Welcome to the New Year! A Fresh Mantle

The Holidays are over and all our décor has been put away.  Everything looks so empty and it is slightly depressing not seeing the glow of the Christmas tree and other lights around the house when I wake up in the morning.  Our mantle also looks so bare and unfriendly when I look at it while having my cup of coffee and morning yoga session so I decided to give it an update.



Before



After

 

I have said to several people that I wanted to paint our fireplace to match the trim, doors and bookcases in the house.  Some people cringed at the idea I was painting the pretty oak and others were onboard.  I am glad I did it, it looks so much better!

I am a huge Sherwin Williams fan, but I think it is because of their customer service and ease of finding the perfect color and not necessarily the paint.  I really love using Behr paint.  I sometimes find my color at SW then take the swatch to Home Depot to color match.  This time I just picked up samples directly from Home Depot.  I went with "White".  It is literally called white.  The paint was awesome, no smell, included a primer and went on perfectly.  I also went with a flat paint.  My husband seemed a little unsure about this but liked the end result.  I had to do a little sanding with a sanding block before I started painting. 

 

 

I used an angle brush to paint and ended up needing to use one of the kids' small brushes to go between the grooves in the design.  I love the handy pail for these projects and they have liners that make cleanup really easy.  We also have a brush cleaner that really helps keep your brushes nice.  I didn't get a very expensive brush for this project.  I just picked up an economy angled brush.

 

Our mantle needed some love after the holidays so I kept my eyes open for some décor during my last Marshall's trip.  My husband mentioned a clock since we don't have one in the living room and his initial choice was horrible but them we walked past this one and I loved it!  I can't tell if the face is black or blue but we have both in this room.



 

 

While at Target I picked up this lovely banner.  My son picked it out and I really like it, it even has hooks to hang Valentine cards. 

 



 



 



Of course I never consider anything truly finished because just like ourselves, I think that your home should constantly be growing and evolving.  I may do a DIY with XO or LOVE letters or maybe even a printable for Valentine's Day.

 

The next project will probably be painting the office.  That is the last room to paint in the house since we moved in 2 years ago.  I am planning all my projects for the year with my lovely planner from Target of course!