Inspiration to Creation!

I have admired West Elm's furniture as well as their home decor for quite a while.  They always seem to have fresh and fun new ideas that work so well with their modern furniture.  My latest craving from West Elm is their Manzanita Wall art (pictured below). 

I love it so much but just can't see spending $99 for something I may tire of in a year or two.... So on one of my many recent shopping trips to Target where I usually purchase things like, diapers, hand soap and paper towels I was checking out their candle decor aisle and noticed these for $15!


I
I thought that maybe with a coat of silver spray paint I could get a similar effect for the blank wall in my dining area.

This is them before painting them with Krylon's Brilliant Silver Metallic paint, very pretty but I really wanted silver...

And after painting them and hanging them on the wall (my husband will kill me if he knows how many holes I actually put in the wall trying to find the perfect spot on this wall!) Not the best picture

A close up

A little better picture

Well thanks for looking, just thought I'd share my inspiration and my little creation that I'm feeling so proud of.   My husband actually walked in the house this evening and noticed these little candle holders on the wall and said "hey where'd those come from? they look nice"  I couldn't believe it cause he never notices anything!  Tomorrow I'm doing a post about purple and how much I love all the purple rooms I've been seeing online lately.  Have a great night:)

Fall Centerpieces Part Two!

So I guess my quest is finally over to find the perfect centerpiece to decorate my table for the fall season and I'm now going to move on to making my own Christmas ornaments soon, for the first time! so please cross your fingers for me:) I did purchase 4 green straw placemats from Target at $2.49 each and I think it definately helps the table.  Here are a few of the centerpiece options I decided on depending on what I feel like day to day.  The first option is fresh flowers and berries, I got the idea on about.com, here is their version

And here is the flower arrangement I came up with using a low square glass vase I already had at home, and I used yellow mums instead of cream carnations, it cost about $8 for 2 small bunches of the flowers from the grocery store and $6 for two packages of cranberries which I didn't use all of, not bad for $14!

And here is the arrangement on my table with my new straw placemats, I really like it and will use it on the table until the flowers die,

And here are a couple more centerpieces I came up with with some items I already had and some I purchased, For the centerpiece below I actually spent about $28, $8 on the tray, $10 on the candles and rest on the faux berries and leaves, all from Michael's.

Another photo of it on my dining table

This one was easy, I just used the glass bowl of foam pears I already had on my table and added a few of the leaves and berries from the centerpiece above, this one may be a favorite because it's simple but has a little oomph added to the berries

This one is the same one as above, only I added the apple scented candle from the centerpiece with the candles and leaves on the brown metal tray, I actually think this looks a bit Christmasy maybe? the red candle with the green pears makes me think of Christmas and not of Thanksgiving.

Well thanks so much for looking at my fall table decor ideas and let me know which one you think I should keep on my dining table, here they all are again

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Option 4

Thanks again for looking!

Favorite Fall Decor

We have a really tiny 2 bedroom duplex that I am dying to move out of as soon as possible but as long as we are here I am determined to make it as pretty as possible!  We recently got a new dining table and chair set from Target which I love and I've been looking for cute fall decor ideas to make it more pretty, right now it looks like this

pretty boring right?  although I really like my $6 pedestal bowl and foam pears (also from Target) I really want to dress up the table a bit for the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday even though we won't be at home for dinner.  I know the table is really small but I think with maybe a few placemats and maybe a more colorful display in the center that it will really wake up the area.  So in my quest to find ideas I found a ton of really cute and easy to do table centerpieces.  Check them out below!

These ideas come from the Better Homes and Gardens website, check out the how to on their site, http://www.bhg.com/holidays/thanksgiving/indoor-decorating/pretty-thanksgiving-centerpieces/?page=3

check out these pretty harvest candle rings

How to's at http://www.bhg.com/holidays/thanksgiving/indoor-decorating/pretty-thanksgiving-centerpieces/?page=5

I love this 1!

How to's at http://www.bhg.com/holidays/thanksgiving/indoor-decorating/pretty-thanksgiving-centerpieces/?page=6

Another one from bhg.com although I think this one would be even prettier with brighter flowers

One of my favorites because I love the spray painted silver pumpkins sooo much!

