I'm in the process of decorating our 1985 ranch home into a comfortable place for my family of 4. (My oldest boy is 7-we'll just call him "Jo", my youngest boy is 5-we'll just call him "Ben", & the Hubster...well, we've been married nearly 15 years. He still makes my heart pitter patter! The only other female in our home is "Syd" our Australian Labradoodle.)
I've really struggled with finding a decorating style to encompass all of our varied personalities for years. What I'm currently going for is a cabin/lodge type of feel in our livingroom, farm country dining room, farm kitchen, & cabin in the woods feel for the family room. Is that hodge podge enough? Told ya, I have a style identity..I swear! Basically, I like to be surrounded by things that make me smile, laugh & love deeper.
He's what I'm currently working on, the livingroom mantel & fireplace. The "crick" (is it concrete or is it brick?) is the same color as the exterior of our home. Off white & slightly ashen looking. The mantel is a basic traditional cut & I think it's probably always been painted white. We love greens, browns-all nature inspired, earthy colors. We painted the walls a light olive green.
Our dream would be to demolish the current fireplace & rebuild with round river rock or field stone. Also re-do the mantel in a chunky, hand carved, rustic wood. Reality is, we need to be frugal & work with what we can. I'm beginning with faux painting the current mantel to look real old & cabin/lodge like. Here's a peek of the before:
I know, it's embarassing-the fireplace needs a good scrubbing! We like to use it, what can I say? Those tacky blinds are going to be replaced with wood or faux wood plantation shutters, eventually.Here's today's look after a 2nd coat of Sherwin Williams "antiquarian brown".
Next step is to distress it. I just don't know how to do it & I'm worried it might pop off the wall if I take a metal chain or sledge hammer to it! After the distressing is complete I was thinking of putting on a espresso glaze drug & smeared on. Would this help it look more rugged or just messy? If anyone's reading this-especially all the country/prim people...help me, please? I'll even bribe you with homemade cookies. PLEASE, help me.
Here's a look at what's above the mantel & some more of the colors:
Yay! I finally get to "meet" you. Nice start on the blog.
ReplyDeleteYou have made some good progress on the mantel. Can't help with you the next steps however, the cookies make it very tempting.
Hi, Nice Meeting You! Hugs for Your Sweet Comments! Looks Like We have a lot In Common, we Like to Redo and Make New...with a frugality In Mind! I Make Do with most of my decorating projects, and really believe that when you don't have much...It just brings out All that more of your Creative Spirit, and therefore, your home can't help but have your personal Homey touch to it! Good Luck with All your Decorating Projects...maybe I can even give you some advise once in awhile! :) I think the Espresso Glaze Idea is a Good One....then you could accent it up with some contrast color that you also have in your home, say red, or dark gold tone just dusted on top of the bricks and/or grout. To bring out these colors in the rest of your Room. Look forward to seeing the results! See you nest time :)
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