Homefront: White and Natural Mantel

Are you getting tired of my mantel posts yet? Well, it's been so fun changing them up for all the recent holidays and season changing, so bare with me a little while longer! (ps. I DID clean my mirror, but I am not a streak free master.) If you DON'T have a mantle, you can do this on the middle strip of your kitchen table or coffee table, on top of a cabinet, a dresser, a shelf over a tv or desk....

I am a little tired of my usual aqua and sage green, so I decided to go back to a natural palate. These pretty much all consist of vintage items found through super sleuthing for amazing deals, so I can't complain. The adorable raccoon art I found today for a song, so it had to be featured.

Basically, I decorate, by using the larger pieces on the outsides, and angle them in. Usually, I would put a taller piece in the center, but our mantle is so narrow especially with the frame of the mirror that I only am able to use small accessories. And other times, I leave the middle totally bare and just have a little vignette on the sides.

all four A's, I painted them white, expcept for the largest, which a friend gave to me already painted.

I had all four A's up (one per family member), but removed the center two for less of a clutter look. When I go across the whole mantel, it may look overly crowded because of my smaller pieces, though I still use the remove one (or two) item rule. Just do what works and tweak when you feel the need to get nit picky, but don't stress over it! Who knows, this whole thing may look different tomorrow.

The mantle consists of a painted black finial (is an nasty brassy color underneath), raccoon print, letter A, adorable vintage wood bunny, vintage vase with fresh white roses, vintage mattress spring coil, white lantern, glass jar full of white candlesticks, vintage aladdin inspired brass mini vase, tattered vintage book from my childhood and another large white letter in front of a painted white mirror and white deer bust.

I'm loving the natural elements and wish I still had my fresh picked cotton stems to add as well. Anyone know where I can get some?

*****

And on another note. I decided to take the plunge and do a gallery wall over my couch. I laid out 3 different styles, I would love some input on which you think looks best.

1. aqua and white frames and white letters, the largest grouping

2. minus the aqua frames, medium sized grouping

3. minus the white and aqua frames, smallest grouping (though I think if I use this, I would lose the letters and put the oval frame in their place. (if you are interested on how the frame wall turned out, visit here.)

*Linked to The Nester's Mantle Linky Party,
Just a Girl's How Show and Share Day
at Kimba's of A Soft Place to Land's DIY Day 
Life as Lori's Get your Craft on Thursdays
The Shabby Cottage's Thursday Transformation
Women Who Do it All's Idea Sharin' Wednesday
Tales from Bloggeritaville's Thrifty Thursday
Between naps on the Porch Tablescape Thursdays
Jellybeans & Firefly's Show off your Stuff
Jessica's The Hills are Livin Favorite Things Friday
 It's not here at Life in the Pitt's Creative Therapy, but lots of good ones are.

Colorful Creative Farmhouse

Have you ever seen Kelly Rae's colorful Seattle farmhouse on Apartment Therapy? You can read the interview and see more photos here. It's truly wonderful. Even if it is too colorful for your taste, there is some inspiration to be shared here, that adding whimsical touches of vintage linens, or other treasures can add a spot of character anywhere.

Kelly Rae Roberts is an artist with a book called Taking Flight as well, whose home truly reflects her creative spirit. Her use of bright colors is softened by their reustic distressing and natural colors.

The floors are a light wood, soft colored walls with  crisp white trim, soft air filtering white curtains, lots of white painted furniture and natural greenery makes the space look comfortable and eclectic without feeling cartoon-y. She has a perfect blend of whimsical touchs and vintage collections like her wall letter, alarm clocks, globes, suitcases, tins, floral linens, frames... I adore her use of quirky furniture elements like her wonderful blue church pew. What a fun treasure!

Pops of Muted Color

pickles... how to make it here

I thought I would be in spring time color mode by now, but given we just had several inches of snow fall (in Texas) no less, I'm still not feelin' it.  Easter pastels, (I can't believe I'm saying this) let's wait a few more days.  But, pops of colors in muted, unforced tones are an excellent transition for me.

I love the above wreath, covered in wool felted balls. You can make your own from a kit, or purchase premade balls or learn how to do it from pickle's instructions (and while your at it, make that wonderful curtain as well!). The sewn mini colorful garland decorating the moose skull is also lovely.

johnny & stacie sfgirlbybay

The home of johnny and stacie, is a bit of perfection to me. It's open, not overly cluttered but a distinct sense of creativity and wonder resides here. Which is no wonder given that it is located in an artistic warehouse turned residential space. The backdrop of the neutral colors, beams and bones of the home and furniture allow for chamleon growth in both color and decor choices over the natural course of living in the space. We can create similar vibes with our homes if we so choose.

this pink dinosaur painting speaks to me.

Besides, how could a home with a swing in the living room not be wonderful?

Living in such a naturally colorful space would perhaps make one dress in similar muted colors, as though the fashion osmosis has seeped in to your mind by simply walking through the door.

curry necklace by urban legend

What a lovely necklace. The combination of it's elegant drape and muted colors work perfectly with the black and white printed blouse and lovely ruffle edged muted lime green shrug! And that's saying a lot from a fellow jewelry designer who primarily wears grey (and who also, loves Indian curry).

