fall mantel

I don’t have a mantel, and it’s not decorated for fall really, but it killed me not to join in Sarah’s annual fall Mantel party.

family room

Here’s what we started off with on August 7th.

fireplace

My mom and I took off that slab of wood that was the mantel–it wasn’t  even attached, just sitting on top of the corbels. It’s just a big, heavy, irregular, natural shaped slab of wood that looks like it would have been one of Fred Flintstone’s skis. We painted one coat of Kilz primer and two coats of paint–I just used my regular Simply White paint that I used for my walls.

fireplace, unmanteled

We lived with it like this for about two weeks.

And then I started to go slightly insane because since this house is tiny and work is still being done on the kitchen I haven’t hung anything on my few walls. And apparently, I’m the kind of girl who needs to have things hung on my walls in order to feel like a person.

mini kithchen

antlers

So I went out to the barn and grabbed my $25 Awe-Ful Craigslist Antlers. A few years ago I stalked Craigslist searching for “antlers” for months and got FOUR sets of elk antlers for $100 from a hunter who was moving! I painted to wood plaque thing black months ago.

masonry

Chad grabbed a masonry drill bit and some 50 pound hangers while he was out — I happened to take a blurry photo. Sadly, he already has a masonry drill bit, but because we are currently living complicated and unorganized since our move, he couldn’t find it. #LifeStory

drill a hold into brick

make a hole in brick

how to make a hole in a brick fireplace

After a few minutes of grunt work we had a little hole drilled and then he screwed in the heavy duty hangers. Doesn’t it look like my fireplace is bleeding? My husband, converting to imperfectionism, suggested we not clean it up since the antlers would hide the brick dust anyway. I feel a little bit more in love with him at that moment. And two days later, as I type, there is brick fireplace blood behind my antlers. And nobody will ever know, nor care.

painting brick fireplace

Here’s my fall mantle. The only wall in my house that is photogenic in the least. And that’s only if I crop it tightly.

fireplace

Here’s the rest of that story.

Crockpot.

That’s my mini-kitchen set up to the right.

family room

If you missed it the other day, here’s the direction I’m going with the family room. Neutral, so I can boss it around with any color or idea that seems right at any time.

leather chairs

And the leather chairs came. I only ordered one ottoman, two would have overwhelmed the space but one is currently throwing off the room. No worries, I’ve got a white pouf coming (time to trade out the pink pouf for something neutral, do you sense a trend?) that I might stack with another small footstool to balance it out. We’ll see what happens. I’m happy to have something decorative hanging in my house and a pair of cushy places to sit! Welcome fall!