A little inspiration goes a long way..

I always look forward/dread the arrival of all the holiday catalogs from places like Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn, and Ballard Designs. While I love Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn, it's usually in the Ballard Designs catalog that I find my most inspiration. Over the weekend I came across this page in the Late Fall 2011 catalog and fell in love with the color combination of the slate grey velvet with the muted aqua, tan, and sage green. So I'm going to use that to guide the update of the master bedroom (to be posted soon!).

Go here and torture yourself with all of their catalogs!

So immediately, I started looking through the catalog to see what things I could find in stores like Hobby Lobby, Home Goods Target, or online, that cost less but would achieve the same look. I was able to find pillows and sheets at Home Goods (more on that later), and I'll be able to incorporate some of the blue items that I already have in the master bedroom. As I was walking around Hobby Lobby, I noticed that there are tons of Ballard-inspired items that you could get for half the Ballard price (or even less). Most of the store is usually 40% off and if it's not, you can sign up online for coupons and get coupons for things that aren't on sale. I'm not sure if they honor other coupons from places like Michaels or Joann's Fabric and Crafts, but I have a feeling they probably do.  Another resource I stumbled upon recently is the SaveOnCrafts website. You can find all kinds of supplies to pull off a Ballard or even Terrain-inspired decor.

I put together two quick collections of items I found at Hobby Lobby and SaveOnCrafts that I thought I'd share. The Hobby Lobby website only sells a tiny sample of what you'll find in the store. It's well worth the trip to the store. You can spend WEEKS browsing through the goodies at SaveOnCrafts. It's probably a good thing there isn't a store. And don't forget Art.com for prints. I have really good luck finding things I'd never find at Target or Home Goods and it's generally much cheaper to buy the print and frame it yourself.

From Hobby Lobby and Art.com

From Hobby Lobby…

1. Rectangle pillow with writing $29.99

2. Square pillow with writing $34.99

3. Set of 3 wire baskets $20.97

4. Brown glass (tortoise shell) urn $39.99

5. 20” round antique copper mirror $39.99

6. 14” round brown mirror $19.99

7. Fleur-de-lis $15.99

8. Square plaque $11.99

9. Glass pot belly vase $59.99

10. Metal lantern $15.99

11. 22” starburst mirror (only shown on website in gold but there were silver ones in the store) $49.99

From art.com ….

12. Eruption, Pompeii by Elizabeth Jardine $63.99

13. Pompeian Teal by Elizabeth Jardine on sale! $11.98

I thought I'd throw together a few things that you could mix into your existing holiday decorations to pull off something very Ballard or Terrain-inspired this year.

From SaveOnCrafts

1. Script roses 6 for $23.00

2. Wire pyramid cloches 2 for $29.00

3. Tin finial $30.00

4. Mercury glass apothecary jar $25.00

5. Driftwood tree $39.00 (they have the exact same ones in the Ballard Designs catalog)

6. Artichoke topiary $22.00

7. 3 wrought iron stars $28.00

8. Plaid linen ribbon 17 feet $15.99

9. Wired moss vine 6 feet $3.99

10. Silk bay laurel leaf wreath $19.00

11. 3 Preserved Cypress wreaths $45.00

12. 11 feet Italian double-faced red velvet ribbon $20.00

13. Baker’s twine 60 feet $6.99

14. 12 white boxes $4.19

I hope to get the master bedroom painted soon so I can share some photos!