The Look For Less: Pottery Barn Toile Bedroom

I haven't done one of these in a while, so I thought this could be a fun exercise for today. I love the look of this Pottery Barn room.

I love the contrast of the crisp white against the dark chocolate walls, I love the toile bedding, I love the airy curtains framing the bed, and I love the cute little mirror above the bed.

Honestly though, it would be impossible for me to go out and buy everything in this room from Pottery Barn. I'm not picking on PB here, I love them, but I just don't have that kind of dough. So let's look at other ways to create this same look, shall we?

Bedding:

The Pottery Barn Matine Toile Duvet cover is $149.00 for a Queen, and standard shams are $29 each. That's not terrible, but let's look at other options.

The photo below is from Overstock.com. I know this pattern isn't "toile", but it does give the same feel. The best part? It's $39.99 for a queen sized duvet AND 2 shams. Are you liking it better now?

This appears to be the same pattern to me. I found this on Ebay (here's the link). The 3 piece set is listed for $79.99.
Here's another option for you, sew. I know, it's a scary option, but I promise the sewing machine won't bite. And here's some incentive for you; this option gives you the freedom to create exactly what you want for CHEAP!

For example, here are two brown toile fabrics I found on Fabric.com.

P. Kauffman Central Park Toile in Chocolate: On Sale for $10.19/yard

Premier Prints Jamestown Toile Brown/Natural: $6.98/Yard

To make a queen sized duvet cover you'd need about 5 yards of fabric, and a flat sheet (which you may already have). At the fabric prices listed above, you could have your own toile duvet for $35-$50.

Tired of me beating you over the head? It's okay...You don't have to sew if you don't want to. Really, I won't make you...I'm not going to come to your house to check up on you. Just giving you options here :-).

Sheer, Flowy Curtains/Something to Hang them On:

The lovely Pottery Barn curtains surrounding the bed are $25-$30 each.

These curtains at Ikea are $4.99...a PAIR! These curtains are $9.99 each at JC Penney (they come in white).

But what do you hang the curtains on if you don't have a canopy bed? How 'bout a ceiling mounted curtain rod? Like this one from JC Penney's?

Or, you could get super creative like this gal and build a wood frame on the ceiling and staple the curtains on the inside.

I would also scour Craigslist and fleamarkets for canopy beds that you could pick up for cheap.

Finally, Paint:

The paint color used in the Pottery Barn room is Benjamin Moore Kona (AF-165). It is really dark, though, so only go this dark if your room gets a ton of natural light. Also, I wouldn't recommend picking a paint color until you actually have your bedding since you want to make sure the browns match. I know...I'm being ultra helpful here :-).

So Let's Price Things Out:

The Pottery Barn Room: Bedding $207; Sheers (4) $100; Bed $1,299

Our Super Creative Option: Bedding $39-79; Sheers $10-40; Ceiling Mounts for Sheers $20-60

And...that's how I shop. That's how super-tight-income-little-'ol-me can afford to beautify my home. I hope this exercise gives you some hope that you can too.

THE LOOK FOR LESS: MASTER BEDROOM

First, I’ll be doing a GIVEAWAY this Friday to celebrate my 50th post. I’ll write more about it during the week, but be sure to stop by Friday for your chance to win!


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Remember when I came up with a plan to make a few changes to my master bedroom? Here's a refresher photo.




I already have the nightstands (purchased on clearance at the JC Penney Outlet last year for $49 each), and I have white bedding and a headboard similar to the one pictured above. So basically what I need to focus on is finding accessories to create the right look.


This pillow is by Thomas Paul and it's $100....a little bit much for me (and by a little I mean A LOT!).




I considered this option by Pottery Barn (found on Ebay). It was close to what I wanted, but the blue was a little more bold than I wanted, and I wanted to see if I could do better than $31.99.




