Today we're excited to be a part of Layla's summer mantle link party!
Our new home has two wood burning fireplaces. One in the main family room, and one in what was intended to be a library, but we use a playroom. (It took me a while to finally convince the builder that we were not in the"library" stage of life and that it would be a playroom for 4 messy kiddos!)
My children adore the beach. They ask me all the time,"When are we going to the beach,"… even in the dead of winter! So, we thought it would only be fitting to have a beachy playroom. Since it is a playroom, I resisted my urge for lots of white, and cool faded blues, and instead took color inspiration from these bright pictures of my kiddos.
Remember the black-turned-yellow mirror project? Well, it makes a big impact on the brown wall and I love it so much more than the boring, old black. So here's the mantle, photo collage, and fun curtains…
First, I thought I'd stand on a stool and take some pics straight on… Oops! There I am! The one fun thing about this picture is that you can see my family room mantle in the mirror on the left! See, my lack of photography ability actually got a 2 for 1 mantle picture! Score!
Here's my boat conundrum… love the boats, but wasn't feelin' the boats on this mantle…
What do you think? In the end, I went with no boats… partially because everything in this room has a very high potential of being destroyed by a small child!
The cool blue bottle, and jar were scored at the same flea market we've been posting about, and I got them for under $5.00!
I had bought the white starfish, and was on the hunt for coral, but man it's way overpriced! Thanks to the awesomeness of blogland, I got the suggestion to just buy some cheap fishtank coral and spray paint it! That's totally up my alley! Who knew Pets Plus could be a crafting resource?
It definitely needed some paint… the pink was blech!
Much better!
I also ordered two more of my favorite beach pics from Canvas People but as much as I love them, I can't seem to find a home for them in the room. They definitely don't work on the mantle… hmmm
This will give you a peek of the room… (I did not clean, as proved by the train table, because it's the kids' job and I was sticking to my guns… blog or no blog!)
I just bought a fairly bright green sofa for the room, but need to go and pick it up. It will go on this side with my favorite little people recliners!
So, there you have it… my summer playroom mantle! I think it works and the kids don't even notice like it a lot! One final picture… I realized the blue jars looked awful on the right side of the life preserver, so I moved them back to the left. Much better now!
Thanks for letting me share my mantle and let me know what you think and also if you know where to buy a really inexpensive oar! I think that's all that I'm missing!
**One sidenote… I don't know what's up with the color in these pictures… some are really faded out and for some reason only look that way on the blog. Sorry, if the drab colors are depressing you!: ) **