Late Spring Change-up on the Mantel

The move brought to the surface so many things that had been misplaced and displaced, and I want to share one more of those items that has been buried for the last almost 6 years. 

With the Easter decor packed away, I wanted to go back to the neutral and more simple look I had on the fireplace and mantel. I kept my basic pieces and added back my Tromp l'oeil canvas print that I put together 7 years ago. It was an odd sized print and I wanted it to fit on a bigger canvas. When the light is shining on it (as it is now) you can see where the print stopped, but in general light you don't notice it. Since the regular lighting in here is pretty moody, you just see the wonderful old print of a shepherd and sheep.

This is a cast iron coal stove door that we found in St. Louis about 8 years ago. It weighs a ton so it has to sit on something solid and heavy duty. The white is it's original color, so just imagine a petite iron stove in a lady's small parlor or bedroom 150 years ago.

To add a little greenery, I'm trying out a variegated ivy in a small McCoy planter on the mantel.

In between yard work last weekend we made several trips to our storage unit and brought back 36 boxes of china, crystal, transferware, and decorative vintage pottery. I spent most of Sunday and Monday unloading the china and crystal to fill up the Dining Room China Cabinet. It's been bare and I've finally reached the point that it was time to start this overdue project. 

Thank goodness for the china closet in the Dining Room, because all the dishes seem to have multiplied since I've packed them away. (It's like owning rabbits) I can tell the dish closet will fill up fast. I'm going to have to find some organizational pieces to add so I can use the space wisely. There just aren't enough shelves to hold it all. Here's a pic below, I'll share the styled china cabinet soon.

(Dish closet is behind the door to the left)

Back to the Hearth Room and the fireplace...

My sister has an old porch column I'm going to try in the corner, but it's big and requires a truck to bring it over, so we need to find a time to get it here. She's been hanging onto it for me for several years. (she's a really good sister!)

I still have boxes sitting in the Garden Room waiting to be unpacked so I'll be dealing with all that the rest of this week. All my transferware and Ironstone are in those boxes, so it will seem like Christmas when all that comes out. Figuring out what I can use and where to put it is another story.

I wasn't real happy on having a big yard again, but what do you do... it came with the house. Oh, it's beautiful and the trees make it look like a park, but the oaks and walnut trees have deposited massive amounts of pollen type debris that we've been shoveling up by the bag full. Helicopters, fringy type things, creamy little "snowflakes", yellow/green dust. No sooner than I clean it up, than there is more. No sense complaining because that's what comes with trees. Pollen counts have been off the chart here, but I don't seem to be having much trouble with allergies except a perpetual runny nose. yuk.

OK, back to unpacking dish boxes... I'll check in soon.

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