My Christmas Dining Room~

This year, I decided to keep my Christmas palette neutral.  I chose to use white, silver, brown, black and green (of course!).   I like how the pared down color palette keeps the look sophisticated yet classic.

For the dining room table centerpiece, the kiddos and I gathered up some branches.  After putting them in a big wooden vase and adding a bunch of snowflakes, it adds a perfect winter-y touch.

I love the whimsy of the angel wings...and the wreaths in the windows make me smile.

Now for picture overload (mostly because I'm really bad at deciding which is my favorite...)  ENJOY!

Let the Christmas merriment begin!

I'm linking to...

A fireplace redo!

Hello my peeps!! I hope you had a LOVELY Thanksgiving week!

I’m so glad to be back, but the little blogging break was nice. :) I can’t wait to tell you what we were up to last week – but for now, I am SO psyched about the project that’s been going on around here over the past couple of weeks!

For as long as we’ve lived in this house, I’ve had a thorn in my side…that I may have mentioned one or 437 times.

Our family room set up was part of the issue for a very long time – but I addressed that earlier this year with our new sofa and moving the TV. LOVE it still – probably the best changes I’ve made to our home.

But there was that one thing. That corner thing. The one that drove me batty:

I curse the day I chose that corner fireplace! Shakes fists in air!!

I know it doesn’t look that evil. But it was.

Ahhh…all those years ago, I thought oh yes – let’s do a corner fireplace and be all cool and different and uh...ANNOYING.

I’ve addressed it numerous times – first by adding molding to the top. It started out looking like this:

And then I changed it up a bit later by adding a mirror over the mantel. It was great because it gave it the “feel” of a wall.

But there were still so many things that drove me nuts. I added crown to the room this year, and I had to end it by the molding over the fireplace. I hate the weird stop – but I’ve not found a better way to do it. And I realized a few months ago that part of the reason the fireplace looked weird to me was because it was so top heavy – big on top, little on bottom.

And the corner mantel was really a pain in my patoot to decorate. And I’m all about the decorate:

And even though the top was large and in charge, the whole thing felt too small for this space.

I thought about taking in the chunky molding on top, to make it less top heavy – but then I was going to have to redo that and the crown. Nah thanks.

Then I thought about building a wall above the mantel to close it off (many of you have suggested that). But it would have just made the mantel even smaller.

Then I had THE idea…and it was right in front of my face every night for the past eight years.

Why not try to make a full wall like the one in our bedroom:

Nah DUH.

I’m quick.

But then there was another issue – the firebox couldn’t be moved out to meet up with a new wall. I didn’t know how to make it work (I thought it all had to be flush.)

But then, one glorious day, I walked through a model home (one of my favorite things to do!), and found IT!!

It was a corner fireplace, with a wall. But the firebox was inset quite a bit:

It was a good five inches or so. And I knew I could do the same with our fireplace! (With some help.)

Cue the angels singing. (I almost wrote “angels signing” – which would be OK too.)

I called the handymen who did a ton of the work around here when we had the fridge/floor fiasco. I explained what I wanted to do, showed them pics, then showed them our upstairs fireplace and THEY SAID EASY PEASY SQUEEZY!!

Yesssssssssssssssssss.

So a couple weeks ago we started with this:

Vince (Handyman #1) took the mantel off (it was way easier than I thought it would be) and the trim around the front of the fireplace, then started building a wall:

And what a glorious wall it was. I’ve never been so happy.

(They even added studs between the studs right where I would hang the mirror – no anchors needed!)

Then they drywalled and sanded like mad (which resulted in more dust than we had when the floors were sanded – no joke):

Then they started building the mantel. A REAL mantel people!

HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY!

They couldn’t go real beefy with the surround because I wanted a DEEP mantel and enough space around the fire box to install tile. So in order to make that work, the sides were a bit thinner, but the molding and mantel were chunkaaaay.

To save on costs I finished the redo from there. You’d think it would be quick, but nah. You know me. :)

I found a beautiful mosaic tile at Lowe’s (I found it months ago and knew I’d use it if this project ever happened). The guys brought me their tile saw to use and it ROCKED! It was so easy to use!

I made the cuts for the side pieces:

And used mastic to apply them around the fireplace:

No mixing required – it was SO easy to use!

I just buttered the wall:

There was a bit of a gap between the firebox and the drywall around it when they pulled off the trim. You can see here that they ended up installing some luan that covers that gap and gave me a good surface for the tile.

Then I buttered the back of the tile:

And stuck it on. It does not take much – I used too much at times and it came out between the tiles. Not hard to clean up, and you just learn as you go. I didn’t have to grout because the tiles were so close – whew!

