Sunday, January 6, 2013

books in the fireplace

Overall home decor, post-Christmas, is a bit sad. After taking down the tree and all the other holiday decorations, it feels nice to have a cleaned-up house, but it also feels a bit bare.

Growing up in Alaska, after Christmas, the winter nights remained long and dark. For January through March, my mom would string pink lights in our large houseplants. It was such a cheery glow to keep us going. As a kid, I liked the lights but as an adult I appreciate the extra efforts my Mom made to keep such large houseplants going and the detail of adding lights to them. She really worked hard to have a happy space for us.

Now that I live further south, the winter nights are not so long, but I still feel that momentum in January to change things up a bit. I have left two strings of colored lights up in our bedroom and re-arranged books in other spots of the house. Our fireplace has needed some sprucing up. So, I am jumping on the "books in the fireplace" bandwagon.


Because my fireplace is a middle pillar separating the kitchen, dining and living rooms of my house, to keep space feeling as open as possible, I avoid putting a large mantel or painting on it. I am sure I will change my mind on that eventually (probably next January- ha!) but for now, I like keeping it small scale with the simple branch jutting out.


(A while ago, I wrote about the oversized chalkboard I created on the other side of this central pillar. Please feel free to check it out here.)

I did not buy any new items but pulled together existing pieces. Some of the details:


The center arrangement is a metal try made by my Grandfather. The glass vases (Ikea) are filled with driftwood from a beach back home and dried devils club stalks.


The small marble sculpture is by Skandar Reid, an artist working in Bishop, CA. It was the grand prize for a raffle at a showing of the Banff Film Festival and I actually won (!).


The large glass cloche was purchased on clearance at Home Goods a couple years ago.  



The center branch has small paper cranes, a crochet yarn garland and two small vintage wooden bird ornaments (my husband calls them the love birds.)

On the whole, I like the mix of neutral elements (white, birch, marble) and the pop of the bright books.

Did you make decor changes for the start of the new year?

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