Mantle and Built Ins

Today at Kelly's Korner, we are showing off our fireplace mantles! Which, mine is kinda boring because that is where we have our TV. So I thought I would also show my built-ins that we have on either side of the fireplace, along with what our mantle looks like at Christmas!

Here is our fireplace as it looks today- like 10 minutes ago! You can see the toy basket that I tried to shove out of the picture! HAHA!

Here is the best picture I have of the fireplace area before we moved in. We replaced the carpet, and replaced the tile around the fire place, as well as added tile in front of the back doors.

This is to the right of the fireplace. I got the horse, picture frame, and letters (C&R) at HobLob. The platter I bought from a Willow House party, and the plaque in front of it and the candle were gifts.

To the far right of the fireplace. Mostly pictures, with a few candles thrown in. The basket on the bottom shelf holds random things that don't otherwise have a home. Honestly, I couldn't tell you what is in there right now. The original idea was to keep our remotes in there, but that never happened.

To the left of the fireplace. The top photos used to hang in Ava's nursery at our old house- they are maternity photos. The candle holder in front of them is also from a Willow House party. The star and picture frame on the bottom are from HobLob, and the candles and candle sticks are Walmart!

More random stuff to the far left. From the top: Bowl from my Coy Fish Bowl that got broken in the move (sad). It has rocks and a candle in it, and always has as I can't keep a real fish alive! Next, there is a collage canvas from Ava's newborn photo shoot, then there is a vase with some dried flowery stuff in it, both Walmart. And Cole's trophy- his team won the survival games at the Angel One in service. Then there are my Willow Tree figures and a little scripture thing from HobLob. Then a photo of Cole getting "hosed" on his final day of training for ACH, and then at the bottom there is one of my favorite photos of Ava and a little chrome owl (can't remember where he came from- target or HobLob maybe?) that Ava LOVES to play with!

It looks SO much better now without the green granite surround. Changing the tile totally updated the whole room!

This is where we keep all of our electronics that control the TV and home stereo system. These doors pretty much stay open.

To the left, there is a place for an old school TV, but we keep our toy basket in there (I have now paired it down for a smaller one!)

Up close view of the tile. It is from Lowes, in stock. We laid it on the vertical. My dad and Cole thought I was crazy, but both agreed that the results are impressive! They just didn't see my vision! We used the same tile to accent the back splash in the kitchen.

I am pretty pleased with it. It changes often, and I have a feeling it will be an ever evolving process!

And here is what it looks like at Christmas! I can't wait to hang the new baby's stocking up there this year!

I had to throw this picture in because, after all, in Arkansas, the fireplace is pretty much just for Santa! HA!

Hope y'all enjoyed our fireplace and built in tour! See you next week!!!