the making of a mantle

I've had the urge to paint the wall behind our fireplace for sometime now and I finally got around to it when my family was super sick and resting. So sorry family. I don't know how I escaped all the sickness in this house. Well I was having a little bit of decorating guilt about changing it up. I mean we have only been here for 2 1/2 years and I already want to change out a paint color? Is that okay? I guess it didn't take too long to convince myself that "it's only paint...just do it!" :) And besides the green color was a freebie can of paint when Glidden was doing a big giveaway.  No money wasted. I do love green. Sometimes a little too much. Whenever I am shopping this green color finds me. No joke. I was convinced that the green paint I picked named 'Spanish Olive' was exactly what I wanted. It was a little brighter than expected and not quite the look I was going for. After time the color wore me out. I wanted something softer but didn't want to spend money on changing up the mantle so I did this little mantle makeover for free using up leftover paint and decorating with pieces from around the house. I never really focused on decorating the mantle, just setting things up there that didn't find a home on a book shelf. I am happy with how it all turned out.

BEFORE

I painted the wall a light grey/blue that was leftover from two of our bathrooms. It is a Valspar paint (my fave for color selection) called granite dust.

White Pitchers: IKEA

Clock: Ross

Ballerina Picture: Goodwill

Owl: Goodwill (spray painted)

Angel: Goodwill (spray painted)

Coffee filter wreath: DIY

White frames: Goodwill (spray painted)

Gold Frames: Marshalls

Vases: Dollar store/Ikea (rope added)
Moss "O": DIY
Green Chair: St.Vincent DePaul ($5)

AFTER

Here are those vases up close. We used about 50 or so vases for our wedding back in '05 and I have kept a large box of them. I plugged my hot glue gun in and found some twine in my craft room and gave these plain vases some dimension to them. They are being filled with all the beach glass we find over the summers here. We have been to the beach once this Spring and have added a handful already. I am sure they will be filled by the end of the summer with all sorts of soft blues, greens, whites and browns. It will be a special task for the boys to sort out our findings and add to the vases. I have to keep my two little rascals busy!

I added this key that I found at Michael's for a dollar. Gotta love those dollar bins. They get me every time!

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