Our Hopeful Home: wave coral

A few months ago when I got this Pottery Barn Catalog

I was taken with their

DECORATE

Vases & Vase Filler

section of the catalog.

It reminded me of prior summers, having placed sand in a glass hurricane with some shells. I knew I could copy theirs pretty easily. I started with my Anchor Hocking glass cookie jar.

And here it is sans lid.

It was all of $9.99 at our local hardware store. It looks exactly like Pottery Barn's for $49.50.
PB calls it an Aegean Hurricane.

Add some sand.

This is actual bona fide New Jersey seashore sand, brought back fresh by me from our family vacation over the 4th of July. I didn't really take any pictures this year (gasp!) but you can visit here and get the gist. Two of the chickadees actually shoveled it up and bagged it for me right before we left for the airport. Priceless.

Add an electric candle I already had, a starfish and some vacation shells and you're done. I'm loving it!

The beach sign is made from a Dollar Store silver tray that I painted with chalkboard paint. I bought the tray stand on sale at Hobby Lobby, then painted it white and distressed it.

I just love it when I can make something inexpensively that sells for beaucoup bucks somewhere else, don't you?

I also really wanted to show you something else we brought back from the shore. Not only is it made of shells, it's made of WHITE shells. And you know how I feel about white!

I just found it really fascinating and different. I'd never seen anything like it before.

Coupled with its' little hand-carved stand I thinks it's pretty cool.

It cost all of $8.95. (Gotta love the "Shell Shack," as we call it. It's really a fishing/bait and tackle shop we visit each year to pick up some awesome shells for pretty reasonable prices.)

Upon closer inspection I thought it was a bit like either the PB Wave Coral ($59) above

or their Barnacle (letter E, $129!).

I'll be displaying it right next to my revamped summer decor glass orb thingys (blogged about here) and some (sort of) home made coral that I'll tell you how to make later.

So, I was pretty happy with my inexpensive PB knock-off look. And I'm obviously loving the whole beachy, nautical look these days.

How about you?

xoxo