Category Archives: Mantels

Dec 09 2011
10 Comments
Art, Christmas, Decorating, Holidays, Mantels, Thrifting, Vintage

A Dash of Rosemary, Vintage & Bright! (Christmas in the Diningroom)

Hey friend!  I hope your Friday is off to a good start.  We’ve been hunkering down in the casa for the last couple of days due to the icky weather and being a bit under the weather.  But don’t worry, I’m going to “garlic-up” and get rest, so I should be well on my way to feeling better soon!  In the meantime I wanted to share with you photos of our diningroom all dressed up for Christmas.  Even though we may be moving in the next three weeks, I wanted to decorate for this special time of the year.  When you have children there’s just no getting around it.  Plus, it’s rather cheery and bright, which makes my heart happy, too.  So, what you’ve all been waiting for…my diningroom!  I call it “A Dash of Rosemary, Vintage & Bright!”.  You’ll see why…

Isn’t that a fun diningroom?  And I had all the pieces on hand.  Below you’ll find a listing for the pieces.

Bella Grace Home’s Other Christmas Posts:

A Christmas Mantel to Honor the King of Kings

A Little Christmas Tree with a Dash of Exciting News

Gabriel’s Christmas Tree

Happy Christmas!
Jen

*Sharing this with Addicted2Decorating  The Lettered Cottage  French Country Cottage  Funky Junk Interiors Nesting Place and The Inspired Room.

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Vintage Yellow Blanket - Goodwill

Blue Glassware – Goodwill

Glass hurricanes w/green – free from mom

Rosemary – free from my garden

Vintage Globe - Goodwill

Vintage Ornaments – free from my grandmother

Vintage Painting – Goodwill

Quaker Oats Tin – free from hubby’s dad

Mini Xmas Tree – Hobby Lobby, purchased in 2004ish

Nativity Piece – gift from former workplace

Glass Plates – Goodwill

Bird – my mom’s

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Dec 07 2011
16 Comments
Christmas, Decorating, Mantels, Wreaths

A Christmas Mantel: To honor the King of Kings

Jesus.
Savior.  Lamb of God.  Prince of Peace.  Wonderful Counselor.  Mighty God.  Shepherd.  Living Water.  Bread of Life.  The Morning Star.  The Rock.  Redeemer.  King of Kings.

Jesus.
I love having this sweet piece of art displayed on my Christmas mantel.  Mary and Joseph, lovingly holding the Creator of the World in their mortal hands.  Fully God, fully man.  A miracle wrapped in human form.

Majestic.

Majestic and humble wrapped in one.
The meager, dark manger set the scene for the Almighty to enter our world.  The Majestic One humbled in the form of man, coming to us in love…pure love.

And now…Christmas.

Where families gather to stop and honor our Lord Jesus Christ.  Where folks take time to slow down and ponder…sitting ’round the Christmas tree, or gathered at the hearth.

To bask in the warmth of the fire…to fill up with love that can only come from a Savior.  The Savior of the world.

The beauty that is found in Him is worth more than all the pearls a girl could ever dream of owning.

 And in Him riches of eternity, all glorious and deep, are found.  For in Him joy resides.

Happy Christmas,
Jen

Psst…I shared this Christmas mantel with Rhoda’s Mantel Party, Hooked on Houses , Funky Junk Interiors and Beth’s Mantel Party.

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Nov 18 2011
3 Comments
Autumn, Decorating, Green, Livingroom, Mantels

A Fall-ish Mantel

(Note:  I wrote an ENTIRE post that ended up NOT publishing…it only gave you the first 2 paragraphs…nice.  Here’s kind of what I wrote earlier.)

With Thanksgiving lit-erally right around the corner I suppose now is a better time than ever to show you some more autumn decorating from the casa.  Yesterday I shared with you our front porch for the fall and gave a lovely tutorial on how to make a yarn wreath.  Riveting, no?

And today I’m here to show you our fall-ish mantel.  You’ll find that the colors are a little more bright and cheerful than your typical fall mantel, but that’s how I roll…bright and cheerful and it goes with our home’s colors, which I love.

If you look closely you can see that I’ve hung our world maps on either side of the fireplace.  That’s where I’m pulling the yellow and blue vibe from for the mantel accessories.

Ooh, pretty!

You seriously can get this look with just a few glass jars and some sticks from your yard.  Seriously.

More items that I found by shopping our house and our yard.  Easy peasy!

And here’s the big picture…yay!

You can do this, friend, you totally can do this look.

