Vintage Mantel

I bought a new mantel this weekend to go around our new gas heater.  When we built this house, we decided we didn't need a fireplace.  That was one of our many mistakes.   Doing without a fireplace was not a big deal, actually, til our recent ice storm.  We were without power for several days - long enough for the house to get quite cold and long enough for hubby and I to decide that we would make a few changes asap.  

I wasn't all that keen on having a ventless gas stove, but it was our best option for electricity-free heat.  It turned out well.  We really like it, actually.  Once it was installed, it pretty much demanded a mantel.  One thing leads to another...

Mr. Dream secured the mantel in place.  He plans to make two sections for the bottom of the surround on each side.  We didn't want to cut the baseboard.

I haven't made up my mind what I want to in the area behind the stove.  It doesn't get hot there at all (all the heat goes forward) so I only have to consider looks.

Even though the mantel is quite large, it needs something more above it. Our ceiling are 10 feet, so there's plenty of room to work with.  I'm hoping to find an interesting vintage sign to go there.   I would prefer to have a metal one that's truly vintage.   If I don't find any I like soon, maybe I'll  make a wood one.

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As for mantel decor, that's going to take a bit of playing.  If this were a standard mantel with a wide open areas above, I'd be full of ideas.  I could do those all day long.  Decorating a mantel with two shelves is requiring me to think a little harder.

I have some ideas.  For instance, I'd really love to hang a small wreath over the mirror.  A wreath would be easy to change out, too.

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I may include some branches as well.  Lots of things are bursting into bloom around here.  And I have several great pitchers that are just begging to be used.

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I'll likely try to include a bit of color.  As pretty as neutral mantel vignettes are, they just wouldn't look right in my near bohemian home.  Give me some color, please.  (But don't let me cross over into the tacky zone!)

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I don't know how much color I'll actually need.  I might need to play around with that.  I really love the look below with the assortment of bottles with greenery.  There's not a  lot of color there, but it might still work.  And those bottles sure would look great in front of the mirror.

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This travel themed mantel is very different from the other inspiration photos I saw today.  It's super casual and colorful.  It doesn't use common mantel decor rules at all. There's no rhyme or reason to the height of objects.  It totally took me by surprise in a good way!  It's refreshing and fun.

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Spring Mantel Inspiration

I'm a little late to this - Spring is flying through here in Georgia.  It's been Spring since February here.  Anyway, I decided I needed a dose of Spring Inspiration and decided to do a search for Spring Mantels.  Here are the ones that most inspired me -

Love this one from Layla at The Lettered Cottage!!!!

From AKA Designs

from Love of Family and Home

Flowers bring the mantel to life! - from Miss Kopy Kat

This one makes use of lots of funky vintage treasures.
You really need to visit the post  and see
close-ups of the treasures to really appreciate it!  from Northern Cottage

Oh my gosh!  Those tulips!!! from A Pretty life in the Suburbs

Not all Spring mantel looks are light - this darker one is from Gail's Decorative Touch

from Refresh Restyle

from View Along the Way

Interesting combination of bling and simple and cute-sy.
from Adventures in Decorating

from My Pine Place

From Chateau Chic

And how fun would this be --- a garden mantel.... outside!  Love it!

from Shabby Story

A Mantel and a Ladder

I am trying to get better about posting my projects.  Here are two that I took over to The White Booth just yesterday.

The biggest project was a very simple vintage mantel.  By simple, I am referring to the lines.  There are no frills or extra ornamentation on this one.  I like that.  It makes a wonderful stage for putting together a fresh, simple mantel vignette.

I also took over a ladder that I finished in a cottage-y style.  I wish I had the before on this one.  I love how fresh and clean it looks.  Mind you, it was a dirty ladder, but it had no character before.  By the way, if you want to see why I get excited over ladders, take a look at this post.

Mantel Redo

The mantel I refinished this month just sold.  It didn't last long in The White Booth. 

