Before & After Fireplace Woodwork & Mantle

Happy New Year! I am so glad that all of my Christmas items are finally packed away. With the snow & cold temperatures I have begun my hibernating right on schedule and begun to focus on my home. As many of you know we painted our fireplace woodwork 3 years ago (I think??). I want to show you a before photo:

Wow! This pict was taken shortly after we moved in to our home in August of 2005.
I have revisited this because I have had a constant delima over the past 4 1/2 years of how to decorate my mantle. I was so excited to finally have one. However, decorating around the media doors was such a challenge for me. With the addition of a flat screen TV, it made it even more of a challenge. How-EVER! I have risen up to the challenge and finally found something I really, really LIKE! I was at the HobLob store (which I could truly spend a small fortune at) and found these candle sconces that I love!!!!! I hung them on each side of the flat screen. Then a few months ago, my sweet babe picked up these metal rosettes for me at 'Metal by the Foot' and put them on 4 caps of woodwork. LOVE-IT!!! Check it out:
What I'd like for you to notice is the fireplace screen. If you think about it - it is not needed. We have a fancy gas fireplace (urgh) that works with a SWITCH! Doesn't seem right, does it? Anyway, the fireplace screen adds dimension to the fireplace and really sets off the surrounding tile. Also, if you can notice the difference in flooring. Look real hard, it is in the bottom left hand corner, squint if you must! As many of you know by now we installed harwood floors in November. We are truly happy with it. One thing I have to be careful of is that I balance light & dark colors. Gotta watch it.
As you can see I still need to figure out what to put on my mantle. I am having a difficult time finding the right thing. I know many of you can relate to this, because it is the number ONE thing I hear from ya. "I like my stuff, I just don't know how to place it!" I'm with ya girlfriend. Unfortunately, Bill doesn't have a hard time figuring out what to put on the mantle with his electronics. But, he does bless me by hiding all of those crazy cords!

Another project I worked on today is our kitchen bulletin board. Remember at Christmas I put up Christmas photos. Well, I loved it so much, I had to change it to 'snow play' pictures. My kids love being outside and cannot understand why I won't take them sledding when it is 4 degrees outside! I'm hoping to do something a bit crafty later this week, stay tuned.....

From Crappy to Scrappy

One of my favorite things I did this year was turn our kitchen bulletin board into a memory board of Christmas' of the past. As the title suggest, it is usually full of 'crap', consisting of coupons, menus, decorating ideas, articles, etc. Well, I couldn't allow 250 people to see all my crap. So the original plan was to turn it into a holiday card board. Well, when I began to do it, I just couldn't. I mean a cork board with ribbon criss-crossed was so predictable.
Well, another plan was to make Christmas ornaments out of black & white photos and hang them on one of my trees. I made the ornaments and hung them and didn't like them.

So began the merging of two ideas. I quickly gathered all the black & white photo ornaments, more black & white photos I didn't make ornaments of, Christmas scrapbook paper, Christmas stickers, ribbons, etc. And 40 minutes later, taa daa! I love it. Now, I don't want to take it down, so I am considering having a seasonal board, in which I change out every 2 or 3 months. So, we shall see. This certainly is an improvement over what was there before and much more enjoyable to look at!
Oh yes, I must mention the tacks you see. A few years ago Bill began collecting root beer bottle caps. He only intention was to hot glue them on to raised tacks make a more decorative tack. Very creative and fun. I knew I caught myself a good man!