I LOVE how it turned out!

We went away on vacation last week, and I was chomping at the bit to get this finished up! I worked most of today painting. And painting…

Forgive me for these pics – it was pitch black at 5 p.m. and I was busting booty to get this finished today…but the pictures didn’t start till about 7. :)

After three coats on the wall, four coats on the mantel and surround (it still needs at least one more), reinstalling all of the wainscoting next to the fireplace and then some quarter round at the bottom, I was DONE:

What you don’t see here is the nice little large spot where I put painter’s tape on the wall too soon and had a nice loooong patch where the drywall was exposed. And then had to patch and paint all over again. Hence the 7 p.m. pics. ;)

But I’m pretty much done – finally! I put accessories up there for it’s first photo shoot and I was SO excited at how easy it was to make it look decent and how BIG the mantel is and HOW MUCH I LOVE IT!!!:

:)

The guys used one (really, really thick) piece of molding to beef up the mantel and I love it – its exactly what I was hoping for!:

I still have some touching up and caulking to do, but I was tired of messing with it today. :)

We all stood in front of it last week commenting on how much we liked that it’s inset – it makes it look like it’s been their forever, like something you’d see in an old house:

The one thing Mike (handyguy #2) mentioned later was that he wished he had thought about adding lights underneath that I could dim – what a great idea! Wish I had thought of that. ;)

But honestly I don’t think I could be happier!

I was willing to give up some square footage in the family room – I actually wanted to go out a little further. But the guys didn’t want to take it too far out and now I know that was a good call. Overall the wall comes out about a foot more than it did before.

We don’t even notice it in the least though – it feel like it “fits” in the room SO much better! It really feels like it was always like this!

I have all kinds of ideas running through my head for the wall above the mantel – some kind of molding treatment. But I’m really digging the simple, clean look right now – I don’t know if I’ll even add anything:

It’s so surprising to look at the before and after – the before looks SO busy and overwhelming to me. And now it’s bigger and even more of a statement but it feels simpler and easier:

Oh happy day. :)

So there you go…what I’ve been up to the past couple of weeks. Can’t WAIT to decorate this for Christmas! The guys even moved the outlet (behind the candlesticks) so I can still have my twinkling lights up there.

It took a little help from the professionals (building a wall isn’t in my repertoire, but I’m working on it!), but I was able to fix the thorn in my side. I am so thrilled! Do you have something about your house that drives you crazy? Have you thought of a million and one ways to fix it? ;) Actually done it?

 

**You can see how to make that mossy letter here! And no, it’s not upside down. I promise. :)

My Living Room Area Rug: FLOR Carpet Tiles~

While I was in the process of looking for area rugs to use in my Living Room Design, I received a catalog in the mail from FLOR.  I was familiar with FLOR Carpet Tiles, but when I opened the catalog, I was smitten with their new designs.  For those that are not familiar with FLOR, it is an "innovative system of carpet squares that you assemble to create custom rugs, runners or [even] wall-to-wall designs."

This is the picture (via FLOR.com) that first caught my eye and made me want to see what FLOR had to offer.

I was not only impressed by their designs, but I liked the idea that I could put the patterns together myself to create my own unique, custom rug.

I had a hard time narrowing down my choices, but I finally decided on  Lasting Grateness in black.  I liked the bold, graphic pattern. (That, and I couldn't quite convince the Hubby that the zebra print would look good in the room. Lol!)

When the box arrived with my tiles, I pulled them out and plopped them on the ground in the living room.  That's when the fun began.  Putting the rug together was a bit like putting a puzzle together. (Note: the tiles are not meant to fit together in a pattern...they are meant to be random.) 

Boy 3 and I had a good time working together to decide where each square should go.  Once we finally decided on the right configuration for the tiles (don't I look happy?)...

 I used the FLOR dots to attach the tiles to one another.  And that was it!

One of the great things about this rug - especially for a family with little kids - is the fact that if one of the tiles gets stained or otherwise destroyed, just that tile can be replaced instead of having to replace an entire rug. In addition, FLOR tiles are environmentally friendly and can even be recycled once they have outlived their usefulness.

I'm really happy with my FLOR custom rug.  And I love the graphic punch it adds to the room!

Disclosure:  FLOR provided me with my rug in exchange for this review, but I did not receive monetary compensation.  All opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.  Any quotes are taken directly from the FLOR website.

How I Created My Living Room Accent Wall~

First of all, I wanted to thank everyone for your very enthusiastic and sweet comments about my living room.  I couldn't be more thrilled that you like it so much!

