My $25 Dining Room Light Make-Over

Alright, here is our "before" picture. I hate "before" pictures. There is a story to this light fixture, but in a nutshell, suffice it to say that it had cost less than $3 and was always viewed as a temporary solution. That is, until I found this sweet thing for $15 on Craigslist last week... (scroll down!)

Of course, this was her "before" shot. However, a can of black spray paint does work wonders.

I strung her up on the inside of my trusty ladder and sprayed away!

Isn't that much better? She was meant to be painted black!

And, yep, I got paint on my ladder. Good thing that I don't really care. As far as I'm concerned, paint belongs on your ladder.

A cute helper is of course, completely optional.

Here she is hung, but before I swagged her.

I definitely needed a few chandelier shades for our new light fixture. I love the ones at Lowe's but they range from $6-$9 each and I needed 5. Paying that much is just not in my blood. I found these at Hobby Lobby. Did you notice the price? $3.99! And guess what? They were half off! That's right people~ $2 each! That's a price I can pay.

Now it seems as though our entire dining room is transformed. She gives out plenty of light, she's swagged high enough so the entire space is illuminated, and we all think it's a vast improvement. I am beyond ecstatic with the $25 we invested!