Sharing A Little Light

I know that I have shared before that when we first moved into our house there were a lot of things that we loved and there were things about our home that we knew that needed to be changed. Some pronto (like the paint colours) and others that would need some time (kitchen, bathroom, floors, basement, etc.). 

One of the things we knew that needed to hit the road was the light fixture in our dining room. 

If that isn't enough ugliness for you, here's a close up (sorry for the really bad nighttime quality): 

I don't know how someone could have seen that in the store and said, "Yes! That is the light for our dining room!"

My first vision to replace the fixture was a drum shade pendant light. After we tried it out though, I wasn't feeling it. 

So we lived without a light for almost six months. Yup. six months. We only had the lamp behind the couch and floor lamp as our light source in the living room/dining room. Very romantic. 

Until we went to our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore last week. Then I saw these beauties: 

 Instantly this lantern image started flashing in my head:

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and this one:

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I looked at the price tag and it was $15.00. Say what!? I told Jesse my plan (it's a good thing that he trusts me) and we scooped up that little lantern and took it home with us. We made a quick pit stop at Home Depot for some Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint. Then I got to work making the ugly duckling into a beautiful swan.

Here it is before in all it's 1987 gold glory: 

 Before I could go crazy with the spray paint, I needed to prep the fixture. After I took the lantern apart and taped up all the pieces that I didn't want covered with paint, 

I cut out templates of the glass area out of newspaper. I then taped each piece on with painters tape. 

I also made sure to stuff the inside with newspaper and tape around the bottom so that the inside wasn't covered in paint. 

After it was all painted, it needed to "cure" for a few days so that the paint wouldn't scratch off as we hung it up. 

Then came the fun part of taking the paper and tape off and cleaning the glass. (I'm being sarcastic.) It literally took me almost 2 hours to clean it up. Even though I had taped it so carefully, paint still seeped through in some areas and only nail polish remover (thank you google) would only remove it. 

Fast forward putting it all back together, figuring it out the proper length that we wanted it over the table, cutting the chain shorter, cleaning the glass again, here it is!

After I took the paper out of the inside, I realized that the top part of the inside was still gold, so I just sprayed some of the paint into a small container and painted it on with a paint brush. 

I can't stop staring at it. I love that it doesn't over take the small space and that we can see right through to the window. 

 One more picture to show you how it glimmers at night: 

 So the price lowdown was: $15.00 for the lantern and $9.99 (plus tax) for the spray paint. The total was around $25.00! Compared to the ones that I showed for my inspiration that are roughly listed around $250- $300 (American), I think we did good. :) 

Have you ever been to your local Habitat for Humanity ReStore? If not, it's worth taking a meander through! Sometimes it's a hit or miss, but you can find some neat treasures hiding out. 

Happy weekend! 

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