Monthly Archives: April 2015

Not quite a spring mantel

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Despite the snow flurries that fell thick enough to coat the ground this weekend, I’m pretty sure it’s spring. Easter was early this year, but not that early, right?

Snow on Easter Sunday

It seemed like it was time to update the mantel for spring. We still light the fire most nights, but the snowshoes on the mantel seemed to be a bit out of season.

For me, styling a mantel is like styling a bookshelf–challenging.

I replaced the snowshoes with some green glass bottles. I separated the pair of antlers and spread out the trio of spherical tealight holders. But I’m not sure it’s working for me.

Fireplace mantel decorated for spring

I’ve learned I really like the pop of black from the lantern–and the glow of the candle at night–but I’m wondering if maybe I should do without it for the spring.

The glass bottles seem a little small to me. And I think their watery blue-green tone says summer more than spring.

I’d love your input and advice on what you’d do. Here are your constraints:

  1. The stone needs to be the main feature of the fireplace. That means no covering it up with a huge painting or mirror, although something smaller might be acceptable.
  2. I want balance, but I don’t want symmetry. Matching topiaries at either end of the mantel with a perfectly centred hurricane are not me.
  3. Bigger is better when it comes to tchotchkes. The fireplace is 8 feet wide and 9 1/2 feet tall and close to 4 feet deep. It’s a monolith. From the mantel to the lowest point of the ceiling is 40 inches. The accessories need to be equally large scale so they don’t get lost.
  4. I’m cheap, so there’s no way I’m spending much money on decor, especially if it’s going to change seasonally.

This post from Kim at Tidbits and Twine has an easy formula for styling a mantel. I particularly like her layers of anchor, weight and filler. However, I’d have to put my anchor off centre. 🙂

Here are some of the things I’m thinking of:

  • Something living (or more likely, given my luck with plants, a decent replica of a living thing)
  • Large crocks or bottles (or urns or tarnished trophies?)
  • Candles or lanterns of some kind (maybe an oil lamp or a candelabra could be fun)
  • Some appropriately “farmy” accessories (wagon wheel hub, grindstone, antlers)
  • Something appropriately seasonal (is there something that says spring besides the obvious tulips and hyacinths?)
  • Art (even though I don’t want a central painting, a smaller scale painting or sculpture or mirror might be nice)

This picture speaks to me. Even though the fireplace is a completely different style from ours, are there some lessons I can apply?

Help me bring spring inside, even if it hasn’t arrived outside yet. What are your styling secrets for mantels? What accessories would you use?

Good Friday

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On our first Good Friday at the farm, I cut a huge bouquet of forsythia off the bushes beside the driveshed. Every spring since then, I’ve marked the start of April with a forsythia check-in.

Forsythia on the first of April

Thanks to a few mild days in March, we’re in a better snow situation than we were last year. The blossom situation is still TBD. Last year we seemed to be dealing with frostbit forsythia. Hopefully we have blooms soon.

And I hope that you have a very happy Easter.

Forsythia through the years:

One Room Challenge – Master bedroom makeover

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It’s One Room Challenge time again. This will be my second time participating in the Challenge, and things are a bit different this time around.

One Room Challenge

The room I’ve chosen to make over–our master bedroom–is already part of the way there. Yes, I took a head start. But those who have been around here for a little while know that I stalled. The One Room Challenge is my motivation to finally finish it.

For those that are new here, here’s where we started–our former guest room. Pretty, ain’t it?

Master bedroom before

Here’s the inspiration (from another ORC participant, no less):

Black, white and gold bedroom

Source: Chez V (found via Little Black Door)

And here’s where we are today:

Master bedroom mid-makeover

Without a deadline, I’m finding it very easy to dilly-dally my way through this makeover. So the plan is to draw up a schedule and feed off the enthusiasm of other ORC participants and get this room done.

Here’s the plan (I’m reusing some of the text from previous posts so that those of you who are new can follow along):

  • Buy a queen size bed – Done, except we decided to really upgrade and went for a king size.
  • Remove popcorn ceiling – Scraping the ceiling was not the funnest way to spend a day, but this job is done.
  • Patch ceiling and walls – Also known as, “how I spent my Christmas vacation” (yes, Christmas. I told you this makeover has been going on too long). Patching took such a long time. Done, thank goodness.
  • Paint ceiling, trim, doors and walls – I had such a hard time picking a colour, but this one is done. Chez V’s makeover made me decide to go dark and dramatic with Hale Navy.
  • Make/find window treatments – This was the when the makeover stalled. I discovered I do not like making curtains. So boring. But I’m finally done.
  • Build some hookboards for behind the door – Extra hanging space is always a good idea.
  • DIY a headboard – No idea what I’m going to do here. White? Wood? Upholstered?
  • Relocate light switch – Oddly, the light switch is behind the door. It’s perfectly positioned if you used the mirrored pocket door from the other bedroom to enter the master. Weird.
  • Replace light fixture – I have a hand-me-down brass and crystal chandelier just waiting for a home.
  • Paint dresser and replace hardware – We have a beat up black dresser that we bought at a garage sale. I think it can be freshened up with some nice white paint and brass hardware.
  • Sew a bedskirt – I have some material left over from the curtains. A bed skirt can’t be as tedious as the curtains, can it?
  • Refresh dinged up closet doors – It appears our closet doors spent their past life as bulletin boards, except with tape rather than pushpins.
  • Come up with a jewelry storage solution – Notice I didn’t say a new solution. I’ve had no solution, and tangles of necklaces are getting really old.
  • Decorate and personalize – It will be nice to finally personalize a bedroom. Although the giant pink ape you saw above probably isn’t the personalization I’m looking for.

And finish it all by May 7 in time for the ORC finale. Stay tuned. And be sure to check out Calling it Home for all of the fabulous makeovers–or this week the plans for fabulous makeovers.