A few years ago (Ok, FOUR years ago) I bought an old fire place mantle at an Antique store with the intentions of making it into an entertainment center/bookcase. For a good year it sat, leaning against the wall underneath the TV serving little purpose but to awkwardly hold a picture frame. See following photo: (You can kind of see it in the background behind me in a "Happy New Year" Tiara and Erica holding a deck of Spam cards.)
About a year and a half later Josh finally made it into a bookcase. Hallelujah! Only it wasn't painted and it had no back. It sat this way for another good year and a half and although it was able to fulfill it's duty, it wasn't pretty. I blame part of it on the piece itself because it is SO heavy and hard to move...OK, FINE..It was all my fault.
A few weeks ago we had finally had enough. Josh drug the piece outside and began scraping the five plus layers of paint on the mantle piece, sanded it down, and prepped it for me to finish. I painted it a color by Ralph Lauren called Writers Parchment, a soft bone color that isn't too white, but just right.
The particle board that covers the back is lined with a lovely wrapping paper I found at Patina, and now it hides everything you don't want to see...Finally!
It was teamwork at it's finest and now it's done! Despite the little incident with the sabre saw...
Take a look!
I love the texture of the baskets with the books.
The paper up close and personal.
The top is reserved for my favorite photos...
...And flowers from my garden.
In other news, look at the beautiful fall colors outside my front door...
And one last shot of my house before the snow begins to fly and the flowers in my window boxes are replaced with spruce tips. Goodbye summer. *sniff* (Notice Lola gazing out of the far left window...She's wearing her sassy pink sweat shirt.)
I love seeing your house, Jenni! What a treat~ I checked out several of your posts ths morning, and want to see and read more. Keep at it!
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