Every time I take a photo of what’s on my mantle, I think, “I really need to paint that brick…” While it was pretty in it’s day, it really needs an update. The walls in the room are blue on top of the chair rail & an off white on the bottom. I had planned to use beadboard on the bottom, but just didn’t know if I’d like it. So instead, I just painted the bottom and will decide if I really like the chair rail. The bookshelves on either side of the fireplace are going to be white. But that will come when we do the bathroom vanities, as we will have to use cover-stain or something like that on them. The plan is a white mantle to go along with that, but again it hasn’t happened. I chalk it up to a lack of planning. My planning. I plan, the Mr. executes my plan.
I didn’t buy anything for this mantle. (Someone in our hosue is happy about that!). As a matter of fact, I actually went outside to find some of the decor.
I made the burlap penants by hand. I burned (very lightly) the edges once I cut them. I never realized that burlap is really messy to work with. It frays like crazy! I did end up zigzag stitching around the edges with thread that matches. I used thick thread to stitch them all together using 3 inch long stitches.
The lace isn’t sewn on. It is just clipped onto the string on either end of the mantle. This came from my stash of lace….which came from this great site! (debslaceandtrims.com)
I re-arranged the photos I like to keep up there. I pulled some brown jersey from my remnants basket in my sewing room and tied them into big bows. I also took some already gathered white muslin and used it as garland around the candles placed at the base of the vase & mason jar. I added twigs from our birch trees outside and clipped more bows at the neck of the mason jar.
Finally, I made a print out of a favorite verse & put it in a frame I had gotten at Wal-mart for about $2.00 in clearance.
With the evolution of Pinterest, I have gotten into decorating my home a bit more! It has been quite fun actually. While mine might not be right up there with some of the fancy stuff off the virtual pinboard, I hope you can find some inspiration of your own!
Happy Crafting!
