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Over the Mantel

Are you curious about what is going on the wall above the mantel in my foyer project?

 Maybe you thought I didn't have anything in mind for this spot.  Well, I did.


I have had this mirror in my garage for several years knowing I would eventually find the right spot for it. 

It is creamy white and slightly distressed.  I left it that way until I knew where it was going to hang.  Then I painted it OC-23 Classic Gray.





At first I thought I would stencil the frame in a crocodile or snakeskin pattern .  After several emails back and forth with Rachel at The Stencil Library, we came to the conclusion that maneuvering a stencil on this surface would not produce the desired results.  So on to Plan B.



 
I had used fish net as a window treatment in the foyer and since I was planning to change that for the "new" look.....

 I tossed it into the washing machine and hung it out to dry.

Okay, it wasn't quite that easy.  Before I adhered the netting,  I glazed the inner rim with clear glaze tinted Earth Brown.  I sealed that before I started gluing the fishnet onto the outer frame.


My plan failed.  Parts of the inner border looked like this when I finished, and,


other parts ended up like this.  Nothing to do but sand it lightly and repaint from the base color to the finish color.


Then I added a rope trim to tidy up the groove.  Getting all the little loose ends into the groove was tricky and not perfectly uniform.  The border added another texture and also covered those cut ends.


This morning my brother stopped by and hung it on the wall.  It's a big day and a happy one.  It's always a good day when the vision in the head manifests successfully.


Note here that the wall behind the bookcases is now painted...and, yes, it is painted all one color. It looks like several different shades and it's all because of light and shadows.


All that time I spent stewing over just the right color for this wall was somewhat unnecessary.  It has a varied life of it's own.


One more element in place and I can move on.  There is still much more to do.  I can see this project taking me well into the summer.  However, it is the more dramatic part of the process as the finishing touches have a bigger impact.  Watch for a post on light fixtures soon.
PS: I neglected to give credit in my post about the antlers in the firebox. That idea came from my brother, Dan. 



I am linking to :  Savvy Southern Style
 

Comments

  1. It's coming together. You amaze me with how you come up with all of these ideas!

    ReplyDelete

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