Hey all! These days, you can't peruse pinterest without stumbling across this high-end trend.

But I want to tell you all a story about how I made my own version of these beauties for under $30...

It all started with this guy. I found him at Home Goods for a whopping $15. Maybe it was distressed red color that made me pick him up or maybe it was the industrial metal flare, but I still had to figure out what I was going to do with it in order to justify bringing him home. I love decor pieces as much as the next person, however with limited living space I simply couldn't bring myself to buy a metal orb that would only take up space on my shelf. Nope, no positions were open in our home for "shelf stuff," but... we did have an opening for a hanging light!

So this lucky guy found his way into my life after all and a new DIY project was born. Once home, I introduced him to a HEMMA cord kit ($5 from Ikea) and a Feit Electric Original Vintage Style Light Bulb ($9 from Home Depot). I love these bulbs because they play into the industrial vibe of the metal orb but the exposed bulbs don't blind you.

The trickiest part was suspending the metal orb around the light bulb. I tried a couple things and ended up tying the light kit cord around an intersection of the metal bars and securing the knot with a large 8mm metal jump ring (about the size of a dime).

Now all you need is a swag {or ceiling} hook and the perfect spot to hang it up. I chose to put ours up above the bistro table on our balcony. And viola! I have a new light and a guilt-free conscious for impulse buying. And in case you weren't doing the math:

Project Total... $29.00!

{Stay tuned for more pictures of our apartment patio coming soon!}

~Cate

This post was originally published on Chelsea's Garage, now affectionately known as StyleMutt.

**IMPMORTANT** This post was written in April 2012. Please see my favorite IKEA picks in their 2013 collection here!

Hello friends! It has been a few days since I've posted and I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! Thanks to my brother coming over and watching the twins for several hours, Husband and I, (and our littlest one, Mason), got to take a trip to Ikea! We have had great luck at Ikea in the past, so when our deck was finished last fall we thought we'd check there for deck furniture. Of course, it was the end of the season so they didn't have anything in stock, but we really liked what they had offered! About a month ago I called to ask when they would be getting their first shipment of outdoor furniture and they told me first week in April, so we marked our calendar and made a day of it this past Saturday.

What I love about the ourdoor furniture at Ikea is that you can mix and match things to make your own set that matches your style. We had looked extensively for sets elsewhere but just decided that a matchy-matchy set was not so 'us'. We wanted something simple, colorful, casual and low maintenance.

We used the Falster table with the Falster armchairs on the ends, and 4 yellow Roxo chairs along the sides. Remember my love of gray and yellow from this post? It's still a favorite :) We love that the chairs don't take up a lot of space, they're stackable, and easy to wipe clean. We have already enjoyed a couple evenings out here since Saturday!

This striped yellow rug is another purchase from Saturday - $3.50! They had a variety of colors including red, olive, and navy!

Another score were these three prints that finally complete an empty wall in our Dining Room. We have lived here for over a year and a half but I had not yet found anything for that wall that was 'just right'. When I saw these I knew they would be the finishing touch I'd been keeping an eye out for.

And I have to throw this in; my sweeties all dressed up for Easter on Sunday.:)

I hope you are having a great week so far and thank you for stopping by!

~Chelsea