2 Effective CB2 Dupes You Can Easily DIY on a Budget

DIY ceramic planter

This is the planter I want to make from CB2.

I picked up this clay from Michaels. It’s one pound of beige-colored Craft Smart polymer clay, which you bake in the oven. 

I also picked up this glass dish, which we are going to use as a base.

I’m just conditioning the clay and working it into a flat piece that I can wrap around the jar. This particular clay is super easy to work with, straight out of the package, so I really recommend it.

Now, I’m rolling the clay around the jar and filling in any gaps. I don’t have a lot of experience with polymer clay, so I smoothed out the seams with my fingers, and that worked okay. I used a box cutter to pop the air bubbles, and then smoothed them over, and that seemed to work.

Next, I needed to figure out how to create the rectangular kind of shape that you see in the original planter. I looked around the house for something that was the right shape.

I actually had these mini perfume bottles and I tested those on a piece of scrap clay. That seemed to work, so I went with it for my DIY ceramic planter.

Next, all I needed to do was stamp all the way along the whole DIY ceramic planter.

Then, I went ahead and baked it according to the instructions that were included with the clay.

To be honest, the color of the original clay wasn’t bad at all. It was actually pretty similar to the original CB2 planter. But, there were some spots where I had applied the clay a bit too thin and the glass was showing through, so I wanted to cover those over.

I’m using a sample pot of regular latex paint, but you could use acrylic paint if you had that instead. 

I let the base paint dry, diluted some acrylic paint, and then painted a super watery coat on top to mimic the look of ceramic glass.

The next step was just to give it a clear, glossy top coat, and imitate the look of the CB2 planter. 

And that’s it. my CB2 dupe was complete

The total cost was $11. 

DIY linen bedding

For the next DIY, I was inspired by CB2’s linen bedding. I’ve been drooling over bold linen bedding for such a long time. I just love the wrinkly bed look. It looks super cozy. But, like most linen bedding, it’s pretty expensive. For example, CB2’s queen-sized linen bedding is $229.

A few months ago, I bought IKEA’s linen duvet cover on sale for 50% off. So, I decided to dye it a more exciting color. I bought the white version, but I’m not sure if IKEA actually stocks it anymore. If you’re looking for a more affordable white linen duvet cover, there are a few 100% linen options on Amazon. You could, of course, use white cotton, but the look will be a little different, of course.

The first step was to weigh the fabric, so I’d know how much dye and water I’d need to use. I used my kitchen scale. First, I weighed the empty container. Then, I added the dry fabric to it, and just subtracted the weight of the container from the final weight.

I washed the fabric and left it wet in the tub while I prepared the dye bath.

The fabric needs to be able to move freely in the dye bath, so I bought a huge 60-liter plastic bin from the home hardware store.

The water is ideally supposed to be around 140 degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough to release steam. Next, the instructions said to add salt and dishwashing liquid to the water, so I did that.

Then, I went ahead and added the dye. I used two bottles of tangerine-colored dye and one bottle of cherry-colored dye. To be honest, they weren’t the exact colors I wanted for my DIY linen sheets, but that’s all my local craft store had in stock, so I just went with it.

According to the dye instructions, it turned out that I needed two or three bottles of dye and about 50 liters of water for the amount of fabric I was dyeing.

Next, it was time to add the fabric to the dye bath. Apparently, the first few minutes are the most crucial, so I made sure to submerge the fabric completely and stir as best I could within those first ten minutes.

After the first ten minutes, I just sat and stirred occasionally for another 30 minutes or so.

I drained the dye bath, and no, it didn’t stain my tub at all, if you are wondering. Then, you are supposed to rinse the fabric until it runs clear. Because it was so heavy and there was so much fabric, I just ran it through the washing machine again on cold, without any soap, and that worked great.

Then, I dried it and my DIY linen sheets were ready.

The total cost was $81.

CB2 dupes

CB2 decor can be expensive. Sometimes it’s possible to make CB2 dupes that look like the real thing but are much cheaper. What do you DIY to save money on? Leave a comment and let us know about your favorite DIY projects.