 

I came very close to keeping this one.  It doesn't matter that we don't actually have a fireplace.  After all, I've seen loads of inspiration for Faux Fireplaces. 

In the end, we decided against using it.  Once that decision was made, a redo was called for.  It looked lovely with the oak finish and I had some serious qualms about putting paint on a piece that looked this good natural. But the truth is, unpainted mantels don't sell as well as painted ones.  And if I wanted to put it in The White Booth (TWB), then it needed to be a very light color.  We use creams and greys in TWB, too, but, even though I'm on a gray kick right now, I decided to paint it white.

Here are some photos of the transformation.  This isn't a redo where the before look is ghastly.  As you can see in the before photos, it looked wonderful before.  The only thing I didn't like at all was the faux brick.  That came off very easily.  Some people will likely think the before look is the best.  It all depends on your style. 

The people I bought the mantel from had gone to a great deal of trouble to removed years of paint and bring it back to its glory.  Even now, knowing it came out pretty, I feel pangs of guilt.  Too late now.  And a sale was made to a customer I adore - Bonnie H.  So that's enough remorse.

After one coat of primer, it looked pretty sad.  This is always the low point in a redo where you wonder what the heck you've done.

Another coat of paint makes it look much better, but it was pretty bland. 

All those details were just begging to be highlighted.  What to do?  Glaze?  No.  I wanted it to be white.  Distress.  Yes. 

I liked this look.  No need to do anything more.

After it cured for a bit, it was time for the debut in TWB. It was put in place right around our booth transformation date.  The fall naturals had been pulled and the booth was very plain and clean looking.  It looks really nice like that, too.

A few days later, TWB was transformed with glitz and bling.  The booth looked great and the mantel was fabulous!  Everything on the mantel sold within 2 days.  It had to be re-glitzed. 

Farewell, pretty mantel.  I know you'll be happy in your new home.

Some Big Pieces in the Booth

I have been super busy and have so much catching up to do on this blog.  I'm not even go to bother to post in order.  I'm just going to catch up randomly.  I'll start with some new pieces I bought for my booth.

The previous post from a week ago shows photos of our new larger main booth.  I'm thinking it needs a name.  We call our white booth The B Hive.  We call our first booth our primary booth.  I also used to call it Booth 188, but we actually have two numbers now - 188 and 488.  It's very confusing and all of those names are really dull!  Anyway, once we moved the PB (Primary Booth) over to the new larger space, we had all sorts of extra space.  And suddenly, I came across loads of big pieces.  The booth is fairly full again!

My major find were three beautiful oak pieces.  A lovely army family was moving out of state and downsizing.  They had a sale and I was lucky enough to find it.

I wanted to keep all three pieces, but ended up keeping just the vintage fireplace mantle.  They had used it to create a faux fireplace at a number of Army base homes. They put a screen in front of it and made it look quite real.  When their friends would come over, they would all ask how they'd been lucky enough to get a base home with a fireplace.  Knowing some of the stories behind this mantle will make it even more special.  I'm so glad I'll be able to keep it.

I don't have a fireplace and have been really wanting to try a faux look.  I've seen some amazing faux fireplace looks on blogs and even did a post on that topic last November.  It's a great post with some wonderful inspiration photos.   I'll be revisiting it when I make final decisions on setting this one up.

For now, the mantle is sitting upside down on our bedroom floor.  I rotated the photos so you could get a better idea of how it looks.  On the inside of the mantel, they used a faux brick panel. It has a bit of it torn off, but that doesn't bother me because I'm thinking of a different treatment.

The mantle details are really pretty.

It looks like I'll have a place to hang my stockings this Christmas!

The other two pieces I very reluctantly put in my booth.  I hope they find a wonderful home because I really, really, really fell in love with the previous owners.  So now, this sale is personal.  Am I the only one who does that?  I'm doing it a lot lately.  I may need therapy.

