There are some great ideas over at Dollar Store Hack, which is the blog for a design course held in Summer 2008 by University of Oregon.

This chandelier (Designer: Thyra Bessette) used plastic service ware, and looks like it used about $6 worth of stuff from the dollar store plus a lamp kit (About $4 at Ikea?) so, total cost around $10.

This concept definitely has some potential for low-budget high-style decorating!

I also love the cheekiness of this plastic gun candle holder (Designer: Robin Hubbard). It'd look great in a geek chic bachelor pad! (Hmm, I used cheek, geek, and chic in the same paragraph...)

I'm gonna assume $1 each for the candles, and call this at $8, but I think it might have cost closer to $5 to create.