Perking Up the Living Room

So I've been living in Missouri for several years now and have really gotten accustomed to the rough winters....but this winter has been so mild I keep looking around, scratching my head, wondering when winter is going to happen. I mean the little groundhog did see his shadow right? ;) At any rate, we enjoyed the mild temps this weekend...and by enjoying I mean the guys were all outside and I got to take waaay too many photos around the living room.

I've been staring at the Home Goods Urns up on the mantle for weeks now and finally got them placed and accessorized the mantle. I moved the white dresser back in too, that had to move out to accommodate the Christmas Tree. The great thing about it, after shifting everything for the tree....I ended up liking the furniture spaced out. So the sofa stayed put, and the dresser got a little more breathing room.

I look at this photo below, and realize nearly everything is vintage...The mirror was my Mother's, the bamboo art; vintage. The lamp is very vintage, I've had it for many years and remember the funky second hand store I found it in....needless to say, it didn't look like that when I found it and did a lot of cleaning to make it look good (you'll see it better down below). The woven boxes, little brown vase and porcelain antler were all bought new, but I seriously love the mix.
I love a good off set photo don't you? :)

I still love the World Market curtain panels, they add a little global flair.

I am happy with how the mantle turned out, in all it's asymmetrical goodness. I love the color of the urns, so happy and bright. I also used candle holders via Big Lots, boxes that I spray painted orange and a piece of coral that I bought in Key West 20 years ago. Boy, do I hold on to things or what?

For the mantle I typically like doing asymmetrical. The mantle/fireplace + windows are so symmetrical, it wouldn't be as interesting if the accessories were perfect too. Plus, I like a little challenge anyway, asymmetry is not always easy.

In the smaller urn, I took off the lid and did a combination of curly willow, bean sprouts, and silk hydrangeas. I sprinkled some hydrangea blooms on the mantle too. Along with the blooms the lid becomes an intentional detail.

My husband knows the way to my heart is through decorative pillows, meet my newest one...best Valentine's Day gift ever, thanks honey.

I still have a little tweaking to do. I want to add on to the wall collage above the sofa, and I'm playing around with some chair arrangements too.

I'm off to work at the booth today, Mondays are perfect for straightening up after the weekend and delivering a few goodies.

I have a doctor's appointment this week with an oncologist here in Joplin, so I will know exactly when I start the chemotherapy treatments. I'm feeling pretty solemn about it compared to how I was feeling the last couple of weeks. I'm just going to stay busy as usual and keep my head up. I am still getting comments and emails with prayers and encouragement. Thank you for that.

The Fall Living Room 2011

With the weather cooling down nicely, I always get that nesting feeling, you know it's kinda like that loving feeling except it's with your house.....anyway I've started the fall festooning and while there are a couple of more projects that I have in mind, I thought I'd show you some changes I've made.....

No matter the time of year, I change specific things to reflect the season and the gallery wall is one of them. I change a couple pictures around, add in the fall trees, and a leaf picture (taken by my good friend Judy). The printer's block art that I made stays and my favorite owl plate looks especially good for fall!

The coffee table gets it's fair share of display too. An apothecary jar full of hydrangea blooms, white ceramic bowl with pine cones, and berries....I robbed the little brass owl out of my bedroom and put him on a decorative rosewood box and plopped a cloche over him. Under that is a salvaged pitch fork and old book. To finish off the look, two taper candle holders.

The mantle is another area that gets gussied up for the season. I stayed symmetrical again like last year, but overall, it's a simplified look. I found a big heavy plaster container that was narrow enough to fit on the mantle and it really dictated what I did.
After deciding to do an arrangement, it needed to stay pretty simple after that....I used candle holders of various sizes with cream and white candles, some black and white pottery and added a dried gourd.

I changed the curtains to a nice plaid, I've had these panels for several years.


I wanted a collected/cornucopia/bounty look for the mantle, using fall leaves, berries, gourds, pine cones, pomegranates, and bittersweet. The branches are real that I saved from spring pruning, which left my husband shaking his head and walking away.
It ended up being pretty big. It looks a little more dense than it is, but the mirror is reflecting all of the branches (which I didn't anticipate, duh), it's really quite airy. It ended up looking fairly formal, which is OK, I'm down with that. I'm so old school. There is a reason why I got a C in creative writing.

I decided to use the black and white pottery that I found at Hobby Lobby (earlier this year, remember?) to tie back into the black in the mirror.
And have you noticed the increasing amount of brass that you're seeing around here? I don't know why or how, but I'm beginning to sorta kinda like it a teeny tiny bit. Not that fake shiny crappy brassy stuff, but the old real tarnished stuff. And I like it mixed with silver/nickel, I'm feeling fearless on the mixing of metals front.

I've gotten my small collection of camp blankets out, although it's not quite that cold yet. I laid them across the arm of the tufted chair (that is still on the reupholster list)...Daisy (the beagle) didn't mind the extra layers at all. The little folding chair is what Logan likes to sit in.


Pillows change as well (yes, I'm a pillow hound), mostly to brown and a rusty red, the ikat pillow works just fine for fall and I love a bit of blue for fall.

The sofa never looks like this, I just want to bask in the neatness of it for now, right up until any male member of the family arrives. The poofy pillow angels are singing right now, I can hear them (one of them is off key).

