I took a little time to bring some spring inside. My family room mantel is an easy way for me freshen up our space: it’s a small vignette, it’s a simple backdrop to begin with, my kids can’t touch it!, and I can crop out all the mess going on around it. I started by switching out the velvet slipper chair for a mid-century modern chair from the living room.
I found the chair on the side of the road a few years ago, refinished it, and made new geometric print cushions. To me, the velvet upholstery felt more wintery and I like the playful, modern look of this chair for spring. I added a vase of $4 yellow gerber daisies to the scalloped side table and then moved onto the mantel.
Whenever I take on the task of switching up the mantel, I ‘shop’ around the house. I found the trio of octagon frames in my craft closet and decided they needed to make their mantel debut.
I bought the frames from Goodwill last year, spray painted them white and added swatches of fabric. I love the touch of geometry that the shapely frames lend to the mantelscape. The bottom 2 frames are leaning against the wall and the top one is hanging from an adhesive 3M hook that I painted the same as the wall color to disguise it. Since nearly all of our walls are painted the same color, I figure I can use it again elsewhere and it will blend in just as well.
To keep things fresh and airy – which is what spring feels like to me – I added round white votives and vases, a tall vase of green pom poms {also $4}, and relocated a paper maché ‘M’ from the living room.
Including monograms and typography in a vignette is a great temporary way to make a space feel personal.
I always like to have some warm candlelight glowing on the mantel since it’s about one of the only places I can keep lit candles out of the reach of little hands.
So that’s what my mantel is looking like these days. I like to tweak it with the changing seasons. It’s a quick, easy and cheap creative outlet for my fickle creative tendencies.
Have a lovely, springy weekend!
images: all Dana Miller for House*Tweaking
budget decor, DIY