Straws, a modern decoration?

Anthropologie's Christmas window display has me in awe. And like most things at Anthropologie, i feel can be made at home. So i decided to try this, and keep in mind, its not done. I have an eye for aesthetically pleasing things-so if it ends up looking like white trash i will be the first to take it down. But its not done, its going to be covered in straws.

here is the store display. COOL HUH? each straw is threaded by hand. It takes forever.
here is my version. This is 1,500 straws. It looks a little sparse and WT right now, but its getting there. And in case you are wanting to also take on this project, just a heads up, they dont sell clear plastic straws anywhere. I bought a box of 500 from chuck-a-rama and 2 boxes of 500 from Village Inn. Chuck-a-rama sold them to me for 2 bucks and Village in 3, a box. But they did tell me they got them at Sams club, so i am headed there tonight.