I love designer fabric and furniture, but the high prices make it hard to justify (especially when I change my mind frequently!) I like to get a high end look at a fraction of the price by putting a little, time, effort, and creative thinking to work!I’ve been obsessing over Schumacher Zimba fabric forever, it is absolute perfection for draperies! But, at about $100 a yard (that means about $300 just for ONE panel), it is definitely not in the budget. By creating my own stencil and buying pre-made white draperies from Ikea, I was able to get two panels for about $25!!

 

 

Ever since seeing one doubling as a window seat, I have been dying to build an upholstered bench ottoman. Inspired by Anthropologie’s bench ottoman that costs $1,700, I built this ottoman for under $100. I cut costs by using an inexpensive comforter in lieu of foam, upholstry webbing as a top support, and a drapery panel for fabric. It’s perfect for extra seating or a place to rest your feet.Custom cornices can be very pricey especially when topping a large window. For this window, I wanted a 95″ length which can cost over $850. I built this cornice using 1×12 and 1×6 to create the frame and a long tablecloth for fabric for under $25.

 

 

These three diy projects transformed this window area and cost me only $150. The time and effort was definitely worth it over paying over $3,000 for all of the originals! 

  

4. Faux Chair Slipcover 

 

 

 

5. Anthro-inspired Ikat Console

 

I LOVE this store. I love the colors, the design, the textures, the ambiance, and inspiration that I always find there. When I saw this gorgeous ikat hand painted console, I knew it was the perfect piece of inspiration for my CWTS Knock off. (and at $1698–it’s a great piece to knock off 😉

Using a cabinet base from IKEA and an ikat stencil from Olive Leaf Stencils, I recreated the console, choosing a similar color palette, with some color adjustments to fit my own house and decor scheme.

They say “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” Well, Anthro, you most certainly have mine. In honor of my love for this store, I styled the console using some Anthropologie treasures, in addition to some old wooden spools & candles, books and beautiful orange tulips.

  

6. Anthro-Inspired Sharpie Plate Art 

  

 

 

 

Woo… week 2! After the crazy, hectic, eating-cereal-for-dinner kind of week last week was I was hoping for a “knockoff” project I could knockout quickly. Apparently, I don’t know how to do that. I chose to knockoff Lost Arcadia By Molly Hatch sold by Anthropologie for $7,500! Since that’s about $7,450 over my budget, I decided to see if it could be done on the cheap. 

 

 

  

It’s basically 30 plates hung together with a painted scene going across all the plates. At $7,500, that’s $250 per plate. Luckily Dollar Tree sells white plates for a buck. And, since I was pretty sure painting freehand on the plates wasn’t going to look all that great, I used a Sharpie and a projector. All you have to do is trace… easy. 

  

 

 

I chose to trace a botanical print on my plates since I felt it looked a little more modern, but tried to keep the style and overall feel the same–very loose and all black and white. The plates are hung using Command Strips. At 5 feet wide and 6 feet tall, it makes quite the impact on the wall, not the bank account.7. Horchow-inspired Mirrors

So, here we are at round 2 (Did you see all of the awesome projects in round 1?). This week’s theme is Knock-Off, which I love. I’m cheap frugal, and just can’t spend the money that some of the big name websites want for their stuff. Plus, I’m sure my husband would think I’m certifiably insane if I bought a $300 vase or $100 throw pillow. But just because I’m designing on a budget doesn’t mean that I can’t have nice things, right?

I saw these mirrors over at Horchow, and loved them. I’m one of those ladies that thinks that you can never have enough mirrors in your house. Mirrors to make your room look bigger. Mirrors to reflect light and brighten up your space. Mirrors to make sure you don’t have food in your teeth. The more, the merrier. But $1095 shipped? Yikes. No thank you. But looking at them, I figured I could make them.  

A quick stop at Hobby Lobby for the wooden plates and big mirror, a not so quick stop by Home Depot for the rope and other supplies, and a call and stop by the local mirror place for the smaller mirror size that I couldn’t find pre-cut anywhere. Then it was time to go home to paint, sand and assemble.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did have to get creative with the black caps that Horchow has on the ends of their ropes. My solution? PVC end caps, simply spray painted black. Some black BBQ & Stove spray paint on the metal (which is holding nicely as long as you don’t bang around the metal) and voila! Drill a hole in the PVC, hot glue the hooks and rope, and BOOM.

  

Slightly smaller, slightly lighter in color, but perfectly me.  

 

8. West Elm-inspired Wood Tile Dresser

It didn’t take long for me to figure out what I wanted to do for this week’s challenge. I’ve been lusting after this wood-tiled dresser from West Elm for months and months, but at a whopping $900, it just wasn’t going to happen. So, this challenge gave me the perfect excuse to try and re-create it on my own! And I think it turned out pretty awesome.  

  

I found this gorgeous antique dresser at a local flea market and knew it would be the perfect piece for this project. It’s not quite as modern as the original, but it has some nice clean lines and wooden casters, which make me a little weak in the knees. With a fresh coat of paint, some DIY-ed hardware, and a whole bunch of whitewashed, hand-cut wood tiles it looks pretty dang close to the original. 

  

 

Really, if I’m being honest, I like my version just a little bit better. 😉 

  

9. Anthro-inspired Duvet 

 

When I first saw the Corin Duvet from Anthropologie, I fell in love with its details. Hand stitching, gathered fabric, pure gorgeousness. But it also came with a price tag that was way out of my league.
I wanted this look for our room but didn’t want to spend $400 (and I didn’t want to sew anything) so I bought a white duvet cover and a bottle of puffy paint.PUFFY PAINT?! Yes, I said puffy paint.

I used a picture of the original and a steady hand to paint the details onto my duvet.

But don’t worry, the look is nothing like those cheesy tee shirts you used to make! 😉

 

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 It’s time to vote!  

You guys have a ridiculously hard job- we don’t envy you a bit!  
You can only vote one time, but you can vote for your favorite 3 projects.

Thanks for voting! Check back tomorrow to see Monica’s Knockoff that saved her over $1500!   

Did you miss the Round 1 projects? You can see them all here.   

Want to know the results of Round 1? Click here!