Changes

So this July will be our 7th year in our house. I believe this has been the longest I have lived in the same place. Well lately I have been having that itch for change. I have talked to my hubby about selling and building again, because I loved the process the last time. In his kind and gentle ways he reminds me that it is not the best time to make a change like that. So unless the Lord decides to move us I am trying to come to terms with staying put. But just because I can't build a new house doesn't mean I can't change things about this one. Over the last couple of days I have been working on making some changes, some that I have been wanting to do for years and others that have just come about. I still have a couple of things left to finish but here is what I have done so far.

My dining room walls have always been a dark red. I have loved this from the moment it went up but lately I have been wanting to give it more depth. So I took an antique glaze and went over my walls with it. It came out exactly how I pictured it.

Above my Grandma's piano there used to be a clock. Well I moved that clock into my kitchen to make room for my picture that used to hang over my niche near the front door. (I had to move that picture to make room for the ducks that my hubby is having stuffed.) So now my dining room has a huge map of the world, my antique map of Italy and the picture of my favorite vineyard in Napa.

Ever since we moved in our fireplace has been a nightmare. I love it because it is how we heat our house all winter long but esthetically it is ugly. About a year after we moved in my hubby had a friend make us our mantel. It was suppose to be two very large pieces of distressed wood. Well what I got was this...

Two very ugly, not distressed pieces of wood. We have talked about taking down the side row of slate to redo the mantel so it fades into the wall but as you can see it is still not done. Our other dilemma with this space is what to put above it. Because of all the ash that flys about during the winter I can't put anything on it that will attract and hold said ash. So last week I dragged my Aunt all around Reno to find something, anything that would end this misery of a wall. Well needless to say that after 6 hours of looking we were no closer to fixing this eye sore. Then on Saturday my family and I went out to lunch with my in-laws and on the way home we saw this sign that said "Sale". So we stopped in and there on the wall was something that both my hubby and I agreed would work well above the fireplace. So after some haggling we got these two pictures for about half of what I was looking to spend on this area. YEAH!!

Now all that's left is to fix my mantel. I found a picture of what I want on the web and hubby said he knows someone who can do it for us. So on Monday he will call and see, if after 6 years, my mantel will turn into what we originally wanted it to be. Very distressed and stained dark to match the darkest part of our wood floors. I am so excited I don't even want to move anymore!!

I will post an updated picture when its all done.