Mason Jars On The Mantel

The mantel got a make over….AGAIN!

(I think this one should stick.)

I showed you how I got that big metal medallion at Hobby Lobby before.

But I just felt like the stuff around it was too messy and disheveled.

I’ve been looking at it and moving it around and trying new things for weeks.

Eventually I just took everything off and started fresh.

I knew I wanted greenery. (Hobby Lobby and their 50% off floral stems.) But I didn’t really want to shop around for vases (3 kids, one’s a baby… so over the work of shopping right now.)  So I realized I had some half gallon Ball mason jars I didn’t use very much. But they looked dumb up there when clear. So I did some googling and decided to paint and distress them.

I just love how they look. If my house winds up covered in them, don’t be surprised.

I also wound up painting these plant pots. These are my girls’ plants. And I haven’t felt like they made any sense visually anywhere I’ve put them. But painting the pots white fixed that for me.

Most people seem to paint Mason jars with chalk paint. They say it adheres better than latex. I’ve never used chalk paint. I didn’t want to pay for it just for this little project. And then it dawned on me -- I have a lot of Bonding Primer left over from other house stuff. It’s MADE to bond to slick surfaces (which a glass jar is) and it’s kind of chalky white looking. Done and Done!

I wound up buying some smaller pint sized jars too and painting and distressing them as well.

This is a great tutorial on how to do this.

My finger’s kind of worn out today from all the sanding on tiny letters and numbers. 

But it was worth it.

  

The white thing in the middle of this cabinet is my essential oil diffuser. (If I was going to have a diffuser, I had to get something pretty -- you know me. It’s the only one I’ve ever been around, so I can’t compare it to any others. But it works great! I usually turn it off long before it’s used up because I have enough scent.)

I finally got around to painting that paper mache “&.”

I used Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint. Then a layer of silver spray paint. And another layer of ORB.

And it looks pretty adorable between the girl’s Beta Fish bowls.

Moonlight-Starlight & Lion together (separate bowl style) forever.

The three jars on the left are our unity sand jars from our wedding.

(These are our toy holding cabinets on the sides of our fireplace. I think that some day we will do something more built-in/permeant here, but for now they actually fit surprisingly well into the nook, for being made to fit our last place.)

Even with the messy toys spread around the room on the regular, these white jars feel really serene and calming to me. (Sorry again for the crappy iphone pics -- they don’t do the jars any justice. Refer to the up close photos to get the right feel.)

These jars are making the room for me right now.

I’m almost done painting my coffee tables (sheesh!) and I’m really excited about having all the punches of white in here. (My new white pillows too.)

Two Mantel Makeovers And A Little Life

So my mind has been foggy since my grandpa died. I’ve been keeping up with my life in my house. But I’ve not been in touch with stuff outside it. It’s kinda a 'nose to the grindstone’ time for me -- just because if I were to look up and around I’d get overwhelmed.

I’ve had a lot of thoughts on things to blog. But haven’t gotten there.

Here’s a bit of what I’ve gotten done lately in photos.

Bronson is two months old this month (2.5 right now.)

School is still going well.

4. Is “M” for “Mom” :) That’s me. 

When I can, I’ve been painting these tables. They are taking longer than I’d like but oh well.

I’m using oil based paint this time. Oil based hardens throughly, where as latex never fully will. So on a coffee table thats gonna see tons of use, oil is the way to go. (If you wanna read up on that concept, this page is great.)

But the fumes mean I can’t paint in the house, around the kids. I’ve been going in the sunroom (it has doors closing it off) with my mask at night. That combined with needing many coats is what’s taking so long. I have one table done for now. But I’m really loving it.
And the oil based paint (I’m using a $7 can of Rustoleum semi-gloss white) feels SO good to the touch once dry -- it feels like a factory finish. I think I may be an oil based paint reformer for most my furniture pieces. It’s worth the hassle.

Also for the family room.

I had been on the hunt for the right fabric for pillows. Per my normal, I made it way too hard and thought too much. I was driving myself CRAZY. I wanted tons of patterns. But it wasn’t working and then I decided less is more -- as far as how many pillows I wanted, and therefore how many patterns I could use.
I found this flower print at Joann’s. And made one pillow cover.

And then I ordered another fabric to do three other pillows in. That’s in the mail right now.

But I’m in love with the power of piping. (When I made those ottoman covers, I was changed for life. Pro-piping foreva.)

I’ve been trying to find a physical and emotional balance on how messy I let the kids make the house.

Jasmine has become quite the pillow architect. And I always have a hard to impeding creative stuff. Because I love doing creative stuff. So I don’t want to squash that in my kids. BUT as an adult (you may have noticed) most my creative-ness focuses on making my house a pretty space. So right now my creativity is at odds with their creativity.

I’m trying to figure out the physical balance.

But emotionally it helped me to put this up on our chalkboard door in our family room (our messiest room.)

The photo below shows you how the kids like to decorate my mantle -- by hanging “decorations" on an hourly basis.

