, but it’s so high up you can’t tell.  Score!

Here are the after shots of the bedroom alarms.  I took the girl cave photo last night at sunset, hence the pretty pink colors on the wall:

I ended up replacing all of our hardwired fire alarms with brand new ones.  It was a MUCH better option than painting the old ones.  Fire alarms should be replaced when they old!  Not painted.