One of the hardest things about being an avid antiquer or thrift store fiend is the devastation that goes along with the discovery of something one-of-a-kind, but out of price range. “The thrill of the hunt” quickly transforms into some kind of cruel joke played by fate. Imagine if Aladdin had FINALLY uncovered the genie’s lamp in Jafar’s lair and, after gazing at it in wide-eyed jubilation for a moment, could only sigh heavily before turning around empty handed. I know some of you must be able to relate to this (slightly exaggerated) feeling…

Well that’s largely how I felt when I came across this gorgeous jadite cake stand at the antique mall my friends and I toured in Charlotte, North Carolina. If any of you are nodding along to this narrative, then you’re probably also familiar with that fleeting moment of psychosis when you seriously consider forking over the ridiculously large sum just to have something to show for this moment. I definitely thought about paying the $125 listed for this gorgeous antique, but ultimately walked away, regret all but pooling in my fading footsteps.

BUT. Believe it or not, I have been able to turn that regret right around with a simple, affordable and TRULY one-of-a-kind DIY project that has me thanking my lucky stars that I didn’t go broke over one little cake stand.

This story continues right here in our own little town of Lynchburg, Virginia. As I narrated on Wednesday, my friend Ashley and I made a visit to a local antique mall called Peddler Antiques. I had PROMISED myself that I wasn’t going to buy anything, but that was before I stumbled upon a little $12 mint dinner plate. If you scroll back and forth between the cake stand and my antiqued plate below, you can hardly tell a difference in color. It was perfect! Except for the cake stand part…Enter a $5 candle stick I found nearby in the same store. After tentatively touching the bottom of the plate to the top of the candle stick and envisioning what could be, I knew that I was onto something wonderful.

Have YOU ever made a cake stand from a dinner plate and candle stick? My mom and I went through a majorly obsessive phase with them one Christmas, crafting a whole tabletop full of them, which we later filled with cookies and passed along to friends and family during the holidays. If you aren’t familiar with this particular DIY, click here for a straightforward tutorial. Essentially though, you place the candlestick on a flat surface, load it up with some kind of adhesive and center the plate on top to create that floated stand effect.

As you can see from that supply shot above, my plan was to use krazy glue, but that ended up failing completely. I’m not sure if it was just that my candle stick was a little less than level or what, but the glue didn’t stick at all. Thankfully, John happened to be in the room during this moment and offered me a tube of all purpose adhesive caulk to try instead. At this point, I was open to any solutions, so I squeezed a generous amount of the caulk along the top ring of my candle stick, centered the plate on top, gingerly flipped both over and crossed my fingers for a day or two while I let the seal dry.

At first, I was a little worried that the VERY visible white caulk would remain so, but by the time I was willing to chance handling the DIYed cake stand, the seal was crystal clear and hardly noticeable. The hold was pretty strong too – After setting it on the bookshelf in our bedroom with no teetering or cracking whatsoever, my confidence grew exponentially in this newly discovered adhesive. I will definitely be stealing that tube again for future projects.

In a wild turn of events, I actually decided to use my newly constructed stand in the bedroom as a place to display my perfume bottles rather than pastries. I don’t actually NEED a cake stand all that often, only when entertaining, so using it for something more “everyday” just made sense. And if I ever get the whim to use it in the kitchen for a party, it’s easily snagged from upstairs.

So in the end, although it hurt more than words can describe to walk away from that beautiful jadite beauty at the antique mall, I have an extra special place in my heart for this piece that I was able to design and create myself. Same concept, same color and same beautiful effect – I couldn’t ask for more.

Have you guys ever been able to recreate something that you WISH you could have but couldn’t afford? That sense of DIY pride is hard to recreate, am I right??