But I’m using the photo to remind you of the pictures I had up on the shelf. I got those in February. And I had gotten kind board of them. Plus I was so in love with what I put in the living room I wanted to find something similar.

So now my mantle looks like this. 

I found that medal medallion at Hobby Lobby. They have a black one and a cream one.

I was torn between the two. And actually started with the cream one. Thinking it’d just be nice blending in texture against my brick.

But for some reason my family hated the cream. 

Blake, Jasmine and Ruby all voiced obvious objection to it, but professed much love for the black one.

I’m still kinda 50/50 on them. But I do see that the cream one is sorta greeny-yellowy not the right tone for the brick.

The kids kept telling me it looked old and I needed to paint it.

But once I went and got the back one they were all “ I LOVE IT!"

I was worried it would be too dark and bold. But I don’t think it’s TOO dark or bold. It is both -- but I don’t think it’s bad.

And while I’m guessing there will be strong feelings from any one on if the light or dark is better. I figured if I was 50/50 but my family members were 100%, well then I’d just defer to them.

Plus I felt I could also be sure it wasn’t bad because Joanna Gains used this same thing here. If Joanna picked the black, I should be good.

Room Flashback fun:

But to change the subject,
Here’s my living room.
We finally got this one hung up. (Reminder this medallion is from Target.) And I got my greenery styled.

I actually found this mantle really vexing to style. I think it’s just that crazy hard scale of this fireplace to this room, and the mantel isn’t very deep at all. So midway through I was getting very defeated and worrying I’d never get it “right.” 

(I will say holding a squirmy baby while you style mantel -- which requires me stepping back across the room 700 times, makes the process harder.)

But I was finally victorious. 

And I REALLY REALLY like it. This room feels SO good to me.

Room Flashback fun:

So that’s where I’m at in our house.

Other than me doing MAJOR. And I really do mean MAJOR de-cluttering.

The book “Clutter Free with Kids” has set me free.
I’ve always felt like doing this, but always felt wrong in doing so.
I feel like I’ve finally been given permission to be myself on this subject matter.

It feels SO good.

Here’s the stuff that’s heading out our doors. (And I'm not done yet.)

Think of all the time I won’t be spending cleaning those things anymore. Woohoo.

That’s set me on a path to try to have a capsule wardrobe. Which is kinda crazy doing that postpartum, but on the other hand -- makes even MORE sense postpartum.

I’ve cleared out two garbage bags of my own clothes (which is kinda shocking because I already had been paring down clothes pre-pregnancy.) But every time, after I’ve had a baby I get a HUGE de-cluttering urge, and I squashed it the other two times. I was scared I would make throwing-away mistakes. But this time I’m using this urge’s power for good. I feel like I have enough experience under my belt to trust myself.  I was way more objective in what I was keeping from my clothes. If I didn’t like it before the pregnancy (and pregnancy weight) it got thrown out. Why save it? And if I did like it, but I never wore it (I’m looking at you -- shockingly adorable quality vintage blazer that I can’t really bend my arms in, so it’s never happening) then I just admitted I was not living the life that would ever let me wear it. And if I don’t like it at a normal weight (like it’s a postpartum only piece) and it doesn’t look good on me now either -- gone. It’s less confusing getting dressed when you don’t have to ignore stuff that you don’t like.

This whole clothing concept is making me what to do more posts on the subject. So I just might.

But that’s all for right now.

19 Weeks

Ok quick summary of pregnancy this week.

I’m having to get used to feeling a baby kick me this week. Which is kinda awesome. And kinda surprising. I think I’ve come to the conclusion that I am basically in denial that I am pregnant. I feel very, very pregnant. But I think I’m surprised anyway to actually BE pregnant. I guess I just keep assuming I’m undergoing some sort of medical trial of existence. It’s very hard to remember I have a child inside me. So I like getting noticeably kicked by that child as a reminder. But often after a good kick, I tilt my head to the side in questioning confusion before I remember what’s going on.

Then on the other hand, I do that mom thing, where if I haven’t felt a kick in a while (I mean baby’s still small, so I doubt I feel all baby’s moves) I sorta start to worry till I feel another one, which may be a while.

The mental tight rope that is motherhood.

You guys, I’m worried I’m going to be enormous by this summer.

I feel VERY pregnant already. Like death waddle pregnant.

I don’t even bother trying not to waddle like a pregnant penguin (good thing penguins lay eggs! They’d be in trouble otherwise!) I just embrace the full fledged arm on lower back, legs WIDE apart, WADDLE.

I really don’t know what to expect in June -- or (Baby PLEASE pick a June Birthday, PLEASE!) July.

That evening-out-belly-thing I had going last week... I’m kissing that goodbye.

I feel full term already.

"Embrace the huge, Lydia.

Come to the dark side, huge side."

The nausea is not gone. I believe I cried a couple times this week due to the emotional exhaustion of that.

My Birthday was Monday (Yesterday). I tried really hard to think of something I’d like for, or to do on, my birthday with all the endless sickness feeling. I couldn’t come up with any ideas.

