Saturday, April 3, 2010

Faux Mantle

Pretty tulips were a nice surprise from the little one this morning. They are the perfect touch for our spring mantle.

   

Sadly, we don't have a real fireplace so a mantle was on my want list to fill an empty wall in the dining room.  It never stays the same for long; I'm always having fun changing it up.


And speaking of the dining room, new paint is on the list of things to do. Now I just need to decide on the color. With our house being a small bungalow, the main rooms flow together. I have the living room and kitchen painted the same oatmeal color and the dining room has always been different. Now I'm thinking about doing the same color in the dining room too.

What do you think, too boring or good flow?


16 comments:

  1. I love the faux mantle but I think same color is boring. What about a grey blue? That would look good with the oatmeal color.

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  2. What a cool idea! We actually need to rebuild the mantle in our living room...this looks great!
    As much as I love color, I am going neutral at my house. It is small and looks too choppy with different colors.
    But I like the grey blue idea...can't wait to see what you guys come up with!

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  3. My vote is go with color, but I know what you mean about wanting more flow. Sadly, I think the era of having different bold/rich colors is being replaced with neutral colors that make the home flow. GREAT...that means I need to repaint the whole house! Love the spring mantle!

    ~Kate

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  4. Well my dear...I think your decision will be perfection. I myself am a HUGE fan of flow. I love easy on the eye movement of color from one room to another. I basically use 2 paint strips from SW and stick with the family on those colors. So...I have used every shade on the Whole Wheat strip from Baguette (love the name) to Antiue White...and the Oyster Bay strip from Rreat to Sea Salt...and the flow is so perfect..I have enough color but enough harmony.

    Cheers~
    e

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  5. Your faux mantel is too cool! I'm in to white and neutral everything now and I'm still contemplating painting over the dark, suede brown in our family room and making it white. I say go with flow and keep it all the same.
    Hope you enjoyed the weekend and holiday!

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  6. What a great idea! I love the faux mantle! I love the way you've decorated it too! So chic.

    I am addicted to color. I try so hard to break the habit and go neutral, but I just love color too much. I want to vote for grey blue, but feel free to not count my vote given my color addiction. :)

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  7. That's really neat to have a mantle without the fireplace!

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  8. I like your mantel and actually made a few of those in another home where the original fireplaces were closed off. I love the soft pink tulips in the silver julep cup; very elegant.

    If your rooms are all joined I tend to like consistency of color. However you could break it up using batten or bead board half way up. Either way, you've got a great eye so I'm sure it will look wonderful.

    Deborah

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  9. I love your mantle! Really, who needs the fireplace anyway? The mantle is what we really want! haha!

    My vote would be to break up the color a little. I like the idea of blue/grey, too. I think it looks really lovely with oatmeal shade.

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  10. I have a faux mantel too in my dining room. Like you, I change it with each season. I love your spring look. So glad you found me as it brought me to your blog. My older post are so much better than my newer ones... I don't know if I am just getting lazy or I have already said everything I wanted too... I am off to look around a bit. Thanks for visiting.

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  11. I have come full circle on paint colors! I really love the idea of all the living spaces to be the same color. For me, it feels fresh, clean and modern. Let your furniture/art do the talking. And you can always change it! xoxo

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  12. Wow that is a tough decision. Like you my place is pretty small and you can see from one end of the house to the other from the LR. I decided to go with the same color, BM simply white throughout. Then one day I decided to paint my husbands office black. So go figure. I guess in the end you have to live with it so do what you like!

    ~janet

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  13. I would do the same color if you have rooms flowing together. Your mantel idea is cute. What if you put a really beautiful large seagrass basket in the opening for texture or a pretty large potted plant? Have fun picking the color. Can't wait to see what you decide.

    ~jamilyn

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  14. i love tulips.

    my rooms flow together, but i didn't want to use the same color, so i chose something one shade darker for the dining room (than what i did in the living room). i don't think it's enough of a contrast, so i'll probably paint again, but i like that it's in the same family, and because I know it's different, i feel like it makes a difference! :)

    ps--having a giveaway, so come check me out!

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  15. I like a neutral background. Makes everything easier to change and allows for moving things from one room to the next. Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving such a nice comment. I hope you will come back again!

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  16. Love it! I'm on the hunt for one of these around here. Can't wait to put it up in my living room!

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