Have you decorated your mantel for the fall yet?  One more week to go!

Bella grace to you,
Jen

 

 

 

 

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Jan 23 2011
8 Comments
Mantels, Valentine's Day

L.O.V.E. Decorating for Valentine’s Day – It doesn’t have to be pink, red & cupid to be lovely

My Romantic Mantel...Simple, Pure, Lovely

In an effort to create a mood of love for our home I designed this mantel vingette:  it’s understated, yet complex and the subtle notes toward love are throughout.  For example, the framed Christmas card with the couple walking through the snow together, carrying an evergreen…it brings thoughts of love.  (The funny thing is that my husband thought it was a picture of us at first.  But we’ve never dragged a Christmas tree together ANYWHERE, muchless in the snow, being that we live in Texas and all.  I thought it was sweet of him, though).

Sweet Couple Walking through the Snow

I kept the color palette white, blue and chocolate brown to flow with our home’s decor. 

Who says Valentine's Day has to be pink and red and cupid?

 

L.O.V.E.

Although these candles aren’t displayed together like this in the vingette, I wanted you to be able to read what the letters spell out.  These are simple glass votive holders that I put bronze rub-on letters from my scrapbook stash.  Simple craft.  Pretty outcome.

I also placed a grouping of candlesticks in the white pitcher, which is an idea I saw years ago in book about French decorating.

What are some other subtle ways you like to add a touch of L.O.V.E. to your home decor?  For more inspiration check out Beth’s Valentine’s Day Mantel Party or Tatertot & Jello’s Weekend Wrap-Up Party.

UndertheTableandDreaming

Happy Creating!
Jen

 

 

 

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Jan 10 2011
4 Comments
Mantels, Textiles

simply happy winter mantel

If a mantel could be happy, then mine would be happy.  See, look at her:

She’s wearing her favorite pearls…

With a touch of whimsical woods to keep it “real” or something like that…

And she’s sporting some festive candleholders, along with the ever-popular yet not old yet, coffee filter wreath.

And she’s doing all this with a smile on her face because after these winter days come spring rays of light and warmth. 

If you missed my other post from today and need a little bit of sunshine to warm you up on this winter day then click on over here.  And for more winter mantels check this out at Beth’s blog.

Nov 29 2010
12 Comments
Decorating, Holidays, Mantels, Stage It!

Eclectic Meets Simplicity: Our Christmas Mantel

 

eclec·tic adj \e-ˈklek-tik, i-\
1: selecting what appears to be best in various doctrines, methods, or styles

MEETS

sim·plic·i·ty noun \sim-ˈpli-sə-tē, -ˈplis-tē\
1: the state of being simple, uncomplicated, or uncompounded

What I absolutely adore about decorating for Christmas this year is keeping it low-key, fun and happy.  I’ve even opted to just decorate our small 3 foot tree this year, instead of our large one.  It makes me happy, the kids love it & the hubby is pleased as well.  But you’ll have to wait for that fun reveal…

I think that we can all get a bit crazed this time of the year if we let ourselves.  One neat thing we can do is to try & only participate in things that really represent who we are & why we celebrate Christmas…I think we can do that in our decorating as well.  I know it sounds simple to do, but it can be tricky to accomplish.

I say don’t let the world tell you who you should be…are…will be…etc.  Just “be.”

Because at the end of the day you are the one that will end up basking in the glow of your twinkle light creation…where eclectic meets simplicity & where hearts are warmed not necessarily by logs on a fire but by the love you give.   And yes, I still have our stockings to hang…but we have time, right?  Cheers & happy decorating!  For other Christmas mantels check out the party happening over at The Lettered Cottage.  Note:  for an excellent tutorial on the coffee filter wreath that I made check out the Nester’s blog.

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Sep 08 2010
4 Comments
Autumn, Decorating, DIY, Home, Mantels

Get Your Autumn On

A few days ago the boys & I went on a drive to hunt down some (free) sunflowers & weeds to decorate our home, inside & out.  We were successful!  I also found $1 mums at Wal-mart while making a quick grocery run to add a touch of autumn to the outdoors in a cinch.

See that tree stump?  Yeah, that used to be a REALLY creepy tree.  It finally died, so we had to chop it down last year.  Trying to “pretty-up” a tree stump can be a daunting task.  Fortunately, I was able to find this adorable bicycle tree planter several months ago.  I love how unique it looks on the stump!

More gettin’ our autumn on…inside the house!

