Jocie of The Better Half had been dreaming of a beautiful farmhouse table for her dining area. With a bit of begging, Jocie convinced her handy hubs Ethan to take on building the table from scratch. That is… until she came up with an ingenious idea. Instead of building from scratch, Josie and Ethan reused the legs and parts from a secondhand table and built a new solid oak tabletop. Their table is every bit as gorgeous as their Pottery Barn inspiration but way cheaper and even higher quality!

Janel from Nellie Bellie really blew me away with this unique lamp she created from pipes, wood spindles, and, of course, time and patience. Not only does it look amazingly like the inspiration, but the price difference is quite astounding ($86 versus $2,800). You can barely buy a lamp and shade from Target for the cost of Janel’s eye-catcher. Talk about making a statement!

We all have those projects that linger on our to-do lists for weeks, months, and even years. That was the case with these chalkboard plaques made by Melissa from Shabby Love. She had adored them for years, so you know it must have been all the sweeter when Melissa finally made her own collection of little boards out of luan. These would look so cute arranged on the wall together!

It’s about that time of year again when rope décor can be seen all over home décor stores and throughout catalog pages. Elissa shares at Clever how to give a lamp that much-desired nautical flair with some rope and a hot glue gun. I love how the little extras of the rope-trimmed shade and darker sisal tied around the neck of the lamp really bring the whole look together and give a high-end finish.

Rachel from Maison de Pax had been dreaming of an antique looking crib for her son’s room but couldn’t justify the expense when she already a perfectly good crib. Imagine her excitement when she got a call about a FREE white spindle crib. Rachel of course snatched it up and then achieved the look she was after with flat white spray paint, stain, and a dark wax. She sewed a simple crib skirt with box pleats out of drop cloth to complete the look… for a grand total of $7!