Mantel Decorating

i love four logs 

Pink, black and turquoise, love this. Very Alice in Wonderland with the artwork and eclectic vibe. The scale and slightly off symmetry of everything is just perfect.

I love Spring decorating, and I love decorating my mantle, but I don't quite feel it's ready yet to take out the Easter decorations. The Easter box is here and ready to go, but maybe I'll hold off for another week. In the meantime, my mantle has lots of white, some aqua and soft pastel green to make the transition.

My transitional Spring time Mantle

There are some wonderful ideas out there, whether you prefer to decorate by the seasons, or by what you love. If your style is shabby chic, vintage inspired, retro, mid century modern, colorful kitsch, contemporary, traditional, eclectic, a little bit country gothic... there is an idea for everyone here.

The wallpaper, pink rug and the whites with the wood floor are all lovely. The simple touch of the framed neutral colored art above the mantle and flowers are not overwhelming, but still charming. ~inspiration for decoration

Apartment Therapy + decorating tips love the unique shape of the brass vase, candles and the oval mirror. The symmetry is lovely and so are the colors. Look at the little square tiles on the fireplace, love it!

My two fav colors with aqua, is yellow & orange. This room has it all. Simple, colorful. ~Shop Ursula

Add a piece of mantle art! You should see the before, flip through the slideshow here... what a huge difference some color and a little update can make! I know this transformation is pretty large and intensive, but you can paint the bricks white (I've done it and loved it), slipcover your couches and pillows, change out a few accessories, or even paint a few pieces to match, paint your walls, simplify what you have and that's really all. It sounds more than it really is. -Better Homes and Gardens

One of my favorites, The brass wheat scones are a theme we love too. I usually hang my mirrors horizontally, but the vertical style allows for taller vases on a narrow ledge and adds drama. ~Elle Decor

Copper mantle sfgirlbybay is lovely and rich. The mid century modern sunburst mirror and fawn figruine is adorable. The soft pink flowers in the aqua watering can... simple and lovely ~homebug

analisa's white fireplace is simple and gorgeous with it's minimal accessories, and bazaar style features a modern funky shaped mirror with retro art and deer figurine. Love the aqua and red.

Techinacally a Christmas mantle, due to the bleached bottle brush trees little fawn and tree, but her husband's homemade wood scrap wreath and paper flowers can be year round! ~rock paper scissors

Ornate, beautiful and still homey with the clean lines of the black iron bed and unfussy bedding. Love the aqua and white with a modern romantic touch. I love the open space on the mantel, I do that too.

One ornate white fireplace mantel with a gallery frame wall, lovely! Mariu de Andre's Home Elle Decor UK

Shabby white and slender brass letter V feels so elegant together, and the pop of pink flowers is perfect.

The firelace houses a quilt rack for a cozy reading nook. Love this artistic home library. ~sfgirlbybay

If you don't have a formal mantle, install a wooden shelf and call it done! The vintage and antique mirrors and silver vessels piled together adds some pizazz to the room without being distracting.

A simple vinyl sticker or painted design looks great as a centerpiece when it is a neutral color and has soft lines. Small grouping of photos, flowers and special momentos are a perfect intimate addition to a mantel without feeling too staged or showy. The neutral color scheme is cool and casual.

I love these mirrors, the fact she uses them in alternating gray and white and they fit the space perfectly just astounds me. It's a big focal point, but simple vases and a stack of books add minimal decor so it isn't too overwhelming. Mommy Suprise Contemporary Mirror Mantel

One of my favorites! The crystal garland, curvy white vintage dresser mirror, white button wreath and all sorts of haberdashery and candelabras are lovely and chic. The roses add softness. ~Golden Paws

This feels Country Gothic to me, the huge mirrored window pane and sconses are gorgeous. Look up at the branch inspired chandelier and wooden beams! Alicia Wardenss, Better Homes and Gardens

I love the grey, detailed mantle with the simplicilty of the brass candlesticks, pencil profile sketch, white bud vases and the greenery cuttings. Staged, but cozy and inviting. ~decorology

Typography fans gather 'round! We have a bingo spinner, blocks and all sorts of vintage letters and numbers. The ornate mantle feels at home here, and it's elegance is muted with the colorful rust.

Twice Remembered Mantel's has an assortment of frames, a single letter and topiaries.

julie's super kitschy nick knack mantle is like a shrine of wonderment and and marky1969's fireplace is unique and eclectic. Dramatic black with floral tiles and mustard wallpaper in a bold white flower pattern, they keep it simple with a single white vase with flowers and tall, slender white candlesticks.

