Knocktoberfest – Anthropologie Inspired Horse Candle Holder

Many of you just came from Tatertots and Jello, so big huge welcome to all of you new folks!  Wasn’t Jen’s mirror awesome?!

Those who have been around Our Fifth House for any length of time already know that I’m slightly obsessed with horses.  I heart them in a major way.  In fact I just big ol’ fat love equestrian inspired decor.  So, when I first saw the Gallant Horse Candle Holder from Anthropologie I obviously fell head over heels in love!

But $24 seemed like a little too much to pay for one candle holder when I knew I could make them myself for way less and without much effort at all.

This was the easiest project ever and was done in less than an hour!

I started with a visit to Michael’s where they always have a large variety of plastic toy animals.  I’ve seen them at Target and even at the dollar store, but it’s hit or miss in those stores.  Michael’s carries them all year long.

I picked up 2 plastic play horses. They are $5.99 each, but you can use the 40% off coupon to get two of them for about that price.  So I paid just over $7 for two of them.  These horses are perfect for this project because they’re not hollow – they’re solid all the way through.

I used a 3/4 flat wood boring bit to make the holes for the taper candles.  This was the perfect size to make the holes so that the candles would fit inside snuggly.

Then I used a fine grit sandpaper to smooth out the rough edges.

Spray painted…….lightly sanded……then spray painted again.

I wasn’t crazy about the shiny finish of the satin paint, so I ended up giving them one coat of chalkboard spray paint to give them a flat finish.

Because I want my horse candle holders to live outside on our new screened porch and we get some fairly high wind gusts here in Kentucky, I super glued these horses to a couple piece of scrap wood.  This makes them really sturdy and wind-knock-over proof.

Plus I like the added decor options of keeping them apart…….

or putting them together.

I’m pretty much crazy for their cuteness and having two for about $7 (since I already had all of the other supplies) makes me even crazier for them!  Plus getting a fun project done in less than an hour isn’t half bad either.

Now my mind is swirling with more plastic animal candle holder ideas……..rhinos, elephants, bears, oh my!

Next up on the Knoctoberfest list is Chris from Just A Girl.  She’ll be sharing her knock off project tomorrow!  Be sure to check it out – you know she knocked it out of the park – she always does!