I'm standing in the kitchen taking this next picture, I'm working on adding some touches in the kitchen too, but I'll show you that later. *Please note Daisy's bed that she's not in :)

In this shot, I'm standing in the entry, you can see how the front door opens right into the living room. I tried to create a small entry with a sofa table, but it's still not 100% what I want. For now, I laid some chevron fabric over the table and it has helped....I love the rusty color, you can find chevron in nearly every color now.
I'm thinking I might want to make something out of it...maybe. I do like the idea of plaid and chevron though.....

More singing.

I don't mind the driftwood lamp for fall, and added an art glass bowl with tiger lilies in it. I was shopping for hardware for my chain link dresser (which I didn't find) and ended up coming home with these beautiful blue glass knobs for my dresser in the living room...I wasn't even shopping for this dresser, but I love the added detail! Of course know one notices these things but me. :)


SO that is what I've done so far, I hope you can draw some inspiration and get your creative juices flowing!
A couple of things that I want to bring in:
Logs in the firebox instead of candles (I've always loved that stacked log look)
Antlers, if I can sweet talk my FIL out of some ;) I want to hang a mounted set above the round mirror and put some in a bowl some where....
I might go shopping for some different colored taper candles for the mantle, I'm not sure yet.

If you would like to see a ton more pictures (because I don't know when to stop...) please check out my photo stream HERE. This is just an inkling of them....:)



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Living Room Changes

I told you yesterday how excited I was to have found a vintage painting of the ocean. I decided that I wanted it to be featured on the mantle, so a little rearranging was in order. You know how that always happens...I'm a perpetual accessorizer (is that a word?)

Of course since I only dust biannually, I had to do the cleaning that goes along with the rearranging. ;)

It had all started with the bookcases anyway, so the end result was a nice and tidy room that lasted ohhhh, about the length of time that it took to take the pictures and it was back to normal. But at least I have documented proof that it is capable of looking nice. :)

I found a nice and simple black frame in my thrifted frame stash, I just left the glass out of it and the painting looked great.

I changed out the vase, simplified the flowers, added thrifted candle holders and placed the painting. I immediately loved the look.

Whoever the artist is, they did a great job, it's hard to capture crashing waves correctly in paint. I know, I've tried!



Daisy decided to go sleep somewhere else, so I put one of my favorite pillows in the chair. Yes, that's the same chair I showed you months ago that I have yet to chose fabric for. Shame on me.

Next, I accessorized the coffee table. I love having a round coffee table in front of the sectional, it seems more natural to me, but sometimes round tables can be a challenge. Here I used a round bowl (with shell balls), a round mossy ball, and for height a round cylinder vase. I know you've seen me use my vases 101 thousand different ways, and here is the 102nd. Three little taper holders take on a whole new look placed together inside a vase. To anchor them and keep them from wobbling around, I used river rock.

I don't know if you can see it well enough or not. Books always make sense on a table, the square shape offsets the round shapes. Finally, something organic, like my tigerlillies. While these are permanent botanicals, they still make a great statement.


I love how my new old painting looks and I will definately be on the hunt for more. Thanks for stopping by, I hope your inspired!

Want to see a few more pictures? Check out my photostream HERE.

Summer Mantle

Happy Independence Day! I hope everyone is having a fantastic holiday weekend! Since the kiddies were at the Grands, I was doing some much needed cleaning and a little foo-fooing too, usually one follows the other, doesn't it? :)

I love a good mantlescape, so I hit there first. I like to change mine seasonally and since it's officially summer, seashells and flowers were the main players. With the new suzani curtain panels, all kinds of different decorating opportunities have arisen arise come up. I am able to use a lot of different colors and textures, which I am really loving.

The mirror never changes...I keep thinking that I am going to do some abstract art and hang over the mantle in lieu of the mirror, but I really like the black and white contrast, you probably know this from seeing the kitchen.

For an asymmetrical mantle, I like using two good size "anchors" on each end. I love using florals on one side and typically candle holders on the other. That's kinda the formula I stick with. The living room is not big at all, but because of the vaulted ceilings, I can go pretty tall, big and chunky. I like using over sized objects and then fill in around them.




I also like leaning one or two pieces of artwork or pictures too, here I used just one and a collection of starfish and shells







At first, I did a floral arrangement with primarily orchids, but it was looking a little too tropical than I wanted so I went out in search of some lillies. I found them in beautiful rusty orange, however, they look a little more red in the photos. They are blooming everywhere in nature, so they were exactly what I wanted.






The original with just orchids, I like both of them, but I wanted lillies!

I've tried using that vase a trillion times before the curtains, but with them, now I can use a lot of earthy textures on the mantle that just didn't seem right before.

Some other details going on around the room....everything here thrifted (ginger jars spray painted, check out how they looked before HERE :) I love that little dish.

I found a fantastic bowl at TJ Maxx this weekend (I love a good bowl). This bowl could work everywhere! I rarely find orange accessories, so when I do I snag them up. Right now, because Logan is on a building kick, I filled it with wooden blocks.





This is the bowl I found thrifting a couple of weekends ago, I filled it with various shell balls. I told you I love a good bowl!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you are inspired to create a summer mantlescape!





Need more ideas? Take a peek at the Pre-Spring and Spring mantlescapes. Click HERE and HERE.