As I sit here enjoying my "new" living room, I'm reminded of the old Girl Scout's song, "make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold." Good words to live by with the start of a new year. There is always something good to hold onto from the past but there is always room for something, or someone, new in your life.
Our Christmas vacation was extended by a couple days due to the extreme cold here in the south and even a few snow flakes!! I have to say, I really enjoyed the extra days as I wasn't quite ready to send the boys back to school - and I certainly wasn't ready to start getting up at 6a again. I think with being sick the entire vacation I really enjoyed the sleeping in part.
We wrapped up the break with a few fun things. Here Wyatt helped me make pancakes for everyone.
My newest chef in the kitchen.
We then took the boys to see Frozen at the movies. Holly cow! There is a reason I enjoy our theater in the basement so much - it cost us, a family of 5, over $50 to enjoy the matinee! I'm really looking forward to investing some money into our basement remodel this year to make it even more fabulous.
So, back to my old & new....once we got the Christmas decorations down and the tree out I really wanted to start fresh with a new look - without investing money into anything (well, besides a few decor pieces here and there). So I took an evening and rearranged the furniture. Jason isn't too keen on it (yet) but I love how open it makes the room feel yet much more cozy. Is that possible?
I just tweaked a few pieces here and there and put the furniture at more angles but it really changed up the room a lot.
This has become one of my favorite places for the boys - our art station! These are pieces I got while I worked for Southern Living at Home/Willow House. I won that table and never had any idea what to do with it until I got the idea to use it to hold art supplies. Then I took a caddy with glass holders to put all the crayons in. I love that it keeps it somewhat clean and portable. Plus the boys LOVE it.
The basket I have used for various things. First it held toys when we had an abundance of them downstairs. Then I de-cluttered a lot and used it to hold all the various magazines I get in the mail, with every intention of reading. But they would get put in the basket and then forgotten about. So I cleaned them out and filled it up with all the coloring books we have collected over the past few months. Now everything is accessible for the boys in one place without it spilling over onto the table and floor.
I needed some time to get inspiration for my New Year mantel and bookshelves (I always like to mix things up after I've taken down a holiday or seasonal look). So I enjoyed our mini "snow" vacation to play with the boys and pour over mantel ideas on Pinterest.
Boy was it cold here in Georgia! I think our high was in the low 20s and our lows were in the single digits BEFORE they factored in the wind chill. Monday morning we even got some snow flurries so the boys went out to try and catch them. Ethan was the smart one and stayed inside by the fireplace!
But those few days gave me time to mull things over in my head and this is what I've come up with (although I do have a couple decor items coming in the mail in the next couple of weeks!)....
A lot more simple than I've ever been in my formal living room. Normally I cover the entire mantel from one side to the other. But I love the look of just a few pieces and the overlapping and the differing heights.
This is to the left of the mantel and I've kept a few winter type items out. I keep that lamp and plate stand in that spot to hide the mess of internet wires that are back there. I can't for the life of me find any other way to hide it. It's a bit cluttered but I like it - for now.
This is to the right of the mantel and I haven't added much to this yet (although I have my eye on a few pieces). I moved the INSPIRE sign off the first shelf onto the mantel and I like that so much better. I also took one of the glass candlesticks and added it to the top shelf. I need to remove the wheat stalks from the red vase but need to get a ladder in the room to do it. I also have a globe coming to go on the bottom shelf and have such a great idea for it that I got off of Pinterest (seriously, the BEST website) and am posting about it tomorrow on my At Home with Ellen Cornwell Facebook page (are you following me there?). I'm so excited about it I can't wait to share!!
This is our family room/keep room mantel that I've made a few small changes to. We had an accident over Christmas and I lost the matching red candle holder to the green one so I moved the other glass candlestick from the other mantel to take it's place. I have two candleholders coming in the mail that I will incorporate into both this room and the formal living room. This one is pretty simple since we have to be able to access the TV. And truthfully, it can get very overwhelming to have LOTS of STUFF in every space!
Silly Wyatt will take anything he finds and turn it into a toy somehow! I love this little guy!
I can't figure out how to turn this photo so you can see it better but this burlap family tree will go in the frame I have in the formal living room on the mantel.
And finally we have the formal dining room. I have lots of glass hurricane's and normally I have them on shelves or filled with food but I got a great idea from my friend/neighbor/fellow decorator to use it as my centerpiece. In the middle is a beautiful arrangement that another friend/neighbor made for us for Christmas. I love it and will keep it there until the needles all fall off!! Then it will be replaced by another different glass hurricane. These all need fillers, of course, but I do everything in steps so I can get it just right. I have to think about just what I want - and then find it.
I hope you've all had a good start to your new year and that it keeps getting better and better. We had a very up and down year in 2013 so I'm hoping for lots of ups for 2014.
Cheers to the new year!!
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