In July, a good friend of mine and I traveled to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to get away for a weekend. We justified spending the money due to the fact that we had just finished our Master’s degrees, a feat that was certainly not easy for either of us. Laying on the beach sounded like the perfect escape.

The best beach decor shop on the Myrtle Beach strip!!

We were walking through the numerous gift shops one evening and I was grieving over the many beautiful beach themed home accents that I could not afford (I had to eat and pay for gas to get home after all), when my friend said “you know what, we can make this stuff.” It was like a light bulb popped up over my head, just like in the cartoons. She was right. In that moment, I started dreaming up my future beach themed bedroom. Since, I knew that more grad school was in my future, I knew that I had to save money every way that I could. Therefore, purchasing the gorgeous decor on display at the Gay Dolphin would have to wait. I started taking mental (and cell phone) pictures of the pieces I really loved so that I could remember what they looked like when I got home.

My take on a similar set found at the Gay Dolphin!

I really liked the container groupings with sand and seashells at the Gay Dolphin, but they were outside of my price range. When I got home I went straight to Michael’s for supplies. I perused the aisles till I found the perfect glass hurricanes, then I looked for fillers that looked like the one’s I had seen at the Gay Dolphin. Above is the finished product that  sits prominently on my nightstand (okay so its really an end table that matched my old coffee table, but decorating a home on a budge takes time and I am still looking for the perfect fixer upper night stand).

Cost: $21, compare at between $40 and $50 dollars.

3 Glass Hurricanes: around $15

bag of small sea shells: around $2 (compare at $10 at the beach)

1 small real sea shell at the top: $0

sand: $0 (scooped from beside my beach chair)

bag of small rocks: $3

water from the tap: won’t affect your bill

floating candle: $.99

time: less than 5 minutes

Have you ever saw something in a novelty shop and made your own (even better) version? Please feel free to share your comments and links!