Fall Mantel

It's a dark, rainy day here in Michigan.  But inside I'm brightening it up with some Fall color.

We have two fireplaces in our living room~dining room~family room area so I'm always wanting to come up with new ideas to decorate them both.  I want them to coordinate but not be the same.

I've used this basket on our front door before and had planned on using it again this Fall but suddenly got the idea that I'd enjoy it much more above our mantel in the family room.

I filled it first with eucalyptus.  It smells wonderful and I was surprised that I could smell it clear across the room!  I then added some faux fall leaves, some burlap hydrangeas and burlap sunflowers.

The ceilings are high in this room so I love having something a little over-sized here.

I added the wood and metal wall art, that used to be on my kitchen wall, behind the basket, and a few of my candle sticks and a basket pumpkin.

So sorry for these dark pictures.   The sun is supposed to shine tomorrow!  :)

Have a wonderful, long weekend!

love and blessings~

"May He come down like rain upon the mown grass, like showers that water the earth." Psalms 72:6

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More Updates of Our Family Room

Hi all!

I hope you're all having a wonderful day!  We are finally seeing the light at the end of our frozen tunnel here in Michigan!  Come on, Spring!

Our family room is where I spend most of my time.  The bay window on the left faces the front of our house and gets the warm Southern sun.  It makes this room very bright and pleasant during the day but makes it hard to photograph.

I used to have a seat cushion in this window with lots of pillows but after we replaced our curtains with these rustic shutters the pillows got in the way when I wanted to close them each night.  I've enjoyed having the window filled with plants this winter.

The shovel and rake on the left are from Ballard.  My family says they look like a knife and fork - but they're wrong! Right?! :)  The thing? on the right is from a local antique store.  Anyone know what this is?

The lovely lady at the shop said she thought it was made around 1800 and she guessed it was used to take bread out of the oven... but wouldn't it burn?  And wouldn't the center board get in the way?  I would love to hear what you think! Whatever it is - I love it!

I got this beautiful azalea topiary at Meijer's, a nearby store.  It has been a piece of Spring throughout the long winter. The tile that's in this window is perfect for plants.  I had my herb garden here but it got so cold this winter that I had to move it to a warmer spot.  I'm hoping to move it back soon as I like to have it close to the kitchen.

You can also see my shutters that Mark made in this picture.  I love them and they've been great this winter at holding out the cold.

We took the leather and glass top off this table and Mark made a rustic wood top for me.  I white-washed it and think it's so much better.  I love the wrought iron base and the white top makes it feel so much fresher.

I've had a couple of different things above the fireplace since I last blogged but I think this one's a keeper!  I got this mirror at Joss&Main for $45!  The first time it arrived the mirror had gotten broken in shipping.  I contacted them and they immediately shipped another one.  This one arrived in perfect condition.  (I gave the other one to my daughter, Laura, and she painted it to match her decor and made it into a chalkboard!)  

Originally, the trim and scroll work was a chippy beige and it just looked dirty up against my white walls so I got out the paint brush and made it match.  I love the way the dark wood background ties in the dark finishes of our furniture in this room.

I was concerned when I ordered this mirror that it would reflect something I didn't want to see all the time but from this angle you see the plant shelf that's across the room (above the kitchen) and the chandelier. And when you're sitting on the couch all you see is the white of the ceiling.  Good and good!

I have painted the walls in this room twice since we've lived here and this is always the fun part.  I have to climb up a 10' ladder and then sit on this plant shelf to reach up to the ceiling.  

When I did this a couple of years ago, I panicked, and could not move to stick my leg off the shelf and find the ladder.  By the grace of God, I had my cell phone in my pocket and I called my husband, who was in the garage, and he came and got me down!  The paint job is not perfect but I can't convince myself to get up there again and touch up.  lol

Thanks for stopping by!  I'll be back in a few days with one of our favorite recipes.  Have a great day and think Spring!  

love and blessings~

 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Romans 5:10 

Our Basement

When you go down to our basement, you may at first think you took a wrong turn and ended up in a different house.  I'm hoping you feel like you've arrived in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.  My husband and I both grew up in Colorado, got married there and had two of our three children there.  It is home and these rooms make me feel like I've taken a trip and am back home.