This one is beautiful, festive and super easy!

Love this mix of green apples and grapes along with white roses, see how to do it here http://www.bhg.com/holidays/thanksgiving/indoor-decorating/thanksgiving-fruit-centerpieces/?page=6

I would do this one on a beautiful white, silver or gold platter and maybe use just one color of candles

Something like this would work well for a small table like mine! Yay! 

Another small centerpiece for those of us with tiny tables:)

Check this idea out from About.com! I love the simplicity of using carnations and cranberries! check out the how to's here http://entertaining.about.com/od/flowersandcenterpieces/ss/flowersberries.htm

Check out another from about.com and see how to do it here http://entertaining.about.com/od/flowersandcenterpieces/ss/pumpkinflowers_3.htm

And 1 more simple one from About.com, directions here http://entertaining.about.com/od/flowersandcenterpieces/ss/flowersgourds_4.htm

Well that's all folks! I hope you got some great ideas for table centerpieces, I know I did.  As soon as I figure out which one I will do I'll post the results.  Thanks for checking out my post.

West Elm Lookalikes!

If you are anything like me and love the furniture at West Elm but sometimes don't love the price tag check out these West Elm knockoffs/look alikes!

This first photo is of the West Elm Framed Side Table ($149) and the and West Elm Framed Bridge Table($199). http://www.westelm.com/products/f999/?pkey=cside-accent-tables

These tables from Ikea are in no way exact lookalikes but if you need an inexpensive nesting table set check out the Klubbo nesting tables for $79.99, http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30135026

The next lookalike comes from Overstock, the livinded three-tier vanity display table at $69.99, http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Livinded-Three-tier-Vanity-Display-Stand/4079442/product.html

compared to this version at West Elm for $169.99, http://www.westelm.com/products/f033/?pkey=cside-accent-tables

 The Overstock version is a great deal for a $100 less and gets a great rating of 4.8 stars out of 5 on overstock.com!

These next photos are of the West Elm angled-leg side at $169, http://www.westelm.com/products/f913/?pkey=cside-accent-tables and

the angled-leg coffee table for $299, http://www.westelm.com/products/f914/?pkey=ccoffee-tables

but check out these very similar tables from Ikea!

the Vejmon side table for $99, http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80136679

and the Vejmon coffee table for $149! http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00136678

The next look-alike is my personal favorite but that's probably because I purchased it for my own home.  Check out the cute scoop back dining chairs from West Elm for $99 each wich come in an array of colors and patterns, http://www.westelm.com/products/f886/?pkey=cdining-tables-chairs

and now check out my dining chair (sorry for the poor picture quality) from none other than Target!

It's not an exact match but comes pretty close and at $79 for a pack of 2 chairs I think I found a pretty good deal.  They don't however sell these chairs online, only in the store.

Okay my next related lookalike is again my favorite since it the dining table that goes with my Target chairs.  Here is the West Elm Parson's Table that seats 4 for $299 http://www.westelm.com/products/f860/?pkey=cdining-tables-chairs

And here is the Target lookalike in my microscopic dining area (please ignore my crappy photography and dirty carpet:) The Target table is not as sturdy as I'd like but for $99 I can't complain.

I must point out that I have owned furniture from West Elm and it is very pretty and solidly made although the wood tends to scratch easily so in the future if I did purchase another table from them I would definately have plexi-glass or regular glass cut to fit the top to preserve the life of the table. 

My last set of lookalikes are mirrors and seriously the first set look so much alike I couldn't tell the difference when I saw it in my friends home.  Check out West Elm's chunky wood floor mirror for $399 http://www.westelm.com/products/w217/?pkey=cmirrors

Now check out Ikea's version called Mongstad for $99! 

I kid you not, this looks almost exactly like the West Elm version in person!

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00081591

The last lookalike is of West Elm's Mirror-framed mirror for $149

http://www.westelm.com/products/a048/?pkey=cmirrors

Now check out a version I found in my local Lowes Store for $68, not an exact match but still very similar and trust me, so much prettier in person

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=145605-13437-8364&lpage=none

Thanks so much for checking out my lookalikes post, I have much more to post in the near future so please come back!