Thankfully, Saturday I felt ok. And so Blake let me go out to the stores all morning and I feel I hit the jackpot on my shopping adventures. So I called that my birthday celebrating for this year. Some decent-feeling, grown up alone time, good shopping, works for me!

Let me tell you about my shopping adventure.

Recently, I had to steal some stuff off my family room mantel for other spaces.

Which wasn’t a big deal, since all that stuff was just random anythings I stuck up there.

But now I needed stuff to replace it!

Emily Henderson taught me this stuff about styling a mantel. (Believe me, her ideas are great, and well…pinterest, if you search mantel ideas/decor/etc, you get a TON of tutorials, but most are not your best bet aesthetically speaking.)

Side Note: My pregnancy dreams now involve me hanging out with design bloggers and just talking shop. Like every night. I may be losing it. Or reading too many design blogs. (Wait, no, there are never enough. I’m still on the look out for more favs. Got any?)

So with her tips in mind I headed off to our thrift stores.

I actually had in mind a full family room stylization -- Pillows for couch and anything decorate-y whatsoever. I’m ready for some of my rooms to have the finishing polish put on them.

Since it was “my birthday celebrating day” I’d say it went over fantastically. 

For one thing, I think I got checked out and hit on three times while shopping. I say “think” because I seriously do not understand the male-female-dynamic while pregnant. AND I was waddling unabashedly. So I don’t really know what happened. One guy talked to me for like 15 mins, but I couldn’t tell what his point was, nor could I tell if he was gay or straight. Maybe he just likes chatting it up with everyone.  I don’t know.

But I also got told I was beautiful, by a sorta overzealous grandpa. I don’t know. It wasn’t in a sweet old grandpa way, more like nice guy, who just can’t help being a creepy old man kinda way. And creepily checked out by another guy, who darted away when I made eye contact. I don’t know. lol. I literally have no idea. I was WADDLING like a duck. I mean, maybe the single ladies should take note. WADDLING -- the key to picking up men?

But on a shopping note. I found tons of great stuff. It was a jackpot day.

All sorts of great looking art and mantel decor at the thrifts.

And then some great pillows at TJMaxx one for only $15 and the other $18, which I thought were great prices since the fabric is high quality and the inside is down.

Then at another thrift store I found three nice quality down pillows, so I bought those for $2 a piece. One (from Create and Barrel) will work as is. And two will be great re-covered. I washed them on hot and they are good as new. Who can beat down throw pillows for $2 a pop?

I found a really pretty shower curtain there too, for $3 which I will be using to recover them. I mean I was just scoring left and right. (Happy Birthday to me.)

I’ll have to show you my couches later once I get the pillows recovered. (And I clean the 700 toys off of them and around them.)

But for now I will show you what I have up on my Mantel. It still need a bit of tweaking. But I’m really liking it.

Everything up there, except the ampersand, and the (sorta hard to see) silver tree on top of the books on the right, were from the thrift stores. 

The tree was a gift years ago from my sister in law.

And the ampersand came from Hobby Lobby.

I love Emily Henderson’s ponies in a vase, but I don’t have the time or funds for fresh peonies every however many days. So I tried some fake ones in the blue vase, but they looked LAME, so I’ll be returning them. And I think I’m gonna try and make some fake ones out of either coffee filters or cut of book pages. Because if they are gonna be fake, at least they should look stylized fake.

I’m also trying to decide if the vase and paintings need a paint job or not. And the ampersand needs to have something done to it too. I’ve been pinning lots of ideas here. But I have to make up my mind which way I wanna go. I can’t tell quite how traditional or how “fun/funky” I wanna go with this room yet. I don’t have the full vision. So I’m not sure which way I’m leaning.

After my huge day of shopping, which was mostly nausea free, Sunday I felt the recoil of very awful nausea. That seems to be this pregnancy’s way. If I can escape it for a while, I have to pay it back in full soon after.

Sunday all I did was lay on the couch and feel sorry for myself. The super bowl happened during that.

And you wanna know how awesome my husband is? He let me change the channel to PBS and watch Downton Abby WHILE the super bowl was on. He’s the best ever. I turned the Super Bowl back on ASAP for him when it was over. What a keeper, I tell ya. I love that guy!

And in other room news:

We got the bamboo blinds hung up last night. (I’m counting it as my bday present.)

We used the same blinds and the same exact hanging method as Young House Love once did.

I can’t tell you how pumped I am to have this room painted and blinds up. The room feels so…like it should.

(Well clearly it should be cleaner. But clearly I don’t care enough to clean before I blog.)

(I’m not sure what the girls are doing, but I don’t think it’s the fact that they mind having their photos taken.)

Flash Back for good measure:

 And over the sink. Sorry this photo is pitiful. 

ha.

Like I said, someday I’ll photograph like a “real” blogger.

For now, I’ll waddle my pregnancy photos just like I waddle my pregnancy butt. 

lol.

With Pride, embarrassment and apathy all at once.

Hope you enjoy.