Christmas Mantle 2012

 Well, I finally brought all the fall down from the mantle...it was a little sad...but I threw on some Christmas tunes and went to work. I stripped the mantle completely down to the mirror. I keep thinking I'm going to try my Mom's mirror over the mantle for a change but I just love the round one so much, I never do.

 Since I'm trying to keep it plain and simple, this is what I came up with. The rustic lanterns (you might remember seeing one of these in THIS tablescape) are one of my favorite elements. As soon as I saw them, I knew I wanted them for my Christmas mantle...and lanterns just say comfy-cozy to me.

 I haven't even started on the tree yet, in fact I'm not even going to talk about the tree yet....we'll talk about that as soon as I get it decorated.

 Do you remember when Justin made my 'Fall' letters? See the tutorial HERE. He made me a 'Noel' while he was at it...well, he made an N, E and L and I thought it would be rather fun to come up with an abstract O. I tried a few things before I remembered this tree topper, a moss ball, one of the twig balls...but I thought the more light the better.

 For the arrangement, which is my favorite element, I used the vase that I recently sprayed black (I used it last for Halloween, take a look HERE). You might not think of black with Christmas, but I thought it was ok with the room as a whole. Branches and long needle pine with some snowy branches to tie in the white.

 Inexpensive snowflake garland hung across the face of the fireplace.

 Egads, it looks a little Vanilla...but decorating the tree will help bring in some color.

 I'm sure I'll do some tweaking as I get further along.

 It is a lot different from last year's mantle, no ladders involved or massive swag over the mirror....but I do like it.

 Evening shots:

 See? Doesn't it just make you feel warm and fuzzy? :)

 I hope you are inspired!
Joining Layla

***

Thank you for all your love and support in my last post, I really can't express how much your words encourage me and help me keep moving forward! I'm so glad I'm not alone.

Bookshelf Styling and A New Piece

I was running errands in Carthage the other day and stumbled upon a great flea market. I had never been in so we decided to pop in and see if there was anything good. It was a pretty good one and I found some nice pieces....some candle holders, a small mirror, a small vase and this plaster architectural piece. It was a nice statement piece and a great size, just over 3 feet long. I knew just where I wanted to hang it.

Just to give you an idea of where the bookcases are, this is a small wall just to the left after you walk in the front door. They are facing the fireplace. I keep referring to them as they because it's actually two of a kind that I have side by side. They have lived on this wall for a while, but I like the fact that I can break them up if I want to. They are each 32" wide and are just over 6' tall. They do a great job of balancing out the fireplace wall and fit well on a small awkward wall. The computer desk is adjacent to the bookcases and I use some of the lower cubbies for officey type things, but there is nothing wrong with mixing decorative living room items with functional office ones. When you live in a small space, you gotta do whatcha gotta do, right? :)
Back to the piece. I didn't touch the finish, this is exactly how I found it. It is made out of plaster and pretty heavy. I think I was drawn to it because of the egg and dart motif, I've always liked that detail.

I was thrilled when the finish was so close to the wall color, I knew I was hanging it above my bookcases and didn't want too much contrast with the wall color.I wanted the contrast to be with the bookcases themselves, so that was a great that I didn't have to paint it.


Well, you know how it goes, one thing leads to another, once I hung the new piece.....I had to clean and dust everything, which lead to a complete redo of the bookcases. The domino effect. :) It needed to be done anyway, I hadn't restyled the shelves for a while and it's nice to clean and freshen things up a bit.

Shelf detail:

Look at my new little baby owl perched on a book. I found him at the flea market too. He might get a coat of spray paint, I'm not sure...I'm kinda liking him like he is.


The bookcases are so modern, which I love, but I also love how the new piece softens it up a bit. I typically have framed art up there (take a look HERE) but it was just more boxes on boxes on boxes. Once I had hung the new piece, I was happy with the decision.

Of course one of my favorite things to do is mixing modern elements with rustic things, so I used a pair of glass vases (you've seen these on the mantle before), perched one on top of my painted pedestals, and my hourglass vase. I put moss in the vase and just love how that looks. Very simple.


I hope you're inspired to restyle your bookcases or built-ins! Thanks for stopping by!

I'm still working on the master bedroom, if you read my fabric saga, you know where I am on that. I've ordered the "new" main fabric, so hopefully it will be here shortly! I hope I like it! LOL!

If you'd like to take a look at some more pictures take a look HERE.