Winter Mantle

I figured I should post this on here before winter is over! I have had our winter mantle up for weeks and just have not gotten around to editing the photos. So without further adieu, here is our winter mantle. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it next to the new paint color and with the mirror windows!

Okay well this is not really the mantle, but the centerpiece on the coffee table. It sort of embodies everything that we are going for with the room for the winter. White and silvers with a slight rustic edge (hence, the pinecones, which I think are so cute).

 For the mantle, I wanted to keep it simple and balanced.

 I took the cute little glittery bird that I got at Michael's on Black Friday and set him on a silver and tan book. I also placed the quatrefoil vase (that I showed you here) behind that, filled my fav apothecary jar with faux diamonds and glittery silver ornaments and then put some cute little glittered pine cones (from Walmart on post-Christmas clearance!). The silver thing to the right is a shiny mug that I got on clearance and using Kohl's Cash so it was fa-reee!

 On this end, we have more pine cones, the little evergreen that I used for our Christmas mantle (I love the contrast of the burlap and rustic with the silver), my little tree forest that I showed you here, some silver ornaments and that awesome silver wood grain frame. I also got that on clearance at Kohl's using Kohl's cash so also free! It was originally a $40 frame but somehow it was dubbed "Christmas" so I got it for $6 (using Kohl's cash). Not complaining! I love it so much. I just need to get a photo for it. But I figured if we waited until I had a 5x7 photo printed you may never see it! ;)

 The crystal candlestick holders I have had on our mantle off and on since we moved in. The are Oleg Cassini and I L-o-v-e them. I fell in love with them at TJ Maxx years ago and my sister in law got them for us as a wedding present.

 So there it is, window mirrors and all. Such a bright, cheerful mantle! I am really so pleased with it! I want to leave it up year round. Who knows, I just may. Until I get tired of it. Which we all know will happen! :)

Mirror Windows for the Fireplace

Here I am again with another living room project! This makes the room! In case you forgot, here is the room with the new paint color and the mantle. (Please excuse the night shots...the color is less than desirable!)

 I have been wanting to find a way to bring more light into the room and open up the space a bit. While scavenging on Pinterest, I became inspired to use mirrors:

 

(Source)

Upon realizing how much I loved the look of the mirrors, I knew just what I wanted to do. I hopped on over to the dollar store, hoping to find some simple, frameless mirrors to create the look of the first photo. What I found, I ended up loving more! They have these cute little framed mirrors and they are, obviously, a dollar each! so for $8 I got these:

 To test them out o size and placement, I nailed each one up to the wall separately, starting with the top left and using a level to get them even.

 I then used a measuring tape to get the distance from the top of the mantle to start the other side. On this side I started with the bottom right, because it was the easiest to measure. You may notice the space between the top and bottom row is a bit off, but I fixed that later :)

 Now, when I dreamed up this little project, I envisioned white frames. So, I covered each mirror with paper and painted them with a brush. The hair dryer was a product of my impatience between coats. :) Would it have been far, far easier to pop the mirrors out and spray paint them? I am sure of it. But I was on a roll and decided to go this route using the same paint that we used for the door and mantle to make sure that it matched.

 After giving them adequate (just barely) time to dry, I used a razor to scrape any paint off of the mirror and then I popped those babies back on the wall, fixing the placement of the bottom two when I did.

They are absolutely perfect for what I had in mind! I love how they reflect the sunlight around the room! Because of the way that our house sits on the lot, the majority of the day, sun comes in through the back of the house in the kitchen. It is amazing to have mirrors placed exactly where they catch that sunlight and shine it into the living room.

 They are so cute and look like they came with the room! I love the way that the white pops off of the tan walls.

 We do have our winter mantle up, and it is fabulous! But that is another post for another day. For now, I will continue to marvel in this little $8 room pick-me-up.

Seriously, isn't it so fun to walk into a room in your house and feel like you can't help but stare??? I LOVE it! I think that this is by far a perfect solution for a windowless wall to bring some light in. I could not be more pleased!

Turning the Door White

With our new living room paint color, The unpainted, wooden door was really not sitting well with me. I have never loved it anyway, but the oak brown against the light coffee color hurt my eyes. I have always wanted to paint it white, so when my husband suggested it, I leaped at the chance!

 Here she is, after a couple of coats of white trim paint. It is amazing what a huge difference this made to the room. That corner always felt so dark to me, and now the white door just pops out and brightens the entire space!

And here is our cute little Ikea lantern that we got several years ago, just glowing next to it. I love how warm and inviting it is!

Today is my official first day working from home and let me tell you, I LOVE it! There is something so wonderful about being able to be in my own home while I am working. Everyone kept asking if I would get distracted being at home but honestly, I feel more focused. I can really buckle down and do work without being interrupted or getting off task. I am so happy with this change! :) More to come with the living room!

Painting the Living Room

Once I got the vinyl off (see my last post), we moved on to taping and painting. But before I show you that...let's take a look at what the living room was :)

I don't have too many recent pictures of the living room, so I will give you a Halloween throwback. Here is myself and my friend, Emily in front of our off-white walls, with our less than fabulous wall grouping behind us.

 And to give you another angle, here are our minions husbands. I know the lighting is weird, sorry! The days are shorter now!

 And here is a photo from the last post, showing you the mantle wall before the new paint.

 Here are the clean walls, with some of the taping done.

 Now once we started to paint the new color on the walls, we noticed that the top of the mantle was looking a little dirty. So we dug out our white trim paint to paint just the top. Well as you can see in the photo below, the paint that they used was wither a different shade or it was just that dingy from whatever they did with the fireplace that made our walls so funky.

 We ended up totally repainting the mantle. Honestly thought, I am glad that we did because it makes the mantle really pop off of the new tan walls!

 See how crisp and clean it looks? I love it!

Here is the wall color. The lighting is a little weird because I had to take these photos at night. The color is not as peachy as it looks in the pictures. I will try to get some day time pictures to add on here soon!

 I can't get over how much I love the mantle now! It really stands out!

 Here is one daylight photo that I took of the paint down the hallway. I was worried that the darker color would make the hallway feel smaller, but it really doesn't at all. The entire room is so cozy now!

I can't wait to show you all of the other updates that we have made to the room! It really does feel like a different space. Isn't it just such a good feeling when you walk into a room and feel compelled to pause and enjoy it? And you can't help but smile. That is my favorite. I want every room in our home to make me feel that way. Now it is ours. :)

Let's just compare before and after really quickly, shall we?