Our awesome fireplace

After enduring several Texas winters, I decided a fireplace was a must-have when we started shopping for houses. Now, the winters in Texas are not that bad. We're talking maybe in the teens or 20s at night or in the mornings. But it has snowed almost every year I have been here. And hello, I'm from Southern California. Our winters meant wearing closed toed shoes and a sweatshirt. So yeah, I'm a wimp who needs a fireplace.

In addition to giving off heat, fires create ambiance, cool sounds, and make the room so cozy. All things I love. So when I saw the fireplace in our house, I was stoked. (yup, I still say it!) Big, white, chunky mantle with beautiful tile surrounding the fireplace that matches the backsplash in the kitchen. Swoon. It was my dream. So much fun can be done there!!!

All of the things I used to decorate the mantle I already owned! The big window was given to us from my husband's step-brother, who was our neighbor in Waco. He and his now fiancée (yay!!) redid their ENTIRE HOUSE. I'm talking GUTTED EVERYTHING. It's beautiful now. They replaced all the windows and offered them to us. I happily took 2!

For a while, in our previous rental house and apartment, I used double sided tape to display pictures of us. But now that it is so high, I wanted to leave the windows bare, for simplicity and so you don't have to get a step-stool to look at the photos. Actually, a couple of the panes are missing, because my first attempt to use the window for decor involved nails... Bad idea.

The grey topiary cage on the left is a sale find of my husband's from a high-end antique store in Waco.

The silver trophy vase on the right was a garage sale find. The woman I bought it from was well along in age, and said it had belonged to her grandmother! I don't know about that, because she let it go to me for a couple of bucks. But, I love it all the same!

The blue birds were on sale at Hobby Lobby, and the wreath in the middle I made from old hymnal pages that were coffee stained. I will do a blog of the tutorial about that another time! :)

I like the symmetry of the decor, but it's not matchy, you know? The silver/grey pieces on the ends are about the same size and height, both have a vintage look, but are very different. And I love the pop of color the birds give. I love birds! Overall, the mantle decor is very balanced with neutral colors in the end pieces and the wreath, the clean lines (but vintage chippy finish) of the window, and the beautiful color of the birds.

The white candle holders were a garage sale find and were originally brass. I gave them a couple of coats of white spray paint to freshen them up.

I LOVE my mantle decor right now. There is even a light that shines on it! While I am excited to decorate for the holidays, I might miss the current decor!