This is one crazy mantle! It has everything one needs to feel at home in their quirky little abode. This is the no holds barred style, hey, and if it makes you happy, it makes me happy! Apartment Therapy

Layla, used a vintage headboard to emphasize her fireplace. I love her mantle decor, simple, elegant but maximum style, as usual at The Lettered Cottage.

Even more mantle styling inspiration goodness can be found at Matters of Style, and at Little Green Notebook. Some amazing ones there. Tomorrow... turn  that mantle find of yours into a cozy diy headboard.

A Garland Will Rise

Easter mantle

This is my minor, yet irritable, yet fixable and I'm okay with that lament. I have one space in which to arrange decorative items that my boys cannot climb and destroy, the only safe surface in my home (besides the top of the refrigerator)is my mantle. (click on images to enlarge for detail)


Halloween mantle

Oh, the IKEA shelf that matches my tv console, you complete me. I have had lots of fun arranging my mantle. I was even about to show it to you because I recently made it so cute!

But, it fell down. Not just fell down, "oh honey let's put this back up".


Christmas mantle

Fell down to the point that now there are gaping holes in the wall and we (as in husband) had to push the wall back together to try and make it flush.


Valentine's mantle

Perhaps I got so overjoyed with some new pieces that I forgot they were a little heavy, and our walls are a little flimsy, and though it was anchored, it wasn't anchored in any studs and that shelf has been there 3 years and all. Surely, this wasn't MY fault then, I ask ;)


Globey mantle

So, what do you do when you have no paint to cover up the mantle's shadow of shame, and no mirrors/paintings... to cover it... and you have guests coming over in a few hours (and you nor the boys nor the house are near ready)?



I took some scraps from the freshly slipcovered pillows on my couches in my room and cut out triangles. I used no pattern, so they aren't perfect, but they are okay.



Then, I hot glued the right side of the fabric to the lower half back of the ribbon.



Once I completed that "task", I pinned some lace on the upper half of the front of the ribbon. Notice, if I had hot glued the fabric to the top half of the ribbon as well, then no pins or sewing needles would be able to go through that.



Now, I hang my little garland. It's not perfect and if you look close, you can see some unpainted wall behind the swoops, but it's purpose was to mask the nasty holes and that it did. Hey, it's temporary, and I like it! I have been aching to make a banner for a while now, but it's amazing how we only do things when we have the need to do it.



All the while, my eldest says, "You make my house pretty?" "You so nice mommy!" "Daddy is going to be so happy!" "You so special, mommy!"

I was given the giant letter A already painted white by a friend, and I remembered I had 2 smaller A's, so I threw them up there. Isaac helped pass me the letters as I balanced on a chair and painted the fronts while they hung on the wall. Yeah, I do that.



The metal scroll I got at a garage sale and beautified it with layers of blues, greens and white paint.

The white paint was almost gone so it made all types of squirting noises.
"Sounds like Isaac going poo-poo!" my son exclaimed happily.

I gave my eldest the leftover white to hide the nasty hole where we banged up the wall in the hallway moving furniture.



Then, he begged for more colorful paint and I let him paint on the wall he vandalized a couple of months ago. This wall can be his! (He did get carried away and painted the faux grout lines on the kitchen floors, but really, nothing could make those apartment laminate floors look any worse.)



You can see more project show off at Between Naps on a Bench's weekly post, Metamorphosis Monday and even more at Kimba's A Soft Place to Land DIY Day! Do you have any crazy quick fixes? How long did that temporary quick fix end up staying there?

Live in Thanksgiving Daily

 Well, the Thanksgiving week is upon us, and that means it's time to show my Thanksgiving mantle. I really loved and prefer my crisp white fall mantle, that changed swiftly to the Halloween mantle, and I left a few pieces out for this.  Some may wonder why I excessively change my mantle. Well, it's one of the only surfaces in my home that I have that I can put decor on, and so there it is. Plus, I just love to rearrange and be creative, and I bore easily of seeing the same thing up there too many weeks in a row.

Well, my sis and her 4 boys will be joining my hubs, mom, my 2 boys and myself for the weekend, and we are so happy to see them. Isn't that what Thanksgiving is all about?? Taking the time to reflect on what is important and deciding to make a change to enjoy those things a little more. 

May your pies be yummy, your bellies be stuffed and your homes filled with warmth, love and laughter. I love love love this short little video of learning to see and appreciate those little things, and live in thanksgiving daily:

Here is a cute little video of random people on the streets of New York City sharing a variety of grateful responses to one simple question: What are you thankful for?

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.