New Fireplace and Mantel

So, remember I told you that a new look is coming to my fireplace?  It's all done and I love it!

It's definitely the WOW that's been needed in my family room.

Remember, this is what it looked like a little over a week ago:

First thing we needed to do was remove the tile and frame in the arched opening.

I went back and forth, trying to decide if I should keep the opening.  I did love the light inside, but it would have been more expensive to keep the opening (because there would have been more stone needed) and I think the arch was too low and it wouldn't have looked right, so my husband framed it in.  We left a little note behind the new wall, for anybody who decides to open up this wall 100 years from now ;)

Next up was the installation of the mantel.  I found this awesome mantel online and got it while it was on sale.  I was a little nervous, because I wasn't 100% confident that it wasn't going to look cheap. I was pleasantly surprised when it showed up at my door step less than a week from placing the order.

I would totally recommend this mantel to anybody!  It's great quality for the price. My trim carpenter said that he couldn't hardly buy the materials for the price of this finished mantel, so he was impressed too.  He installed the mantel for us.

The next day, the masonry guys were here for most of the day and put up the cultured stone:

I already knew I was loving it, even at this half finished stage.

That mantel is just waiting for our Christmas stockings to hang from it ;)

I still need to paint the wall around the top of the stone and clean up those edges and I need to finish removing the blue tape from the mantel (it's there from when the trim carpenters taped it off while installing the stone.) 

I am SO loving my new family room fireplace look!  I've been waiting for a mantel since we built this place 6 1/2 years ago, so it's been long awaited.  It finally feels finished.  I just need to decorate it now.

Check out the before and after, side by side:

... and for any of you that are interested, here is the source list:

Mantel: The Auburn 60" Mantel Shelf
Stone: Boral's Country Ledgestone Cultured Stone in Chardonnay Color
Wall Color: Sherwin Williams Camelback
Bookcase/Trim Color:  Sherwin Williams Antique White

May you be a little inspired!

Until next time,
DaNita 
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View more of my Most Recent Projects HERE.
 

A New Look is Coming to My Fireplace

Hello, Hello!

Once again, it's been way too long since I've posted on the blog.  Life is busy with a baby!  My littlest guy is 8 months old today.  How in the world did that happen? That's only 4 months away from his first birthday. WOW!! I can't even believe that!  He keeps me busy. Not just him, but I'm busy with my Etsy shop too, and being a wife and mom to five guys, and lots of little projects.

Anywhoo... Even though I haven't been posting, I have a LOT of posts thought up in my head.  I just haven't gotten around to writing them up. I mean a LOT!  I'm always changing things around in my house and really, since baby Cruz came along, it hasn't changed much.  I'm still moving things around and making some minor changes and some MAJOR ones too...

Today I'm showing you the before photos of a major change that's happening in my family room.  I'm so excited, because demo has started on my fireplace wall and soon and very soon I will have a brand new look in my family room!

I've been dreaming of having my fireplace finished, with mantle and all, since the day we moved in, 6 1/2 years ago. 

Christmas is right around the corner and I can't wait to hang stockings from a real mantle this year! I'm going to be able to, because I'm getting a mantle and cultured stone in the next few days.

These are the before photos...

 ...and this is what it looked like yesterday before we started demo:

 and...

... this wall is ready for a facelift ;)

The tile has been removed (I'll show you photo's in another post.) The opening will be framed in tonight, the mantle will go on tomorrow and the stone will go up on Thursday.

I'm SOOOOO excited!

Did you notice that my coffee table is in the process of being painted too? I WILL finish that soon.

Oh yeah and above the fireplace is partly painted too.  Before my hubby & I decided that now is a good time to get the mantle and stone done, I thought about painting the whole thing.  I was considering painting the tile too, but then I got the ok to do it up right.

Oh and the backs of my bookcases, those are 1/2 painted too.  I decided that I better wait till the stone goes up before deciding on a color for the backs of those. 

Yep, that's how I roll sometimes! A million, 1/2 finished projects.

This fireplace wall project should be done by the weekend and I will definitely be showing you the finished product.

May you be a little inspired!

Until next time,
DaNita 
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View more of my Most Recent Projects HERE.
 

Family Room Décor: Clients Home

Hello all! Today, I’m sharing the family room décor from my clients home. 

This room has almost all brand new stuff in it.  The only existing piece is the rug.  Out of all the rooms that my niece and I decorated for my client last summer, this one definitely took the longest to finish.  The reason being is that we needed to shop, order furniture, shop some more, wait for the furniture to arrive, shop some more, wait for more furniture to arrive and well… you get my point, right? 

It took a while, yes, but in the end my client was happy and that’s what’s most important. 

Inside the corner armoire is the TV and the Wii.  DVD’s, Wii games and such are stored in baskets that fit perfectly underneath the coffee table. I wish I would have taken pictures of the baskets, but I didn’t. 

If you don’t have the space to store DVD’s, movies, Wii games, PlayStation games, etc. in the same unit as your TV, contain the items in baskets and store somewhere nearby.

Storing baskets under coffee tables can be used for so many different things, from magazines to books, extra blankets, crafts, diapers & wipes to children's toys and more.  Baskets are just great for everything!

This is the clock that I was telling you about last week.  A person could totally make one of these.  I’ve seen clock hardware at Craft Warehouse.  Using a little creativity, one could whip one of these up in no time.  That is, if your crafty and enjoy creating things.  If not, you can find cool looking clocks like this at Real Deals or Homegoods, possibly even Ross or TJ Maxx.

The couches are from JCPenney’s and the red chair is from Homegoods.

The frames on the wall are still waiting for family portraits to be placed inside.

