From Goodwill to goodie!

So I'm still trying to put the finishing touches on our new Hawaiian home, and with a slew of visitors heading our way in the next few weeks my OCD-ness (as my husband calls it) is kicking into overdrive. This means details people! :) I'm sure our visitors won't care or maybe even not notice whether the chairs outside are black or espresso, but apparently it matters somewhere in my brain. ;)

Anyways, I found this little lantern a few weeks ago at the Goodwill ~ can I just say the pickings here are much, much slimmer than at home so a good find is a great find here! It reminded me of West Elm accents, which is my new favorite inspiration by the way. It seems the older I get ~oh my gosh, I sound so old! :( ~ my decorating tastes are changing. Remember my shabby-chic phase Mom? :) Anyways, I'm into contemporary-traditional now (I think!) But anyways, this lantern was cute, but not complete.


Pay no attention to the lil' buddha belly behind the scenes, or the fact that my shot was blurry because a certain K-9 was running around my feet, chasing down crumbs from the lil' buddha belly. Ahem. So when I got it home, I decided to yank out the orangy plexi-glass sides, which was no easy feat with all the little metal tabs holding it in. Grr. Anyways, one butter knife later and 16 little metal tabs later, here she is on an end table in our living room:


Ahh, a cheap, simple, and extremely easy makeover that cost a total of $2. The lantern was marked $4, but I snagged it 1/2 off and a 10% military discount. Hey, every penny counts, right? :) And I didn't need to paint it because black is an accent I've been using in picture frames and such. Now we enjoy her flickering glory at night while we watch our favorite flicks. One more "detail" marked off my never-ending, self-induced OCD list. Hope you all had a great 4th of July and hope to hear from you soon! :)

Love,
Jen