The walls in our basement are rough cedar set at an angle in some areas and vertical in others.  They were this way when we bought the house and we've always loved them.

The fireplace is a mix of unique stone - every one different from the other.  There is quartz and granite and even some fossilized stone.  My husband and son-in-law, Ryan, built the mantle a couple of years ago.

My brother-in-law, Fritz, made the eagle that sits on the left side of the hearth.  He passed away several years ago so it is a treasure to us. The art that sits on top of the mantle is of cowboys riding through an oilfield town.  My mom-in-law gave it to us.  It used to hang in my father-in-law's and husband's office when they owned an oil consulting company. Our dad is retired now but we have a lot of oilfield memorabilia.

This is the view as you look towards the stairs.  When you come down the stairs you see this family picture wall.

The baby pictures are of each of our children.  The black and white photos are me and my husband when we each were about five years old.  Laura and Ryan are pictured when Levi was about 8 months old.  I need to get a new family photo of them with our Rhynn in it.   The bottom sign says, "GrandKids always welcome." (A gift from my sister-in-law, Jean.) The top sign says, "Share Faith, Offer Prayer, Gather Hope." To the right of this wall is a hallway to a half-bath and bedroom.

The entertainment center also holds a lot of Colorado treasures - a carved wooden eagle, some Indian pottery and a bust of horses that I got at HomeGoods.  The little wooden vase on the shelf on the left was carved from a piece of wood by a dear friend of the family.

Around the corner is a game table that's perfect for a thousand piece puzzle.  You can see the corner of pool table in the bottom right of this picture and the left side of the door that goes into the weight room in the back corner.

There's a wet bar and a mini-fridge in this area for snacks.  I've gathered the cross collection over the years. The two with turquoise set in them were bought on vacation trips to Colorado.

We love the cow hide rug that's on the floor.  It was also purchased in one of our favorite shops in Estes Park on a trip home.

This is the view when you enter the basement.  A stained-glass church window from Colorado hangs over the couch.  I had to wait until night to get a picture of this angle because of the glare from the wall of windows and the patio door.  I'm sorry that it's still not very good.

Behind the pool table is collection of eagle pictures.  My husband started collecting eagles when we left Colorado and moved to Auburn for him to get his Ph.D.  "War Eagle!"  We like them because of Auburn but mostly because of what they represent in scripture. ( The bottom right one is etched on mirror and would not photograph well.)  All of these pictures are gifts from family members.

This room is cozy in the winter and cool in the summer.  It's a nice change from the bright openness upstairs and a perfect place to hide out and watch a movie.  I love the warm feel down here all year round.

Love and blessings~

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. [16] For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him. [17] He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." Colossians 1:15-17

P.S. - I just want to be honest here.  Our basement doesn't look this good.  As I took pictures, I had to keep moving the stuff I didn't want you to see.  Like the toy box, and my exercise bike (which I rarely ride) and some other stuff.  I vacuumed the room and then moved stuff around as I took pictures and I stepped back and fell over the vacuum cleaner.  Then my husband came downstairs and wanted to get in the weight room and moved several things that I had hidden in there and I had move stuff again.  As soon as the picture taking was done, we went back to real life.  Just wanted you to know! ;)

I'm linking up with A Stroll Thru Life -inspire-me-tuesday

 and Betweennapsontheporch - Metamorphosis Monday 

and coastalcharm-nifty-thrifty-tuesday

Our Family Room

If you're like we are, you live in your family room.  Our room has a very open and sunny feel with windows on three sides.  It's also completely open to the kitchen, and dining room.

This is the view as you step down from our dining room into the family room.  You can see the sofa table that we made behind the couch.

