In this photo, the room is close to being done. I still need a large, ornate, white frame for the smaller painting. Once it is on, I'll be leaning it against the mirror as it is now. Unframed, the scale is a bit off, it needs to be larger.
I have a mosaic planned for the floor, pics as it gets planned and completed.
The old mantel that a dear family friend gave to me 20 years ago and had been saved thinking…someday. Sadly, it didn't fit the space after all. But we saved it! The builder cut it in half, added a center block to widen it, then built up two blocks to heighten it.
But, in doing that, we lost the old trim on the piece. And the shelf board thing on the top had to be removed.
But I found a rough, piece of oak still with the bark on it that was long enough to use, and I stained it dark like the floor.
As the contractor was putting the boxes that would support the mantel together, I thought it would be sweet to turn one into a time capsule. I wrote on the interior with a Sharpie and grabbed a crystal heart button that fell off of Sugarwings' cape. The cape was one of the four Aunt Terry made for the girls for Christmas, and it represented a meaningful family moment for me. (I can pick up another button to sew back on the cape later.)
All of the wood was painted pure white, semi gloss after the pieces were assembled and I'd replaced the ornamentation on the mantel with some reproduction pieces.
After that, I painted a dark walnut glaze over the paint and wiped it off with a soft cloth to take some of the "new" away.
Ta da!
Next up, that mosaic floor and searching for a large frame for that leaning painting.