This oak icebox was placed front and center in the booth.  It's a great piece and has obviously been well cared for. 

The chest of drawers is in the back, but it's actually in a very nice spot - it's not being hidden, for sure.

This photo was taken several days ago and the area around the chest has been tweaked a bit since then.  I tried to put a few things on the chest to create a nice vignette, but left it sparse enough that the beauty of it still showed.  It has a slight curve to it.  Oh, my goodness.  I wish I had been able to keep it.  Even now, I'm thinking I'd like to bring it back home and move something else out.  My hubby would not be amused.  He'd have to be the moving man and he doesn't come cheap!

When we went to pick up the pieces, I ended up getting a tour of the lady's house and seeing some of her other vintage items.  While looking at a fabulous Hoosier, I spied some fabulous tea towels. They had belonged to her husband's grandmother, but her husband had no interest in them.   I'm a sucker for vintage linens and tea towels are my favorites.  I seldom use new dish towels any more.  She was willing to part with some of them and I came home with two tea towels and a pretty tablecloth (oops - I forgot to take a photo of the tablecloth).  They will be loved and used by me! 

I will think of my lovely Army family every time I use them.

Inspired By...

Here's what caught my eye this week -

Layla at The Lettered Cottage has grabbed my attention again. Her blog has well over 5000 followers and it's no wonder.  Her blog is full of great inspiration.  She just posted about a cottage she stayed in for a bit on Tybee Island (Georgia).     It's The Dutton-Waller Cottage.  I think living in a house with a name would be fun.  Why not!?!  Note to self:  Name MY Cottage.

Layla is also sponsoring a great Holiday Home mantel party.  It started Tuesday, Nov 30 and as of Wednesday morning has 261 links!  Here are a few I enjoyed:

1. Erin's Art and Gardens - This is a wonderful example of making a heavy stone fireplace seem light and whimsical.  Lots of good ideas for any mantel!
2. May Days - She doesn't have a mantel, but she used a fabulous cobblers bench as a mantel stand in.  I love the plates hanging on either side of the mirrors.
3. The Lettered Cottage - This is Layla's fireplace.  She made her mirror.  It was inspired by one from Pottery Barn.
4. Finding Home - I love the trees in silver teapots!  Very pretty.  The photo here doesn't do it justice, so you'll need to read her post to get the full picture.
5. Southern Hospitality - Rhoda never disappoints!  This year she used aqua blues to go with some changes she made in her living room this year. Her mantel is well worth looking a closely - lots of good ideas!
6. Pure and Lovely - I am seeing many creative pieces used above mantels these days.  This one uses an old chippy barn door.  The wreath against it looks wonderful, but to appreciate it, you need to see some of her other photos.  She made the garland with her kids, which makes it extra special.

I haven't finished exploring this party, 

so this sample is just the tip of the iceberg! 

Rhoda from Southern Hospitality posted about her shopping day browsing some fun antique shops in the Marietta area.  Marietta is in the Atlanta area for those of you not familiar with the area.  The shops were all decked out for the holidays.

French Larkspur used several of my favorite things in her home. I've posted about these things!!!  She has an old door mounted to the wall.  It looks wonderful with the wreath on it. I love using old doors in unexpected ways - see my screen door chalkboard.  I also have an old door headboard which I don't think I've posted about yet. Hmmm.  She has a ladder shelf.  Hello.  I posted about ladder shelves and now have two that are being transformed... soon... really.  And she has a faux fireplace mantel, which I posted about this week.  Is she living my life or what?

Just Beachy had her house on a tour of homes this week.  She took lots of photos and now the family is getting back to normal.  Oh my goodness.  Can you imagine how exhausting to get your whole house clean and fabulous and ready for a bunch of folks to go through - with all of them looking closely at the details!?!  She is a brave soul.  She is also worn completely out!  But left behind are some wonderful photos of her home looking fabulous. Click here is to see the inside tour and here to see the outside.