Probably the biggest change is that our comfy couch got a make-over.  Click here to see how I made it look like a brand new couch by sewing a slip cover.

I also moved our railway cart from the living room into here.  It was a little too big for the living room and I was always binking my shin on it.  We love it in here!  It's so rustic and unique and you never worry about being rough on it.

We also like that it says, "Chicago Machinery Exchange" on the side as we live about 4 hours from Chicago and love visiting!  I wonder how many miles this guy traveled before he landed in our family room.

 I also took down the drapes that I had never finished and replaced them with French Country shutters.  Our shutters are not done yet.  We are working on making them functional and also want to add some decorative rustic hinges.  

You can see one of the shutters just propped up against the wall in this picture.  I haven't figured out how to make shutters for the window seat yet.

In this picture, you can see the one on the right of the fireplace hung. They are both hung now on either side of the fireplace.  We need to move the armoire that houses the TV over a little to make room for the shutter.  It's very heavy and so we're procrastinating. 

This is the view of the room as you step down from the kitchen.  (see the kitchen counter in the bottom right of this photo)

And this is the view from my kitchen sink, looking through the pot rack.  The kitchen sink is actually a little to the right and if you're standing at it, you're looking straight into the dining room.

I also brought down a large piece of art that was in the Master Bedroom and propped it over the fireplace. See how we made the fireplace mantle here.

We're enjoying the changes.  We've made so many new pieces lately and changed so much that it takes a while to figure it all out.  

Have a wonderful day!

Love and blessings~

 "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:16 

Building a Fireplace Mantle

When we bought our house, it was definitely a fixer-upper.  Almost every light fixture in the house was a globe and the wood finishes and details were very 80's modern.  I envisioned chandeliers and crown mouldings and a little French Country romance and over the years, we are slowly getting there.

I wish I had a picture of the two fireplaces that are in our main floor rooms but I wasn't blogging then and they were ugly.  There were no mantles; the fireplace opening was simply surrounded by a piece of wood. Very stark and contemporary.  And so not Moi!

So I designed two matching mantles for these rooms and Mark, who I affectionately like to call my assistant, built them.  Ha!  What would I do without him?!  :)

We started by building a rectangular box, without a back,  in the appropriate dimensions and then adding moulding to the bottom and crown moulding to the top.  We then added a board that would be the top of the mantle.

We added another bit of moulding to the center.

Before we attached any of the pieces to the fireplace, I sprayed them all with a faux stone spray paint, giving them a more realistic finish.  I then painted them and added dark glaze, antiquing the details.

Mark attached a board to the wall, anchoring it to a stud.  He then attached the mantle to this board, hiding it.

We added corbels that I found at Hobby Lobby.  They are decorative only and don't actually support the fireplace.

We also added this fluted trim along side of the piece of wood that already surrounded the fireplace. Fortunately the combined width of these two pieces was about the same size as the corbel.

I used a stencil and tole paints and stenciled the tile with a fleur de lis pattern.  The heat from the fireplaces has set the paint.

We added two pieces of moulding to the wall above the family room fireplace to emphasize the height.  Then painted between the boards to match the mantle, giving it a more French Country feel.

This is the matching fireplace on the opposite end of the room.

Both fireplaces had brass gas log surrounds which I painted with an oiled bronze paint.

And now, we love them!  A visiting friend thought they were 'stone' although I think the edges are a little sharp for that to be believable but they're dramatic and romantic, giving a much more elegant feel to the rooms.

My husband's a sweetheart!  Whenever he finishes a project, he always looks at me and asks, "What's next?!"  Love him!

I have finally finished staining the end tables he made and hope to get them  posted by the end of the week.

Love and blessings!

" The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed." Exodus 3:2

I am linking up with 

Romantic Home and 

French Country Cottage - Feather Your Nest Friday and 

Commonground - be-inspired-178

A Stroll Thru Life

Savvy Southern Style

DIY by Design

Cedarhill Farmhouse - The Scoop