spring mantel decor

Remember the before?  My mantel is now decorated and ready for spring. I wanted to keep it simple and to brighten up the dark wood by using shades of white.

These are the dogwood branches before ...

... and these are the dogwood branches after! In their natural state, the branches were lost against the dark wood of the mantel and didn't work with the rest of my accessories so I painted them.  After priming them, I sprayed them with a coat of flat white paint. Much better and it took less than 1/2 hour to transform them.

I used a vintage silver tray to break up the expanse of mirror, added a couple of urns and covered pots along with metal birds and a handful of plastic eggs that I purchased last year.

In the urns, I added paper shreds to resemble nests then tucked a few eggs in them.

Here's the final result! I'm loving the branches and they'll work with all my seasonal decorations ... at least until I'm tired of them. :) Other than the spray paint, I had everything else on hand.

And spring is officially here!  I have a few purple crocus that are almost blooming ... maybe this week they'll be out.  The robins and red-winged blackbirds have returned and the garden is getting greener everyday.

Happy Spring!

mantel makeover

before ...

My mantel is in serious need of a makeover. This mantel is my husband's pride and joy so there is absolutely no chance of lightening it up with paint. Talk about focal point, this thing is huge! At over 100 years old, it really is a work of art ... and nearly impossible to decorate. Inspired by Layla's own mantel makeover over at The Lettered Cottage, I'm determined to have a nicely decorated mantel by Friday.

Stay tuned for the "after" version!

what to do next?

Don't you just love a vase of fresh flowers? I couldn't resist these red gerbera daisies from the supermarket this week ... they look so fabulous with my red toile sofa and chair.

Now that most of the painting is finished, I'm trying to concentrate on putting things back together. For some reason, I seem to be going in circles this week! After a frustrating day, I've decided to tackle just one thing at a time instead of trying to get it all done at once.

One of my projects is to convert the spare bedroom into a reading/guest room. Most of the old furniture has been removed and repurposed elsewhere but it's been a great storage room while we've been painting. First step is to move the things in there back where they belong. Once I've emptied this room (again) we'll repaint it before putting starting the conversion.  Right now it's painted a soft robin's egg blue which looked fine when it was a bedroom but I just don't like the colour for my new reading room. I think I'd like a soft white for the walls with white furnishings ... very soothing and restful.

This sofa bed from Ikea would be perfect in there. I'm already imagining how it's going to look. Of course I'll share photos of my progress!

I wanted to post about this yesterday but my day got away from me so I'm posting it now! Last week I purchased this wonderful e-book by Layla Palmer from The Lettered Cottage. Creating an Inspired Home is chock full of fabulous ideas and photos as well as easy to follow instructions on creating your own inspired home. Layla's enthusiasm for decorating is contagious!  I'm going to take some time over the weekend to read it from cover to cover.  You can purchase Layla's e-book here.