Typically I like to hang curtains really high.  Most of the time I’ll hang them as close to the ceiling as possible.  It’s amazing what a difference hanging panels from ceiling to floor can do to a space. Try it, you’ll be amazed and you’ll LOVE it.  Just make sure your panels are long enough.  Don’t hang them at the ceiling if they’re not long enough to touch the floor, or hang just a tad above the floor.

Ikea has extra long panels, however while doing this house, they didn’t have red ones.

The ceilings in my clients home are 9 feet tall. With ceilings that tall, you either need to buy custom curtains, find extra long ones OR make your own.  I wasn’t up for making custom curtains and Ikea didn’t have any red ones (which is the color we were going for) so my client picked up these panels from Pier One. They weren’t long enough to go to the ceiling, so I didn’t put them there, but they still work.

Most of the pillows in this room are from Pier One too.

A lot of the décor here is from Real Deals.

:)

I like to shape couch pillows by using the side of my hand and doing a little “karate chop” to the middle of the pillow.  I think it adds a nice finishing touch.

I’m forever “karate chopping” the pillows in my own home, especially after my boys have just had a pillow fight and all the pillows land up all over the floor (which is daily.) Ha, maybe I should teach my boys to do the “pillow karate chop.”   They may actually have fun with that one. ;)

The art above the fireplace is from Homegoods.  The pieces on either side are actually candle sconces…

...the candle sconces felt a little too small for the space, so I trimmed some foam to fit inside the sconces and hot-glued artificial greens into them, allowing plenty of the ivy strands to flow down, creating a larger looking piece.

Now check out the before and after’s together:

 

and…

and…

I still have a little more to show you, so come back soon to see the rest of my clients home.

I certainly don’t claim to be a professional decorator or organizer, for that matter. I just enjoy both very much and if I can share and inspire others in either department, well then, I’ve succeeded, because that’s my goal here.

May you be a little inspired!

Until next time,

DaNita

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Clients Home Decor

A couple of weeks ago I was hired to re-decorate a friends home.  My client has a beautiful home and was wanting a "fresh, new look." So I went in and did a little rearranging and switching of curtains and accessories to create a "NEW" feel. This post is  more or less just photo's for your viewing pleasure and hopefully a little inspiring to you as well.

Living Room:

For a little different window look, I took one side of the plain window panel and swung it over the other side of the curtain rod.  The green pillows, the floral pillows and window panels all came from Ikea.

I LOVE the large artwork.  It's from Homegoods.

I blocked out the family photo's - for the privacy of my client.

Entry Table:

Dining Room:

and...

Family Room:

Kitchen Niche:

Reading Area:

Back Entrance:

Here are a few of the Before and After's of the Living Room:

and

and the Family Room:

The little shelf in her kitchen:

and this one is in her master closet:

My client did this space with suggestions that I made.  She wanted a place for her sewing machine and gift wrapping supplies and she has this great big walk-in closet, which was a perfect place for this.

A little moving around of accessories, furniture and curtains can make big changes to a space.

How about you, do you LOVE to switch things up a bit in your home to get a WHOLE NEW look? 

May you be a little inspired!

Until next time,
DaNita

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Staging a Clients Home

Last week I spent about a day and 1/2 creating simple decorating changes to a clients home, to spruce it up, before she lists it for sale. The crazy thing is... this is my old home.  It sure was fun to decorate a home that my husband and I built and lived in for 3+ years (we sold it about 4 or 5 years ago.) Trust me, I loved every minute of it! and it was a true honor to receive the call and be hired by the one who purchased my 'old' home.

Today I'm sharing some of the changes that I made to my clients living room, breakfast nook, entryway and the kitchen.  My client and I spent a day shopping, with a budget that she set, and a couple of days after shopping, I went over and set the space up.  She was happy with the paint colors in the home, so there was no need to paint. This mini makeover was more about accessorizing and adding a few little changes to create a more put-together,  pretty, and appealing space. It's amazing how just a few little changes can make such a difference in a home.

Here is the living room:

Additions to this space include:

 plant stands (serving as side tables,) new lamps and greenery...

a coffee table arrangement

 2 large mirrors on either side of the fireplace...

 larger items for the niche above the fireplace ...

and a cozy little sitting area.

Here are the before and afters of this living room:

and more:

Now, let me take you into the breakfast nook:

Additions to this space include:

A gorgeous new rug from Homegoods. I love this rug and I want it.

and a table centerpiece.  My client had this rectangle table cloth. I altered it by cutting and sewing it to a square, then placing it on a diagonal.

I also brought the art that was formerly in the entry way into this space.  I did a couple of minor changes to the curtains (like tied one side over and fixed the valances a bit, so you can't see the tops of the panels. If you look closely at the before photo, you can see the green panel peeking over the top of the valance.) I made the curtains, many years ago, while living in this home.

and here are the before and afters:

Let's take a look into the entry way:

A new table, lamps and greens were added.  The art came from the living room. 

(those cords are bugging me... I should really go fix them.)

The space before had just a photo, which I moved into the breakfast nook.

And here are the kitchen changes:

My mother painted the mural on the hood, while I lived in this house. I still LOVE it!  I was thrilled to see that all the paintings my mom did in this house are still there.  I'll show you some more of the paintings  in another post.

I added some simple additions to the tops of the cabinets.

 and onto the counters as well.

 and...

Here are the before and afters of the kitchen:

Adding to the tops of the cabinets, making changes to the counters and adding a little color warms up this kitchen.

My husband is a home builder and I've 'staged' his model homes in the past.  I don't know a ton about home staging, but I do know that I love clean, organized and pretty spaces and I assume others do as well. I just decorate or organize a clients home, the way I would, if it were my own. 

It was an absolute DELIGHT and truly an honor to be called in to stage this home. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it! My client loves it and is very happy with the transformation and that, my friends, is most important!

May you be a little inspired!
UNTIL NEXT TIME,  DaNita