Mantel of the Month: Summer Edition

I am super excited about this mantel get-up because: 1. It feels kind of beachy and 2. All it took was making a few tweaks from last month’s mantel to get the new look. Score a point for being lazy. Speaking of which, let’s take a stroll down memory lane to our spring mantel, so you can see what I mean.And here is our new and improved summer-scape:   I’ll let you play “spot the differences” on your own, but essentially, all I did was swap out the pink for woven and added a few hits of beachy blue and a few other beachy accents. Here’s a closer shot of the left side: The woven placemats ($3 at Ikea if you’re hunting) are such a simple addition (just throw ’em down!), but bring a lot of “summer” to the set up. The blue vase, dipped in differing blues and whites reminds me a lot of the ocean, so that made the cut too. These beachy touches are mirrored (but not exactly symmetrical) on the other side.   Same woven place mat. Same hint of blue, but in more of a glassy piece this time. At first the blue vase was empty, but I thought it needed something so I grabbed a pair of clippers and marched straight out the front door to snip a branch off of our leafy tree. Add some water to the vase to keep him fresh and you’ve got yourself some non-floral greenery! The woven pot (also from Ikea and you can find more info on it here) keeps with the natural vibe and of course, the seashell seals (say that three times fast!) the beachy theme for the entire mantel.    Ok, go with me on this: place mat and woven pot= sand, seashell= seashell, blue vases= water, plants= sea weed. In the spirit of going overboard, we’ll even say that metal pot= metal detector treasures. Bam, we’ve got a beach in our house. And the good news is, you can have one too! All it takes is going on a treasure hunt through your house and yard for some natural, beachy elements and figuring out a combination that works for you! Happy Summer, y’all!-Leslie

Mantel of the Month: Spring Edition

The truth is, we are enjoying this mantel set up so much that I just couldn’t confine it to “the May Mantel” because, let’s face it, we’ll probably have it up well into June. Fortunately, the good thing about this set-up is that it can easily be tweaked or added to for some quick change- ups as we enter into the summer months without restructuring the whole thing. So, with that, I bring you:

Step 1: Find a base. I recycled our folded white table cloth from the April Mantel– just a quick brush-off and straightening later and she was ready for her May debut!

Step 2: Watermelon, baby. The “theme”/ color scheme for this display is a pink and green combo. It’s a mash-up of some Mother’s Day hues and spring-y greens. You can grab a few of these playful pink pails (say that three times fast) for a few bucks each at Target:

And as for the green, you can peel off the labels of a few glass bottles and you’re ready to go! I found a whole set of ’em at a thrift store (for less than $1 a piece-hooray!), so I was more than happy to pass on the drink buying and sticker removal process.

Step 3: Plant it. I stuck a few plants we had around the house in the pails and went to work arranging each side of the mantel to be a balanced, but not symmetrical layout.

Step 4: The devil’s in the details. To keep everything from being too flat-looking, I added some hits of silver on each side with a galvanized pot and a silvery candle holder.

Remember our friend, Mr. Snail? He even got a spot, front and center…

As I said before, we’re expecting to leave this display up for a few months, making small changes here and there to bring in some summer-y elements as well. But for now, I’ll leave you with a few full-view shots to top things off…

Happy Friday, everyone! Have a fun weekend! I’m off to mentally and physically (aka. take a nap) prepare for an all-night laser tag trip with the youth group this weekend… yep, you read that right- ALL NIGHT. Let me paint this picture for you: the event starts at 11pm and ends at 6am. Score a point for Youth Ministry.

-Leslie

 

Mantel of the Month: April Edition

Well, over here in PA we have DEFINITELY put our time in with the April Showers! As much as we have loved our soft and elegant St. Patty’s day get-up, it’s time to transition to Easter and all things spring… so, I give you:

Let me tell you- you’ll be dreaming in technicolor after this post! The inspiration for this display came from the ever-popular Easter Egg dying. While I’m really looking forward to dying a few of our own eggs this year, I figured I would bring the look into this month’s mantel design too. The goal was to infuse lots of color, while balancing it with bunches and bunches of less “in your face” white florals. Let’s do this.

Well, first a shot of what we’re building:

Alrighty, Step #1: Find your base. I started out thinking that I could reuse the green spotted sheet from last month’s display. However, after all was said and done, it just looked like too much with all of the color from the jars.

In the end, I went with a simple white table cloth, folded in half (length-wise) and then half again to get the “runner” look:

Step #2: Grow a couple inches. To give the look some height variation, I gathered up some props that would give me some elevation. Nothing too fancy- a small candle holder and a stack of coasters and the dish they came in.

Step #3: Camouflage! I covered my “stands” with two linen napkins we already had to make it look more like a decorated display and from there, they were ready to hold the real stars of the show!

Step #4: Go Modge Podge and Tissue Paper crazy. I won’t go too much into detail with this step (although it is the most important part!) because I stole this part of the process from a past project. Remember those DIY Lenten Jars? Well, it turns out they make pretty cool vases too! Don’t worry- I found a new home for my “challenges of the day” and repurposed the decorated jar for this project. Oh, and made five more in other colors, too. 🙂 For instructions on how to make the jars, click the “DIY Lenten Jar” link above.

Step #5: Flower Time! For this project, I wanted to stick with all whites to counter balance the color craze happening in the jars. I bought two bunches of white hydrangeas and two bunches of baby’s breath. At $2.50 a pop (thank you, Produce Junction!), I was thrilled with the selection! That gave me six stalks of hydrangeas- one for each jar. Bonus points because I even had some baby’s breath leftover- this was an exciting day in the Thomas household…

If you use smallish mason jars like I did, you’re going to have to cut a good bit of stem off each bloom to get them to sit right in the jars.

I started with one hydrangea per jar…

Add a sprig or two of baby’s breath…

And simple as that, you have beautiful spring arrangements!

Step #6: Arrange, arrange, arrange. Mix your colors and switch up your jars however you see fit- not much else to it!

And there you have it- easy as pie! Now, step back and enjoy. 🙂

So fresh and springy! What are you doing to “springify” your house/dorm/apartment? Send me some pics and you could be featured… Also, for those of you joining me in the Mantel of the Month, send the photo finish- we want to see that mantel art!

Until next time, have a great weekend and Happy SPRING!

-Leslie

PS. See any pictures you like? Do me a quick favor and Pin away! Share the love and Pin them to your boards, share them on FB, whatever your thing is… and as always, thank you for reading!