And then I stumbled upon some lovely linen damask fabric at Hobby Lobby. It was 30% of it's normal price of $29.99 a yard, and I only need 1/2 yard to make a pillow...so I jumped on it (um, by the way...the lady at the cutting counter at Hobby Lobby may look at you a little funny when you ask for only 1/2 a yard of fancy upholstery fabric...just so you know).



I already had a pillow insert, so the total cost of this pillow? $10. Woo hoo!



I loved this wood tray(?)...vessel(?)...thingy. The one in the picture is from West Elm (no longer available), but I'm guessing it was $20-$30.




I stopped by a garage sale the other day and what did I find?





Oh yeah, wood tray, vessel, thingy. And the price? $4...YES, I said $4!


Finally, I loved this mercury glass candle holder. It was also from West Elm, and I'm not sure what the price was, but I'm guessing $20?




See this mercury looking vase?




The price? $2 on clearance at Hobby Lobby. Score!




I also bought a nice little mercury looking glass ball for $5. Combined with a candle holder I already have they look lovely.


I'll let you know when the bedroom is completely finished, but I'm loving how it's coming together so far.

VINTAGE GRAIN SACKS

I've been thinking about vintage grain sacks quite a bit lately...Ha! Can you imagine if that was a response to "Penney for your thoughts...?". Anyhoo, I've especially been drawn to the gorgeous monogrammed grain sacks out there. My fascination with these grain sacks was all started by this post at Joys of Home where she created her own "grain sack" with burlap and craft paint.

Oh, how I want to make one of these now. I especially love the olive branches. Brilliant!

Here are some other gorgeous grain sacks I've found out there:

1, 2, 3: Ebay - Antique Vintage European Textiles ; 4 & 5: Via Willow Decor; 6: Tricot Naturelle; 7. Ernst and Thistle ; 8. Petit Coterie

If I do in fact make one of these and it looks halfway decent I'll be sure to post about it. If it looks horrible...I guess I could share what not to do :).

THE LOOK FOR LESS

Yes, I'm pretty sure that's the name of a show on the Style Network or E! (I love the exclamation point), but I'm stealing the name for today's post.



I love catalogues. I look at them as free magazines, and I thumb through and mark the pages that catch my eye. Do I usually buy things from the catalogues? No...but I do use them as inspiration to create a room I love at a fraction of the price.





For example, I love Ballard Designs.....but not their prices. Like many of you, I just can't fork out that kind of money to decorate my home. So I thought today I'd focus on a few key pieces in a Ballard room and show you how to recreate them for less.

Here's the room:

Pretty right? I decided to single out 3 pieces in the room that give a big impact and see if I can recreate them for less (wait...if I pick 3 things are they still being singled out...or three-ngled out?...sorry).

Here's how much the Ballard items cost:

Ballard Curtains : 84 inch length ar $89 each.

Ballard Clock : 25 inch width is $129.

Ballard Console Table : $349.

Total cost for Ballard items: $656.

1) CURTAINS:

I didn't find anything today that was an exact replica of the Ballard curtains, but the curtains below give the same feel.

Ebay (curtains found here) $42.97 for 2 curtain panels with free shipping

Overstock (curtains found here) $19.99 for 2 curtain panels

I also liked these and these from JCPenney's website, but I couldn't copy the pictures for some reason.

2) CLOCK:

I looked all over the internet and I found the best clock prices on Ebay. I'm sure there are other places that have good deals, but this is what I found today.

Ebay (clock found here) $27.99 plus $7.00 shipping

Ebay (clock found here) $36.00 plus $11.00 shipping

3) CONSOLE TABLE:

I usually look at flea-tique stores or Craigslist for furniture pieces. You can get such amazing deals on quality pieces that you wouldn't otherwise be able to afford. Here are some tables on found on Craigslist in different parts of the country. Any one of them would look amazing painted black.

(Note: I'd also shown some items I found on Craigslist in various cities, but I was silly enough to copy the code directly from the link and the photos disappeared once the posting expired. Live and learn!)

Total cost of MY items? $155...versus the Ballard cost of $656. You know what my mom always said, "Where there's a will there's a way...".