Hi-Low Highball

So, we've all seen some version of the High Low Project where designers try to re-create a high end look using products that appear very similar, if not identical to their more expensive counterparts. I love trying to recreate an expensive look on a limited budget and even if cost wasn't an issue, I think trying to get a 'look for less' forces creative thinking. Some of my very best ideas have come from not having a large budget! Even if you can't make it yourself, there is always a less costly alternative on the market. Take for instance these glasses from Nason&Moretti out of Murano, Italy.

Available Here

Gorgeous, right? They better be @ a set of 12 for $1,140. Okay, they *are* Murano mouth blown crystal, but I would probably be afraid to drink out of them for fear of having to wash them...by hand... and dropping them from my slippery, wet, soapy hands to shatter into pieces. $95 bucks down the drain. Now, if I knew how to blow glass, I would attempt to make these myself, but since that is not the case, I get my drinking glasses from other sources.

I've had a long standing tradition to buy only one or two glasses at a time, creating a mismatched collection that are all alike in the fact that they are all different. I usually get mine at places like Homegoods, Ross, Pier one and World Market. In fact, I recently picked up a pair at Pier One on sale. They were originally $7.....

Good....

Better....

Best!

Only $1.68 each and in case you don't have a calculator handy, that's a savings of $93.32 per glass over the Murano tumbler set! Wowza...I could buy 678 of these for the same $1,140!!! But of course what would I do with 678 glasses?! Hmmm....I *could* start that party planning/decorating business I've been thinking about........food for thought.

Here are a couple of shots of my collection of drinking glasses me and my kids use every day, not one of which I paid more than $3.99 for at any one of the stores mentioned above.

I find them to be just as beautiful and ever more usable than their Hi-Ball cousins.

So just remember, you CAN have it all....for less! Now I'm off to find a glass-blowing class...

Cheers!