This mantel morphed into something different than what I had originally planned. Here's the long story kinda short:
-I started with an old dresser mirror (just the rectangular center mirror itself) that's been the in garage for about 10 years, you know, with the ugly orange-ish maple finish that lots of old furniture has.
-I used my trusty Rub & Buff to make the frame gold and leaned it on the mantle with my black lanterns that I robbed out of my newly completed office. My plan was to use the black lanterns and mixed metal tones.
-It just wasn't working for me, the scale was too small. I remembered that there was also a surround for that mirror that went with the dresser. So, I dug it out, swept all of the cobwebs off of it, and gave it a quick gold spray to match the mirror. All the while, I was really missing the burst of color from my green shutters on last year's mantel..
-It hit me...wouldn't this entire piece be fun GREEN...give me the color I wanted...and make a big impression?
-It was as good as done with some leftover paint I already had.
So, after sharing that long thought process, here's the result!
This bear light was my son's night light when he was little in his forest-themed room. I've held on to it and wanted to find a special place to use it.
I completely used what I had for this whole set up, didn't buy one thing! Sooner or later most of the things I have stashed away come in handy.
I
was also tired of looking at our fireplace screen (chasing a rabbit-did
I tell you I had to ditch our log filled fireplace? Bad bugs. Boo. It
was a sad day, but I haven't totally given up on the idea. I have a
plan for the spring when we're finished having fires for the season.) so
I rounded up some large baskets from around the house and filled them
with pretty (clean, no bugs!) aspen logs.
I did use some of the
same components as I did for last year's mantel, the lanterns (their
size fits the space best up there), the wreath, and the feathers, but it
still feels different enough to make me happy.
I'm finishing up the decorations in the rest of the house, and will show them to you in the next few days. Tonight my sister and I are headed to help decorate and stage my mom's booth for the season. Happy Monday, friends!