Random Neural Firings

Friday Random Ramblings – the Knock-Off Edition

December18

Last night, my husband and I went to his office party which was at a Maggiano’s in a mall. To get to the restaurant, we had to walk past ZGallerie which had signs pasted all over the doors advertising 30% off everything in the store. Another store closing! (Just this location, thank goodness; there are still two other locations in Atlanta.) I squealed and pulled Chris in the store. We were planning to buy their Linear Strand chandelier for the new dining room. 30% off would be even better! They had one left – hanging up high – and we snagged it up, along with a very cool piece of horizontal art that will make a perfect headboard in the guest room.

We actually fell in love with the Cellula Chandelier from DesignWithinReach (Design “Out of” Reach, my husband says) years ago but never wanted to fork out $2,600 for a chandelier. One day, I saw the Linear Strand – a decent knock-off at ZGallerie – for a mere $349 and the decision was made. Bonus points to us that we got it on sale last night.

Here’s the Cellula ($2,600) from DWR:

And the Linear Strand (reg. $349/on sale for $245) from ZGallerie:

Now, up close, I can see a difference in the two certainly, but not a $2,300 difference! What do you think?

While I’m on the subject of knock-offs — or bargain hunting — last week, we were shopping for sinks and faucets. We’re going pretty basic throughout the house except the powder room and the master bath. In the powder room, we want to make a statement. Not sure what kind of statement yet, but we were thinking of doing a cool mosaic backsplash and painting the walls a bold or dark color. Then we saw this mosaic sink and went gaga. We went even more gaga at the price ($1,700 and up). That’s just stupid.

So I came home and Googled it and guess what I found? Pretty decent-looking mosaic sinks at Overstock for $250-350. That’s more like it! (I was actually thinking of making one myself because I used to do mosaics as a hobby but for $250, I’ll let someone else have the hand cramps.)

Let’s hope my bargain hunting luck continues. We have a whole lot of house to go still! Today, we’re going to look at appliances. The builder needs to know our choices so they can size everything right in the kitchen.

Have a great weekend!