Hello, I think my head is slightly hurting, so sorry if this is a silly question.

I have an old light fitting that I would like to hang in my house. But the problem is, is that it is really quite rusty on one side. So I wanted to try and repair it, or clean off the rust and respray it black, before hanging it.

It's not really worth much, but I thought it was kind of interesting. And I have an odd part of my house that I think was added on at one point. Where it has a high ceiling but is also like a bit of a lean too and covers a walkway to the next room. I think they were two houses at one point. But I though this light fitting might look interesting there.

But how do I clean the rust off and then paint it, so the rust doesn't come back. I think it was in storage somewhere very damp for a while. Maybe even in a slightly flooded basement or something. Because the rust is very bad on one side.

I know there are lots of different chemicals you can buy and some people say vinegar and other things. But my husband says that stuff never really works. So I was wondering if I could just try and sand it as best I can and then just paint over the top of it.

I think the problem is I don't really know much about rust. I am really worried that, if I sand most of it off and then paint over it, if I haven't got all the rust cleared off, can it start growing again?

I really only want to do this once. Hence the question. I suppose the chemicals probably neutralise the spread of the rust or something.

Can anyone recommend the correct way to clean the rust off? I don't really want to make a huge exercise out of this. I was just a little trinket I found and wanted to add a bit of character to dull part of my home.

Thanks
Joyce