 

Ode to the *Faux* Mantel

I don't have a fireplace or a mantel in the house, but hubby has a fabulous vintage one in the barn.  Go figure.  In order to get my mantel fix for the holidays, I need to browse online.   Luckily, there's a lot of faux mantel inspiration out there.

Just because you don't have a fireplace, it doesn't mean you can't have a mantel.  Years ago, I might have snubbed my nose at them, but now I find their quirkiness very appealing. I even have a few ideas about how to make them useful.  Maybe one day, I'll jump on the bandwagon!  

Faux Fireplaces as seen on Growers Daughter

 As for decorating a mantel for the holidays, one look that is very appealing to me is a mantel trimmed with things from nature.

Vignette Designs did a wonderful post on Decking the Halls with Fresh Greens and Flowers

from Happy to Design

I've already posted once about the faux fireplace from Jaime on Caught in Grace.  She now has it decorated for the holidays!

I love Jaime's quirky chalkboard fire!

How pretty is this!  Six old boards.  Wow.  - as seen on The Little Apartment

 She was inspired by this (me, too):

from Dreamy Whites

By the way, after browsing a bit on the Dreamy Whites blog, it was hard to get back to this post. I love the look she's created in her home.  I love that it's not completely white.  Bits of vintage looking color is everywhere.

Maybe a mantle isn't needed.  A fabulous shelf can 

be decked with holiday trimmings.

Peg Rack - from Country Sampler Magazine

I also write a blog for Rockin' B Antiques - the shop where I rent my booth.  I have written a post with inspiration for decorating mantles for the holidays. There are LOTS of really pretty pictures there, so take a look!
 

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Be sure to check out the latest RE- Party!

We RE-do, RE-decorate, RE-organize, RE-pair,  RE-upholster, RE-furbish, RE-finish, RE-purpose,  and of course, we love to RE-lax! 

This party celebrates the RE-'s in our lives! 

Take a look at these other wonderful link parties for more clever ideas.  

I'm linking this post with them!

• Homemaker Monday at 11th Heaven ~
• Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T.
• Home for the Holidays at It's a Blog Party
• Mantels Theme Linkup at Funky Junk Interiors 
• Mantel Party hosted by Layla at The Lettered Cottage

Inspired By...

I'm thinking I need to do a better job of featuring some of the inspiring ideas I come across on blogs.  Here are a few things that caught my eye made me swoon this week in no certain order -

From Design Happens

Notes From A Cottage Industry

Notes From A Cottage Industry

Caught in Grace

Maple and Magnolia

It's a Wannabe Decorator's Life

Vignette Design

from Mossy Rock Interiors

from Between Naps on the Porch

Confessions of a Plate Addict

By the way, if you like French music, then open Confessions of a Plate Addict - her playlist is mostly (maybe all) French music, with lots of Carla Bruni (wife of President of France) songs . 

Burlap Runner Tutorial by Confessions of a Plate Addict

Design Sponge - Before and After Basics - by Barb Blair

Leanne from Mossy Rock Interiors actually introduced me to Barb Blair this week.  Leanne's gray table is featured in this post.  She said she learned the whitewash technique from Barb. Barb's real site is Knack, but she writes Before and After Basics articles for Design Sponge.  I have read some of those before, but didn't put all those connections together.  

I will be a regular reader from now on!  I have read a few of the articles and have seen such good hints.  One of her recent articles - Putting the Snap in Your Crackle - shows how to use crackle finishes on just a few areas of a piece in order to create a truly aged look.   I'm totally inspired!!!  Now if I could only have some quality time in my paint room!  

Be sure to check out the latest RE- Party!

We RE-do, RE-decorate, RE-organize, RE-pair,  RE-upholster, RE-furbish, RE-finish, RE-purpose,   
and of course, we love to RE-lax! 

This party celebrates the RE-'s in our lives! 

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