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!

 



Living Room and Front Playroom Update

 

 

This is our second Christmas in this house and I am finally feeling much better about our living room and front room/toy storage room just in time for Christmas.  The rooms never were exactly what I envisioned and never seemed cozy to me.

 

My first issue with the living room was our old couch that I really hated moving into this house but we had other expenses at the time.  The couch has faded and was extremely uncomfortable.  The curtains were never my favorite because it made the room look too busy.  I knew I wanted to get bookcases eventually.  I also struggled with the open floor plan and limited wall space.    

 

 

We purchased a new couch and recliner which I fell in love with.  It is very comfortable and really fits in the room well.  I moved around the end tables which may go away in the near future.  I also think I may purchase new lamp shades.  I am thinking about buying a round shade.  We found curtains at Ikea while we were there and also purchased an ottoman cover for only $20.00!  I was nervous about white but you can remove and wash it.

 

 

The curtains actually stay open and allow a lot of natural sunlight in.  The old curtains were rod pockets and were constantly moving.  Don't worry I reused these curtains in another room and gave some to my sister as well. 

  

 

Our next project in this room is painting the fireplace.  We were thinking about painting it before Christmas but decided we rather wait and focus on the upcoming holiday and relaxing a little.



 

 

This is the front room where we store a lot of toys.  I wasn't sure what color I wanted to paint this room so it was one of the last ones to get painted when we moved in.  This was also the only room my rose painting fit well in.  Our last living room was red and the painting was the focal point.  The loveseat made its way into this room during the move (so ugly and gross).  And we had minimal storage for the toys in here. 

  

 

This is the room now.  It looks so different!  The paint color looks about the same in the picture but it actually has more of a violet tint to it than the other room.  You can see I moved a set of the curtains to this room.  We purchased the media stand and it contains baskets of toys as well as some other bigger toys that I hate sitting out.  Once the tree goes, I would really like to get some chairs to go in front of the window.

 

Here is the view from the living room.  We did a DIY magnet board that is a big hit with our 1 year old.  Instead of magnets all over the refrigerator and her under my feet when I am cooking (which scares me to death), she can play safely in the toy room.