Before owning a house, I couldn’t stand certain looks…gold was one of them. If anyone has been in my house as of late–I can’t get enough. I love mixing metals with different colors, and I have a big beautiful fireplace and accent brick wall that just screams, “PUT GOLD ON ME!” So, I listened, and the result makes me super happy.
The deets:
Make sure to mix up you woods and pick a metal. I’m not brave to mix metals JUST yet, but I’m open to it in the future. I picked an accent color of teal for my den, so I mixed that in with some gold accented picture frames, some dark and painted white woods, and some candles. My inspo came from Juliesheartandhome on Instagram. She runs a blog with her sister, and I wish I had her magical powers.
I divided the mantle into three parts:
I got the C’est la Vie and both of the picture frames from Home Goods. The vase was a wedding present from Lenox, but it’s easy to find an affordable version. The pineapple print is from etsy. It is a print from the TV Show, Psych. I chose to put a candid picture from our wedding in the white and gold frame.
For the middle of the mantle, I chose a white and gold from Home Goods that was about $12.00. The candle and candle holder are also from Home Goods. The anchor book ends are from Target. The anchors are gone, but they have some SUPER cute ones available now. I kept the middle of the mantle lower than the other two sides to keep it a bit interesting.
The last part, I found these pineapples and frame at Home goods. I kept with a pineapple theme from the print on the other side of the mantle. The larger print in the back was found at TJ Maxx. The print in the smaller frame was made by me, and it the first conversation that I had with my husband in college…I made it with an app called Retype. I initially made it as a joke, and I thought it was a fun thing to put into the display.
The entire mantle cost me about $100 in total. When I started off collecting these items, I wanted to do a photo collage on a wall in my living room; however, I started realizing that my mantle needed some love.When you are designing your mantle, remember that it should have personal touches. If you love pineapples or chevrons, add 3 pieces that feature that in the space you are decorating.
Moral of the story? As my grandmother once said, “Don’t force design. Wait for your house to speak to you.” …but your house isn’t going to actually speak…you’ll just realize what you really want after a while.
My advice? STALK home decor stores and websites. Go to the clearance aisle and really look. If you see something…BUY IT. You will be driven MAD if you walk away from it, but you can always return if you decide it isn’t for you. I’m still looking for flying pig candle holders that I walked away from a couple weeks ago.
KK, love you..mean it.
katemcgate.com 