Our Before & After Fireplace

As mentioned in my previous post, we recently gave our fire place a face lift, with a mirror to open up the  whole room and candles that look really pretty lit in the evening. Sorry about the terrible photos but hope it gives an idea of what anyone can do to make an empty fireplace  look a little bit better.

Funky Fireplaces

What do you do when you have a fire place that can't be used and you don't want it to look like a big whole in the wall? Fill it with logs, finish it with white paint, stack it full of books, tile it or put interesting things in it (like antlers), and of course add some candles to light.

Last week we had a fire place that had no surround, was bare sandstone and brick and was black and dirty with soot. Ideally we would get the inside plastered and a beautiful fireplace reinstalled but as we have no money for such luxuries, instead I painted the bare bricks inside white as well as the sandstone around, put a big mirror at the back and a plant and candles in front. It didn't take long and has made such a difference to the room. I'll get photos up in the next few days.

Photos: Curbly, Design Sponge, Red Online, The Decorista, Red Online

Yellow in the Window

I thought these yellow roses in our bathroom window looked so pretty I had to take a photo to show. 

Just in case you were wondering: Those little ceramic pots are really old and unique medicine and food containers for things like tooth paste, potted meats  and anchovy paste that my dad actually rescued from the river in town and now they sit proudly on the sill.

4 Spaces I'm Lusting After Today

I think these inspirational rooms speak for themselves so I won't explain why I love these so much, just enjoy!

1. Flickr 2. Design To Inspire 3. One Claire Day 4. Pinterest

Put it in a Frame

Back from holiday and itching to get back to the house to start working on those not-quite-there bits that have been annoying me (most notably our lack of a kitchen floor, which after a visit from the builder yesterday will hopefully be in very soon). Another area that I want to focus on this month is our huge bare wall in the dining room, which currently only has a blue-tacked-on New York City map. So to inspire and help me I have searched out some interesting ways to arrange frames.....

1. Grid and order a collection of frames, changing the colours and sizes of the frames. Design Sponge

2. To jazz up shelves or for if you're renting and can't knock in nails where ever you want, stack frames instead, adding in trinkets and odd items to personalise. SF Girl by Bay

3. Don't be afraid to hang photos frames all the way down to the floor. Note: lusting after the zig-zag wallpaper! Apartment Therapy

4. Scrap the photographs. Replace with colourful, weird and whacky illustrations, drawings, posters and paintings. Red

5. Mix in mirrors with photo frames like these circular ones to add shape and break the angles. Kate Spade NY

6. Or keep in simple with standard black frames (best place for these is Ikea where they are cheap as chips) using minimal colour in the photos to make a modern statement. The Design Files

7. Different sizes, all with a thin black frame brings everything together and focuses the eye on whats in the frame rather than the frame itself. Plush Palate

8. Tightly pack together a variety of different coloured, textured and sized frames in a diamond-turing-oval shape for an amazing, statement wall. Pinterest

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Here is the offending wall, only perked up with my new circus lights from 'Lights4Fun' that I have hung very roughly for now but will eventually arrange around all the frames I'm going to put up.