All Kinds of Inspired...

My lack of money and dining room ideas are just one of many times I've been inspired! Like I previously mentioned, I looooovvvve Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel. Love. When I moved out on my own (5-6 years ago) I needed furniture. Lots of it! I have loved this $300 desk chair from Pottery Barn forever!

I love the way that it looks with this desk:

Cheap EJ headed to Target... This is how I did:

5 years later and I still adore it! The entire thing was from Target. The chair was $120, and if memory serves me right the desk was the same, and the hutch was $80!

Also on my "inspired" list was a new bed. Last year my mattress started becoming painful! After some analyzation I realized that I hadn't gotten a new mattress since I was 12 (I am 26)! That would explain the pain! I had a full sized bed. I wanted to go up to a queen bed at least. Getting a queen bed would require a new bed frame. One visit to a Crate and Barrel store caused me to fall in looooovvvvee with this bed frame:

Did I want to spend $1000 on just a bed frame, and still need mattresses? I sure did! But my back was hurting and I wanted to pay for the bed and mattress with cash, so I started bargain shopping. I printed off the picture and started stopping in random stores to ask if they had anything close. At my third store I hit the jackpot! For $1000 I got mattresses, and a bed frame! This created a whole new project. I had all white bedroom furniture. Did I buy a dresser and nightstands too? I didn't know that to do! This is the nightstand and dresser:

I love its clean lines and its history. This was my Grandparent's bedroom set that they bought right after getting married. It was my parents, and it was mine. I remember when my mom painted it white and put pink knobs on it for me. I don't know why I even considered buying new... So I decided to give refinishing a shot!

Stripping paint is NO fun!

Down to the bare bones

After!

And the bed that inspired all of this work...

I'm so happy with how similar they look! 

These are a couple of other things that I've found that I think are remarkably similar to a more expensive item:

Crate and Barrel Dresser:

$50 garage sale find

Coffee table from Pottery Barn:

My 6 years ago Target find... Still going strong!

(P.S. Check out the scratch marks on the door behind Zulu. They're from the dog mentioned in this post)

I hope you've felt inspired to make something, remake something, save some money for a name-brand something, or to go bargain hunting!