Welcome to our living room…decorated simply with few objects on the wall.  I like to let the room “breathe.”  I took the rug away for the summer, but with fall approaching it was time to cozy up the space a bit more. 

I found it on clearance at Pier 1 last year…don’t you love a good find?

To see the “Autumn Joy” garland in more detail, check out my tutorial from yesterday.  (I turned a Starbucks bag into this fab & thrifty autumn garland).

I put some sunflowers & weeds on the mantel, too!

Oh, and I put some weeds over here, too.  I still haven’t filled these frames with anything, but they’re okay with that; they know I have things to do like go flower-hunting in the woods.  Priorites, folks, priorities.

I told you I like to keep things simple.  But don’t worry, I will eventually put something in the frames…

For me, autumn says, “Cozy up and relax,” and that’s exactly what this coffee-table-turned-bench expresses perfectly.  Oh and this bench says, “Ditto.”

If you’re curious about what’s going on atop that dresser-turned-buffet then check out my recent back-to-school post.  Or just look at these cute pumpkins.  Ahhhhhhh!   So cute!

Are you gettin’ your autumn on?  Do you use the colors of fall or are you like me and stick with the cooler colors to flow with your home?  For more inspiration check out the lovely ladies linking to the Inspired Room , Craftaholics Anonymous & Domestically Speaking today…Thanks for stopping by.  Happy decorating:)

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Sep 07 2010
11 Comments
Autumn, Decorating, DIY, Green, Mantels, Upcycled Life

Autumn Joy: An Upcycled Starbucks Bag

Are there any other coffee lovers out there?  Holla!  (I’ve obviously had my first cup o’ joe already!).  This post is for all you Starbucks fans (and everyone else, too, really).  You see, last week when I picked up this “art” notebook at Starbucks for our son after a trip to Austin, TX, I was left with a handy-dandy Starbucks bag.  So, that coupled with this whole-Stashbusting September-thing Robin is doing at The T-shirt Diaries, I decided to make a little autumn magic and turn this super cool bag into an upcycled autumn garland.  (BTW Robin will be here on Thursday sharing her inspirational thoughts on upcycling…you won’t want to miss it!).

Autumn Joy Garland

For this project I used:

  • 1 Starbucks bag (you could also use any extra scrapbook paper, gift bag, etc.)
  • Vintage clip-on earrings (my great-grandmother’s)
  • 9 black matte chip boards (purchased this summer for $1 clearance)
  • 1 white ribbon (that came with son’s bedding packaging)
  • Ikea curtain clip-on rings (purchased this summer; also used on photo display)
  • mod podge; brush; hotglue gun; 1 canned good

Tutorial:

  • Cut bag open so that it lays flat

 (The reason I chose this bag was because of the cool philosophy printed on it, which I think fits perfectly with the idea of stashbusing & upcycling)

  • Using the canned good as a template, trace 9 circles on to the inside of the opened bag (the non-design side)
  • Cut out circles
  • Print out “Autumn Joy” (or whatever phrase you wish to use) and cut out the letters as well
  • Mod-Podge the letters onto the circles
  • Hotglue the finished circles onto the black chip board
  • Hang up ribbon onto your mantel
  • Place vintage clip-on earrings onto the ribbon, with Ikea clips in between each one; hang up your letters

Now sit back & enjoy your upcycled Starbucks bag creation!  Autumn Joy:)

For other great stash-busting ideas, check out:

 

Also seen on:


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Thrifty Decor Chick’s Before & After Linky Party

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Aug 23 2010
7 Comments
Decorating, Green, Mantels, Restyling

Loving Lemons & a Mantel Question

Y’all, I’m loving lemons right now & it almost feels wrong being that summer is coming to an end.  (At least according to the calendar it’s coming to an end.  Here in Texas it’s a whopping 103 degrees this afternoon).  Anywho, I wanted to show you my little lovin’ lemon display & ask you a mantel question.  First, here are the lovelies (fresh lemons + mason jars + tea light candles in vintage glass coasters):

So, here’s my mantel question:  Did you  notice the very empty picture frames (bought at Goodwill’s Bargain Barn for $1.50 each, yay!)?  Yeah, I saw them, too.  I put this display together a few days ago but haven’t decided what to put in the frames.  I could do fabric, which I love, but as you can see on another giant wall in our living room we’ve already got a big ole’ fabric colored thing. 

I don’t wanna do fabric in those frames.  Okay, so what’s your suggestion?  Leave me a comment (and a link if you have a visual for me to see).  Gracias amigas!

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