A few weeks back, I stumbled onto a blog called Nibs…
It’s written by a gal named Martha and when I saw the mantel decorating series she’d been blogging about, I just had to write and ask her if I could feature her photos here on TLC!
In a nutshell, she thought it would be fun to challenge herself to do a collection of posts on mantel decorating ideas and the fireplace she used for the series is part of an 1800′s addition to a colonial era house. It was boarded up when the house was converted to coal (as indicated by the floor grate in the photo below) and later to baseboard heating. All the original millwork has been preserved and the fireplace & woodwork are painted bright white with walls in a contrasting apple green. Here’s a black and white photo of the area before she began her series…
And here are the twelve vignettes she had fun creating over the past four months…
#12 – Christmas In The Pine Tree Slate
How neat! I just love seeing folks have fun with their houses!
“Be A Kid”, “Desk Set” and “Sailing Away” are my three favs. Which one(s) are you most drawn to?
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inside/outside, coming up roses & desk set are my favorites — what a great idea!
Holy smokes, this lady is talented! Coming Up Roses and Desk Set are definitely my fav.
Desk set…LOVE! Dedicated to Chip is cool, too. 🙂
they are all great and so creative…be a kid and eat, drink and be merry are my fav’s. 🙂
Wow!
Martha could style for Pottery Barn!
I thoroughly enjoyed this delightful post and her delightful vignettes!
Coming Up Roses, Eat Drink and Be Merry, and Inside/Outside are my faves.
You know this post is gonna get some serious Pinterating, doncha?
Thank you, Layla for introducing us to Nibs!
HUGS and blessings to you!
~me
Wow – she’s good! I absolutely love sailing away and be a kid. I about to redo my 9 year old sons room with a beachy/sailboat theme. Her sailing away mantel gets me inspired. Thanks for sharing, Layla!
I love that! My favorite is sailing away.
I love these. I could look at them all day. Roses and Desk Set are my favorites. Desk Set makes me crave an old typewriter. Remember the way they smell? I guess it’s the ribbon. Very inspiring.
Wow, they’re all absolutely gorgeous, but Sailing Away is my favourite. I LOVE the idea of using a boarded up fireplace like a headboard for a single bed. Genius!
I love the topsy-turvy picture that makes the Desk Set so believable; also Dedicated to Chip, Dedicated to Mom, and Coming up Roses…fun!
Wow! Genius! I love them all but I’m especially drawn to Dedicated to Mom. It has a vintage look about it, as well, but all the old jars and cooking utensils are sucking me in too since those are two of my favorite things!
Eat, drink and be merry is my fav but I am partial to red!
I’d really like to meet the guy who lives in ‘Dedicated to Chip’ – looks like he’s a fun time.
LOL! Me too! 😀
That must have taken an incredible amount of work.
What a lovely idea!! My favorites are Desk Set, Eat Drink & Be Merry, and Dedicated to Mom. LOVE!
Hi Layla-
What talent! What a stockpile of decorating items to use to create all the looks. I think I like “Be A Kid” the best, but they all are amazing. Is she a photo stylist? If not – she should be. Clever blog name, too.
My best- Diane
Wowzers Uncle Gadget! That is impressive! I really like “Sailing Away”. Between that and your beachy posts, I feel like taking a road trip to find some ocean!
Love them! Eat, drink and be Merry is my favorite. I went over to her site and was dismayed that she is taking the summer off! She is so creative-I will tag her as a avorite and look over her older posts.
Love them all! How creative…now off to tackle my summer mantle!
Inside/Outside is my favorite. So many great items she has to decorate with!
Wow!!! Those are all fabulous!! She is one talented lady!!
Michelle
My favs are Dedicated To Mom and Eat, Drink, and Be Merry. What a talent she has! Thanks for letting us see the pics.
wow! She is an amazing stylist and photographer!
I like Desk Set, Dedicated to Chip, and Dedicated to Mom. Also, In the Pink, mostly because I love lanterns and vases of twigs with buds. How creative Miss Martha is!
Thank you, Layla and ‘Lettered Cottage’ readers for such a nice response to my posts on fireplace mantel ideas. 🙂
These are incredible. Dest Set and Eat, Drink, and Be Merry are my favorites.
I like Desk Set and Eat, Drink and Be Merry best. Such a great set of totally diverse ideas for a single space. She did an amazing job of breaking out of the typical fireplace-as-living room-centerpiece rut.
Coming up Roses and Desk Set are amazing. My husband and I are both civil engineers and I do alot of GIS/mapping work and Desk Set is just what I envision our future office to look like. I love it. These are fantastic and so much fun.
Wow….those are incredible. I think the Eat Drink And Be Merry one is my favorite. Lucky for me, I have a similar sign 🙂 Yay, I’m very inspired! Thanks for sharing this.
So hard to choose! I like the first five, especially coming up roses and be a kid. Number 11 inside/outside is great too.
Boy, has she inspired me. Thank you for getting these pictures for us. Wow! She is so talented and
thank goodness for talented people that share. Since I am working on my summer mantels I loved
seeing her beach vignette.
These are amazing! Who could pick a favorite! I agree with your choices, Layla, plus I really like Inside Out and Eat, Drink and Merry!! And love how she did the Christmas Portrait theme with the picture in the fireplace box and the bust on the mantle!! I’m so “original”, I probably would have had them the other way around!! Love how she changed around “the usual” way!!!
Ooo! I love the idea of using it as a headboard!
WOW! Awesome. Thanks so much for finding this and sharing it. I love the school room and teacher themes. So fun!
Those are awesome pictures!! My faves are “Christmas in the Pine Tree Slate”, “Inside Outside”, “Dedicated To Mom”, and “Eat Drink & Be Merry”
There all so fantastic it would be hard to choose just one look!!! Amazing!!!
A person after my heart! I love changing and mixing things up! It’s the old retail dog in me! This post is a treat!
Thanks for sharing, Layla!
~Lynne
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They are all my favorite. What a neat idea 🙂
WOW, I wish I could be this creative with my mantel. She is so creative and talented! I got the creative bug for crafting but when it come to decorating my mantel or house I have mental block…lol
I LOVE #2 – Be a kid and #6 – Sailing Away, ingenious!
I feel so mantle lazy! These are too cute!
I like “Inside/Outside” and “Desk Set”! This girl could work in magazines or the movies as a set designer! Thanks for the inspiration Layla!
Holy cow! Those are amazing. Thanks for sharing.
The first one is the most “me,” but I am really drawn to the one with the backwards books, too. They are all so creative!
Stacy
Coming Up Roses, Dedicated to Chip (which would be perfect for my son), and Sailing Away.
Wow…I just love them!! I especially love ” Be a kid”, “Desk Set”, and ” Inside/Outside”!! Thanks for sharing!!
Sailing Away and Eat, Drink & Be Merry.
oh, those are all adorable!!! What a great stylist she is!!!!
Suzanne
Oh my gosh, that is so much fun! The Be a Kid and Inside/Outside are my favorites-love that wallpaper she used! Very striking!
Love them all but Sailing Away is my favorite. I have a thing for nautical decor 🙂
Question for you Kev and Layla, when you have an off-centered fireplace in the room, where do you position the ceiling light? Do you center on the room or the fireplace? The reason I ask is that we are building and currenlty the plans call for it to be centered on the room, but I am thinking I may change it. I would like to get a designers take on this. Thank you for any input.
Sandra