While looking for decor ideas for my dream closet I came across a gorgeous jewelry cloche in the Pottery Barn catalog. I was instantly enamored and ready to add it to my shopping list until I noticed the price tag. Because if I am totally honest, the “closet on a budget” plan that I created a few weeks ago has become a budget busting build. In a really incredible way of course, but I knew that I needed to reign myself in and try to recreate the look of the cloche on my own.
I went about my normal week, running my regular errands and keeping an eye out for pieces that might work. Luckily I found some! Here is what I chose:
Cake stand at Walmart
Bell Dome at Michaels while 50% off
also using gold gilding, dowels and glue
Digging through my craft stash I was able to find an assortment of sizes of wooden dowels and some liquid gilding that I knew would add a nice touch of shine. I dug out two dowels, one slightly larger in diameter than the other, and painted them quickly. One coat was all they needed. After holding them up to the side of the bell to decide on the size I wanted them I ran out to my miter saw (total overkill) and cut the thicker dowel to be 7 1/2″ tall and the cross bar to be 4.”
I’ve talked about it before, but J-B Weld is like gold to me. I happened upon it years ago while searching for something to glue metal to metal and have been in love with it ever since. So of course when it came time to glue my pieces together I grabbed my J-B Kwik. I put a much larger dollop on the plate than I normally would, but I knew that it needed to support the entire structure and that I could cover it up later.
After letting that dry for about 5 minutes I glued the crossbar on top.
Then I touched up the glue areas with the gold gilding and let the whole thing sit for an hour to dry.
And then came my favorite part…adding it to my closet decor and decking it out with some pearls that my hubby gave me. He sent me the bracelet from Spain as a birthday gift and the necklace was from Dubai after a deployment. I honestly don’t wear either of them often, but they mean the world to me so I am ecstatic to get to display them now!
Okay, so here is my cost breakdown:
cake stand: $4.97
bell dome: $11
dowels, gilding and glue: on hand
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Total: $15.97
For a total savings of over $83 (pre taxes and shipping)!!!! I’ll take it! If imitation is the best form of flattery, I hope that Pottery Barn realizes just how much I adore them. 🙂
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