tour our nest [Living Room] part.2

Welcome back to the second part of our living room tour.  In case you missed the first half of today's post, you can catch up here.  So yes, this was the ugly red brick fireplace that I primed and painted when we moved in.  Benjamin Moore's "Cloud White" CC - 40 for the trim.  With the darker olive.brown inside painted "Mortar" CC - 574.  Filling the fireplace is always a decorator's playground...  I was first tempted to put cut birch logs, or a cluster of big ivory candles (but Ben vetoed those ideas as 'cheesy').  We settled for a stack of books.  A mirror tucked in the back reflects the room well.  "Roger" the bookish gnome hangs out here too.

Decorating a mantle is another fun challenge.   A vintage storm window with a mirror behind is the large centre focal point.  I like to cluster similar meaningful objects together along the rest of the mantle... framed photos (parent at our wedding/driftwood from Cape Breton honeymoon)... a stack of old books bound with ribbon, with sweetheart white owls perched on top.

To the right of our fireplace we have the dining area.  Having a table the extends for guests is a great feature.  The mismatch of chairs and benches keeps things flexible too.  This gifted bench is a vintage church pew, with flip up seats and all.  Behind here is the massive picture window to maintain our 'neighbourhood watch' status. ;o)

Finally, to the left of our fireplace is the 'catch-all' nook for the trappings of daily life.  I think the key to organizing any home is to look for where the 'junk' piles up (keys, mail, paperwork, odds and ends)... and create some storage spaces for it all.  It's not always pretty, but most of these baskets hold back the accumulation of life's litter.  To the left of this shelf unit is our kitchen.. which will be next weeks tour (if you're lucky I'll even do the dishes!).


Thanks for touring through our nest so far, if you did miss the upstairs edition - you can catch up here as well.


A final word of anticipation:  tomorrow's Small Style post is going to be the BEST post on this blog to date.... I am really excited to share with you.. so stay tuned!!


Mel :o)