Now about that accent wall.  That back wall is our entrance wall.  And it is large.  And it was BORING.  So I wanted to do something special that would set it apart from the rest of the room, and give it visual appeal.
 
I liked the idea of wallpaper, but of course, that wasn't in the budget.

So I decided to do something else.  Something different.  And no, I  DIDN'T stencil the wall.  I DREW on it.  Yep, DREW on it.  With a magic marker.  My husband may have had a slight heart attack when I told him my plan.  And I'm not sure he entirely trusted me even after I started the process...but thankfully, he LOVES the finished product. (whew!)

Here's how I did it...

The pattern I used was based on a fabric that I had seen while the Princess and I were out shopping for fabrics for her bedroom.  I just sketched the pattern on a receipt, and filed it away for this very purpose.

1. The first thing I did was create a template.  I wanted the design to be large scale, so I took a piece of 8 1/2 by 11 inch cardstock, and sketched it out using a bowl to make the curved sections.  Once I had the design looking the way I wanted, I cut it out.

2. Then began the fun (or the lunacy depending on how you look at it.)

I traced that template on the wall with a pencil 231 times.  Yes really... I counted.  The pattern fit precisely 21 times across the width of the wall and 11 times down the length.  And that was really due more to good luck than to good planning (but we'll pretend it was good planning, shall we?)

3. I have had people ask me how I kept the pattern level.  Well, the trick there was to trace the top row first.  I kept it level with the ceiling and then I left about 1/2 inch between the first row and the second and so on.  That's it.  My trick.  But since, I realized not all walls are completely level, I was able to compensate a bit if I needed to by simply moving the pattern up a tiny bit or down a tiny bit as I went.

4. Once I had the entire wall done in pencil, I went back over the whole thing - freehand- using paint pens. 

I had originally hoped to find plain gray paint pens, and perhaps they exist, but I couldn't find any.  So I finally settled on using metallic silver.  And I'm so glad that I did!  The whole wall came alive this way.  Depending on the time of day, and the angle at which the wall is viewed, the pattern goes from silver, to white, to charcoal gray. It's mesmerizing.

The whole project took me about 8 hours from start to finish.  But I did it over a couple of days, and I quite enjoyed it actually.  (Once I got that top row done, that is.  I'm not very tall, and even standing on that bar stool, it was a stretch to get it done.) But it wall worth it, because I couldn't be happier with the end result!!

So what do you think? 

Are you brave enough to draw on your walls??

Have a great day~

My Living Room: The Reveal~

Hello, my lovelies!!  I'm so excited to share our living room with you all today!  It's been a really fun room to put together with some interesting details that I can't wait to share.  So off we go...

First, the BEFORE photos...

Exciting, wasn't it?  As you can see, the room was just begging for some interest.  So we got busy working on it.

Let's be honest.  It was a lot of work.  But we had a lot of fun in the process. So without further ado, here are the AFTER photos...

I am a big fan of neutrals, and in this room I went for a neutral palette, but I didn't want it to be boring, so I mixed it up with some great patterns.

I also wanted to warm up the grays and blacks, so we chose to add some brown to the palette.

The rug is from Flor (more on that later) and the coffee table is from World Market.

The sofa is an IKEA Ektorp series.  The pillows are from Etsy.  (The large one in the center is from my fabulous sponsor Elisabeth Michael.)

That cute rustic birdcage was a gift from my mother.

We changed the stair wall from chocolate brown to this fabulous charcoal gray, Magnetite by Martha Stewart.

I had been thinking of doing a gallery wall in the stairwell, but the Hubby suggested we create one on the charcoal wall.  I love it!! The white frames against the gray are beautiful!  Our plan is to add more frames as our budget allows until the whole wall is filled.

The tufted chairs are from TJ Maxx.

The white frames are from IKEA.

On the window wall, I framed out the windows with natural linen curtains from IKEA.  To create architectural interest (since there was no fireplace) we put a bookcase, and topped it with a beautiful large-scale charcoal done by the hubby's father.

The leather chair is the hubby's and was purchased years ago (pre-blogging days) so I don't remember the name of the shop.  The faux fur pillow is from Target.

I hung the curtains, higher and wider than the windows to create the illusion of the windows being larger than they actually are.

The antler was a gift from my mother.  I love it coupled with the folded book I made a few years ago, it adds such great texture.

The entry is one of my favorite parts of this whole room design.  What appears to be wallpaper on the wall, is actually hand done.  I'll tell you all about how I created it in an upcoming post.

I topped the console with a photo purchased from IKEA, as well as the hubby's photo of train tracks in a tunnel.

I'm really happy with how it all came together!  It just proves that neutral doesn't have to be boring. In fact, they can be down right lovely!!

Have a great day~