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Summer Mantel and Fireplace Ideas

Posted by Carolyn on July 11, 2015 3 Comments

summer mantleor isitmantelThis week I finally got around to taking down the springtime/ Easter decorations on the mantel.  I know, I know.  We are solidly in summer.  It was ridiculous.  I decided to go with a colorful, beachy vibe for the summer mantel.  And since I was taking photos and thinking about it, I decided to do some awesome crude mockups of how I can revamp the fireplace.  These are my fireplace ideas.

But first, the mantel.  I couple favorites this season are the birds in the nest.  I got the nest jar for my birthday from some great friends.  It actually has the green bunny as its top (you can see the bunny above), but I thought the birds would be cute for summertime.

Birds in a nestI also have my white bunnies front and center.  These are a favorite possession of mine.  When we left Azerbaijan quickly and unexpectedly, our lovely host family gave them to us.  They were always on display in their home, and it really means so much to me that they gifted them to us.  They are usually, if not always, on our mantel.dovshanlarNow on to some ideas.  I have wanted to do something with the fireplace since we moved in.  You might remember that we used to have a big ugly woodstove in the fireplace (you can see it in the photos here).  That’s been gone for about a year, and we’ve just been living with the empty fireplace.

I think the first step will be to paint the inside of the fireplace.  Black, gray, or white, I suppose.  Here’s what it looks like now:

fireplace as isI think painting the inside black would look the best, because then it would draw attention to whatever we put inside.  Some ideas for what to put inside are a big bowl, like this one shaped like a shell:just paintede black with white shellOr some logs on their side.  I’ve seen this done a lot, but I came across this cool idea on The Art of Doing Stuff, and did a little mockup of how it would look in our fireplace (the image of the logs is their photo, I just edited it into my fireplace):

painted black with colors logs ala theartofdoingstuffI think that’s really fun, and it would be cool to do different colors for different seasons, or just have them all painted in bright metallics.

Next, I tried to see what it would look like if we painted the bricks, or installed white tiles over them. For fun, I threw some logs and a grate in the fireplace.  Seriously amazing photoshopping here, folks.

all white with logsOne thing that I’ve wanted to do for a while is sew up a long cushion for the whole fireplace.  Here’s what that would look like in blue:

painted white with blue cushionThat reminded me of Young House Love’s amazing fireplace makeover, so I cropped their fireplace and added it to my living room.

alayounghouseloveObviously, this is a totally different fireplace that goes to the ground, so we’d have to do things differently.  This is also the most drastic since we’d be covering all the bricks and installing tile and building a whole new mantelpiece.

What do you think?  Any other ideas out there?  Please leave me a comment with your favorite fireplace makeover, or some compliments on my photoshopping skills!

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Posted in: created., decorating, DIY, sewing | Tagged: bunnies, fireplace, fireplace ideas, mantel, seasons, summer

January Colorful Mantel (because the outside has no colors)

Posted by andthenthey on January 27, 2014 8 Comments

Every year this happens.  The fog descends and it just hangs out.  I’m an Oregon girl through-and-through.  I love the rain.  I love the crazy days that are rainy, sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy, and rainy all in the span of an hour.  I do not, however, enjoy the fog.  It’s depressing.  I would take an overcast day over a foggy day no question.  There’s something awful and claustrophobic about not being able to see the house across the street.

So…. I decided to brighten up my living room by creating a colorful mantel!  I pretty much just grabbed everything around that is colorful, threw it on the mantel, moved things around until I liked what I saw and called it good.  Easy-peasy.

All the Things

Obviously the lighting is bad for photos, since there isn’t a whole lot of natural light coming through the windows.

January Mantle

Here’s my favorite part.  A corn candle that my friend Kelsey gave us.  She’s from Iowa, so it’s the real day.  Something of such distinction clearly needs a decorative glass case.

Corn in a Dome

Here’s a question for you.  I’ve been toying with the idea of taking out the old wood stove, painting the bricks, sewing a cushion, and adding wood to the fireplace.  Some examples of this can be found on this Pinterest board I have.  I don’t want to paint the wood paneling because I love it and how cozy it feels.  Do you think it would look good to paint the brick white?

Here’s another photo that shows more of the fireplace (Alma is standing on bricks with red tiles):

IMG_9024

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Posted in: gave thanks. | Tagged: color, design, design opinions, fireplace, fog, january, mantle, weather
If God said, ‘Rumi pay homage to everything that has helped you enter my arms,’ there would not be one experience of my life, not one thought, not one feeling, nor any act, I would not bow to. -Rumi

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