mineral mantel
This weekend I was possessed by some strange nesting demon and had to work on home projects. I’ve been slowly redecorating our living room all year, without a ton of progress. Though I did paint the room a very satisfying light blue green, I haven’t sorted out any of the details. It’s August and I still had our winter terrariums up.
After visiting the mineral hall at the Natural History Museum, I was really inspired to incorporate some more natural things into our decor. I envisioned a combination of minerals and geodes in some geometric display in combination with some plants. I found tons of items that would fit this bill, but didn’t exactly fit my wallet. Plus with all the movie watching we do, our living room is often left dark; not exactly the best atmosphere for growing things.
Instead of ordering a bunch of perfect pretty things online, I searched around the house for some rocks and other bits we already had laying around. Surprisingly we have a lot of rocks and weird little things hiding away in closets. It was enough to get me started and see where I want to go. I like the contrast of heavy rocks with some antique glass canisters. I’ll still have to come up with an alternate for plants and I’d like to add some height on the sides. I’m also happy that it showcases our Mondo ET poster.
The room as a whole has quite a bit more work to go. Here is my long term list:
- Add a few select pieces to the mantel
- Make covers for the arms of our couch – The cats have gotten a little too comfortable scratching the couch corners. Some covers will hide the damage they’ve already done and stop them from making it worse.
- Reupholster my chair – The slipcover I made has been a good temporary solution, but it’s not a permanent one.
- New lighting fixtures – I’m not particularly fond of the sconces we have now, but of course, every sconce I’ve liked has been drastically out of our price range. This antler sconce is my favorite. I also have been looking at art deco sconces, but with four in the room, it’s unlikely that I’d find a full set that would work.
- Repair chipped paint on floor moldings / touch up window paint
I should probably make one of these lists for every room.
LOVE the mantel! It’s always awesome finding things around the house and repurposing them.
I found the piece of petrified wood (right of the Bolex) in a river when I was 7 years old.
Snake plants do really well in low light and have that vertical height you’re looking for… plus they look really cool. I think you’d get more than enough light in your spot for those to do well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sansevieria_trifasciata
I looked at those but they’re highly toxic for cats which makes me nervous. 🙁
Yikes, I had no idea about that. I’ve had them in my various homes around cats for years with no problems. But, the plants have always been placed up higher than cat level so I guess I’ve been lucky. Now I will know to be more careful.