Living Room - After

They say a picture is worth a thousand words...

This is a part of the painting that is on the mantle. I have always told Eric that someday I'd like to go on a one horse open sleigh ride, but those are far and few to be had in Southern California. When we were back east on our vacation the tour bus stopped off in Lancaster and we got to go to some privately owned Amish run shops and what should we find in one but this painting. So he bought it for me and we shipped it home, and there it hangs. I know that if it's at all possible sometime in my life Eric will take me on a sleigh ride because he promised me and he always keeps his promises.

The fireplace is a little dirty right now because it's winter and we are burning fires almost day and night so the ashes kind of get all over the place. It's a far cry from how it used to look. Before we painted it we tried scrubbing the bricks down to see if that would help get the black soot off of them but it didn' t work; painting seemed to be our only other option that didn't cost us a fortune. So, we found a pretty chocolate color in Linda's left over paint supply that was going to the dump and we painted the fireplace. We purchased a simple mantle and hung it right above the vents of the broken heatolater so they weren't as noticeable. And we finally got the fire back into the fireplace!

This wall is directly opposite from the wall with the recliners. The TV is in the armoire, which matches our bedroom furniture, you see at one point we lived only in this room, and the bedroom served as a storage/music/craft room. When we turned it back into a bedroom we didn't have room for the armoire so it stayed out here. The bookshelves and the armoire cover up one of the windows, but the view out of it is lousy anyway.

We both are avid readers and love movies and books so our bookshelves are crammed tight with those things. There is one on either side of the piano, which is below that big picture. I got a great deal on it at a close-out store in Big Bear. It is a picture of a moose (I like moose) eating in a meadow, the frame is intricately carved and it is triple matted. Eventually I'd like to put up some more crown molding and paint it the same color as the rest and then put more border up around the whole room, but that's another project for a rainy day.