Subtle Sunshine

 

domino

To me, yellow is one of those colors that is best paired with neutrals. It looks smashing with aqua and regal with purple, but overall, I much prefer it with creamy shades of white, chocolates and my all time favorite, gray. Of course, some can only handle yellow  in small doses (such as myself).

brooke giannetti

 

country living

 It is an excellent color for spring or summer, but in those dreary fall and winter months, there is no better color to infuse a bit of warmth and cheer in your home. It is also an excellent gender neutral color. It softens a masculine overly dark room and minimizes too much girlishness in a home. (Well some rooms like Betsey Johnson's Pink Apartment cannot be manned up no matter how much yellow you put in there! (still love the room though!...)

 

kips bay decorator showhouse

 

katie stassi domino

 

remodelista

 

ilse crawford

 

house to home

 

dwell shop

I do feel that some of these rooms would give me a headache after all, but many are so wonderful I may just use some for inspiration of my own. one more thing for, yellow paint... ALWAYS use several test swatches first to find that nice and serene shade... I cannot tell you how many paint nightmares I have had choosing the way wrong color yellow for a wall that screams the sun just threw up a horrid shade of neon.

 

 

world of interiors

 

victoria hagan

 

viceroy hotel photog grey crawford

 

 

ekb interiors

 

colorama

 

domino

There are plenty more yellow interior loveliness over at Patrica Gray Interiors!

A Little Lovables Halloween

 the husband is not a fan of the spider and crow, ha!

I feel like my Halloween decorating is completed enough to show you now. I did have a few other cute little surprises, like a flock of birds flying in a v formation that I stamped to our central mirror... but it has already been smeared to an inky fog by my toddlers, and frankly, I'm just too tired to redo it.

 last year, on the ill fated mantle, blythe was a kitty, oh, where is my boa??

I tried to stay away from orange, and do more of an elegant black, white and creme theme like last year, but orange snuck in here somehow, so I just went with what I had. I tried to mix the harvest style with spooky without messing up the themes too much. I'm an all or nothin' kind of gal, so this harvest/Halloween mash up was a major step for me.

found this vintage brass owl family at a garage sale for $1 a few weeks ago!

For the pumpkin in a mirror project, those are from those child's foam decorating kits. While the boy had fun making his own, I thought I would do something a bit kooky-classy. I got this old frame from a garage sale last month and painted it white. It naturally distressed in that time from my lack of putting it anywhere safe.

 

I hot glued a black ribbon to the back (can easily be unpeeled later). Then I made my foam jack o lanterns. But oooo-wie... too dang orange for my sore eyes! So, I got some black ink (for stamping) dabbed it with a paper towel, removed the pumpkin faces and smeared the ink around, emphasizing it around the edges. I reapplied the faces, but wouldn't stick well to the ink, so I hot glued them on. Then, I hot glued the pumpkins to the ribbon! It fit perfectly in that little odd space in my display.

the only good thing about that desk, is using it as a vignette surface ;)

This is the pumpkin carriage thingy I adore that I painted! I added a light up jack o lantern inside, crystals, and a pocket watch. It did have little mice on it, but they disappeared somewhere. All I need is a glass slipper for a Cinderella display.

  I saved $6 on this. I really wanted the more expensive flowers, but settled for these, hey I'm trying! The vase I got at Goodwill and the bird and berries were all clearanced items. I can really jazz it up later after Halloween for more of the harvest look. You can see a making of the floral arrangments here:

And there is Frankenstein and his bride. The husband thinks they are too scary. I contemplated painting them a little shabby chic style to ease that scare factor? What do you think? Oh, and her head fell off. E6000 saved the day.

I love that pedestal pumpkin. It's glass and a clearance hobby lobby find. So cute and chic and no need to paint! Although, the pedestal part would look pretty nifty black... hmmm...

Another angle of my long counter top that is really useless except for knocking into it and getting heinous bruises. A junk collector too. I am pretty sure my decorations fall under the "junk" category as well. Sorry husband of mine!

This here shadow box I got from Viv's Whimsy Halloween swap. I love it! So cute, the velvety curtain with pom pom fringe and vintage image are so pretty. Oh, and that's a page from Twilight that skeleton is standing on :) Thanks Michelle from Chaos Cottage for making me this!!

The one I made her was a little ghosty fellow in chains with little flying black birds inside of a wooden coffin.

I thought I would show you some previous years Halloween costumes for your viewing pleasure.

 

Sonic boy as Mr. T. He loved it and so did everyone else! We used mascara for the 'do and I sewed clearance Homecoming chains and junk to a yellow terry cloth bib, so it was light and comfortable to wear.

Seriously, I threw all 3 of our outfits together in 15 minutes, as I was rushing out of the door to go to a Halloween party. Bad momma, I know. But, the boys loved being scarecrows! I wired a nest with eggs and a bird to the eldest and put hay things and feathers in their pockets and sprayed his hair all crazy like. Of course, we had to have red triangle noses and freckles!  The overalls I wore were my mom's from the 70's. I wore them for hippie day in high school during homecoming week. They have hippie patches on the bum, and a band one called "Up with People"  I know, funny stuff!

Well, this Halloween, we are going as candy corn (that would be me), Sonic the Hedgehog and his little red buddy, Knuckles, though the oldest is intent on his little bro being a witch. Weird! You can see more of how these costumes turned out here.