capiz

Recently, I became infatuated with these from West Elm…

…but not so much with the price tag, which was $14.99 per strand. Almost as if West Elm heard my decorating prayers, they’ve now lowered the price to $9.99 per strand. But that would still cost me $60 for the 6 strands I would need. Sixty clams that I don’t really have for capiz!

Somewhat coincidentally, this past weekend we ended up going to the Easton Mall to meet my daughter’s new college roommate, and a great time was had by all. Plus I happened to spy a West Elm, so I thought I’d swing by to see if they had the capiz! strands.

While they didn’t have the exact capiz! strands that I was looking for, they had several different capiz chandeliers, all of which were gorgeous! And extremely thin and delicate. Super thin and very delicate. Probably too super thin and delicate to withstand 2 dogs, 1 cat, my 2 kids, my sister’s 3 kids, and any assorted other friends and relatives.

The moral of the story is, don’t just think about the beauty of a particular project, but also the practicality.

Usually I’m pretty good about factoring in practicality, but every now and then we all get blinded by beauty. And further blinded by a second reduction in price.

Bottom line, good thing I didn’t spend money I didn’t have on this particular project, because it just wouldn’t have worked.

But I still love capiz!

Doesn’t it even sound fun? Capiz!

I have been thinking about a capiz shell chandelier for my living room for a while now, but being broke and all, that hasn’t exactly made it to the top of my priorities list.

Until I saw these…

And thought, wouldn’t these look fabulous in this doorway, 3 on each side?

I wrote about this room and it’s lack of seating here.

So back to the capiz!

Wouldn’t they look fab? They’re on sale for $14.99 per strand at West Elm. $14.99 x 6 = no way do I have that much to spend on capiz!

($89.94 for the math types. Not including sales tax and shipping.)

(And I really did consider not linking to them so all of my trusty readers don’t buy them up while I’m searching for spare change and the TV remote in my couch cushions. But I’m not mean like that. If I can’t have them, someone should!)

So I decided to use the amazing powers of my resale license to search the internets for capiz! wholesalers, because I’m certain that the entire strand cost about $0.03 wholesale. Now that was quite an experience. I was astounded by the variety of craptastic stuff made with capiz! Just google “wholesale capiz shells rectangular”. In fact, let me google that for you.

While you can buy everything from a capiz! tissue box cover to a capiz! toilet seat, I could not find the rectangular shells I was looking for. Apparently West Elm commissioned those directly from Mother Nature herself.

Well, we’ll see what happens. Maybe I’ll hit the lotto and feel OK about spending almost 100 smackeroos on sea shells.

Or I could listen to my friend Claire, who says, “Go for the luxuries in life! The necessities take care of themselves.” Not the soundest financial advice I’ve ever received, but it sure is the most fun!