Thinking Outside The Catalog

I don't know about you, but it is very easy to get caught up in the mail catalogs and their perfectly put together rooms, with ideally designed layouts and custom made products. Sure, they look amazing, and sure you would love to transplant every object on the front cover into your own home, but chances are, if you are anything like me, you save and save and save to splurge on one item out of the entire catalog. Sorry Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn, William Sonoma, oh the list goes on and on, I have seen the light. I will no longer feel disappointed when I cannot afford to achieve the look you are teasing me with. The best eye opening experience I have had to-date has come through this crazy blog world we now live in. I am inspired by the creative minds that fill the blogging world, and I cannot help but stalk them for the most amazing ideas. Apart from Overstock.com, where you can find some good steals, buying online can always be a little scary for me, and more often than not you get what you paid for (by the way, I am still waiting on my light which is scheduled for delivery on Saturday, which is perfect since we will be in LA!) Forget the sticker shock, put a little elbow grease into a few of these projects and you can recreate most of these looks for a fraction of the cost. Check out my Must See! list on the right sidebar for some more great ideas that I have stalked out.

DesignSpongeOnline is a great resource for these ideas. A few that caught my fancy: An Industrial Light, a Mason Jar Light, and a Chevron Rug. Click on the image to go to the DIY tutorial.

DIY- Industrial pendant lights

Reminiscent of PotteryBarn's Edison chandelier $399

Anthropologie's $298

 

Anthropologie's $98

The 85 Lamps Chandelier by Rodi Graumans $3,796.00

DIY- Mason Jar lights

You can buy this for $200 also, here!

Similar- featured in Anthropologie in January

Other lighting ideas, that I am sure we could recreate, wink wink:

From $1,000 to $1,200 each at Rewire

Anthropologie $148

DIY- Chevron Rug

Reminiscent of West Elm- $459

Madeline Weinrib $2000+

On a final DIY note, and since I have highlighted a lot of lighting, when I was hunting for a light for my craft room, I stumbled upon this fabulous little gadget, called a Shade Pendant Adapter from Shades of Light.

It may not look like much to you but to me it is a world of possibilities. May I introduce you to the Shade Pendant Hardware Kit from ShadesofLight.com. For a whopping $49, you can convert any standard shade with a washer ring adapter into a hanging fixture. Yes that’s right, any standard shade. Let the hunt for the perfect shade begin. Shades of Light, Anthropologie and LampsPlus have some really great shades.

And if you aren't into the whole DIY thing, here is a site that helps you find that Look for Less. Hope this helps you achieve that catalog look you have been drooling over lately. Not that the room you have been trying to achieve includes these 3 DIY items I have highlighted, but hopefully it at least sparked an interest and fire in you for finding similar items without breaking the bank. If you have some of your own creations let me know, I would love to hear about them!