Getting the Restoration Hardware Look for Less

I always get butterflies in my stomach when the 16 pounds of Restoration Hardware catalogs arrive.  I get lost in them for hours.  Hours, I tell you!  Do you?!?

I keep these book for the entire year and go back through them for ideas.  Do you do that too?!?

Well, I know we’re all pretty skint right now as it is January SO I thought I’d share my way of getting the RH look for less.

My living room is very much inspired by Restoration Hardware.

I guess you can say it has the gentleman’s club look, the English style that both my husband and I love which is the complete opposite to our light and bright dining room with mostly painted furniture.

Our home, with it’s dark woodwork, lends itself to the Restoration Hardware look!  Today, I’m going to show you what we did, but also share what a few of my amazing blogger friends did in their homes, as well to achieve this look for less.  So excited!!!!

Getting Restoration Hardware Look for Less

When I think of Restoration Hardware, I think of hand stretch leather, nubby linens, neutral colors, whites, dark wood, whiskey glasses, crackling fires, nailhead trim (on EVERYTHING), sea grass, orientals, heavy wood, iron, metal, industrial, French, reclaimed and weathered wood, antique finish…

So you get the idea.

Do you need to spend $1,000s for this look? No.

Here’s our living room and I’ll give you prices and sources, oh, and NOTHING is from Restoration Hardware.

The first thing we did in this room was to lighten the walls with Benjamin Moore’s Mascarpone.  I really, really love this white.  It is warm but crisp at the same time.

Sources and Price breakdown for our living room:

• Rug, authentic oriental found on Scituate Yard Sale for $200 and cleaned and repaired for $300 – this was a bargain because it is a huge rug and it is a real oriental.
• Linen Curtains, from Ikea. Very long and puddle at the floor.  These are in Kahki.  $49.99 for the set.
• Wooden Curtain Rods, Reeded Pole in Antique Mahogany from Home Depot. $24.97 additional cost for the balls, and holders.
• Chesterfield Couch, Craiglist find for $349.  I think this is my best find to date because I’d been dreaming of this couch for so long.  On RH’s site a similar one would set you back $4900 and that is for a 76″ while our couch is 96″
• Coffee Table, bought for our old house at a consignment shop.  I spent $250 for the pine table which I loved for our old house, but it needed a new RH look for this living room.  You can see the transformation with chalk paint here.
• Red and White Striped Pillows and Faux Fur Throw a gift from my mom.
• Large Grain Sack Style Pillows, from Ikea. $13 for cover and inner cushion $9.99  We actually had these pillows in our bedroom at our old house and they’ve now come downstairs. These cushions are great! They are also great as floor cushions.
• Rustic Standing Lamp, Target – $69.99 I bought two of these for our living room and they have provided us with much needed additional light.

My total for this part of the living room is: $1289.96

If I bought everything from RH it would have been this breakdown:

• Chesterfield Couch – $4495 (on special, and wouldn’t have been the right size).
• Hand Tied Rus – $7375
• Standing Lamp – $775
• Belgian Linen Pillow Cover – $49 (on special), inserts $34
• Linen Curtains, $155 (each on special)
• Coffee Table – $1135 (on special)

My total if I bought everything from Restoration Hardware:$14,256 (this doesn’t include fur throw, curtain hardware etc).

By shopping consignment shops, my home, Target, Ikea and doing some DIYs, I saved: $12,966.04

Wow!  This is the first time I did the math for this. My hubby will be happy!

Here is one more example of some thrifted finds in the other part of our living room:

I already broke down the price for the lamps and curtains above.  But I scooped up this French chair for $70 and didn’t have to do anything with it and the gilded Italian table was $10 at another thrift store.  The tulips were from the grocery store and the vase was from my friend MaryAnn.  The chair at RH would have cost me:$579 (on special).

Here are a few other amazing ways to get the Restoration Hardware Look for Less by my very creative friends!

** PLEASE PIN THESE IMAGES BELOW FROM THEIR SITES, SO THEY GET THE REPINS**

Shannon over at AKA Design has amazing style and her husband Dean is pretty handy. They created this Brickmaker’s Table completely out of wood.  Isn’t it amazing?  Wouldn’t you think the sides were metal?  Check out how they did it here. I’ve seen it is in person and it is A-MAZ-ING.

She also shared this weathered finish they did on their dining table which also looks amazing:

If you love building then you might want to give these Industrial Shelves that Shannon and Dean built for their old home.

Rachel from Shades of Blue Interiors is amazing with paint!  She shares how she used Chalk Paint to get a weathered look on these French Bergere chairs she found inexpensively.  Click here for the stunning transformation!

Jamie over at So Much Better With Age decorates her home with neutrals and her living room is a perfect example of getting the Restoration Hardware look for less from thrifted finds, DIYs and savvy shopping.

Finally, my friend Bre over at Rooms for Rent has impeccable style.  She really knows how to decorate and style her home, as well as homes of her clients.  I LOVE her home and thought you’d love her style.  In her summer home tour she shared this Restoration Hardware Printers Cabinet they made themselves.  Click here to check it out.

What do you think?!?  Are you ready to start DIYing or thrifting to get the Restoration Hardware look for less?!?

Sharing with: