I'm a naturally curious person constantly looking for answers. Just today for example, I wondered how long I'd been walking around in public with a chicken feather hanging off my ass. A big feather. Long. Probably a tail feather in fact.
Sometimes I have to relent that some of these life questions have to go unanswered.
But others do not. What to do with my fireplace in the summer is one of those questions I have figured out the answer to.
Painted logs.
This was an fireplace idea I implemented a few years ago. The inspiration came from Pinterest. My niece (the one who made herself sick doing Bikram Yoga and had to go home and drink all of her kids Pedialyte.) had recently become addicted to Pinterest and was constantly sending me things.
This fireplace idea was inspired by a Pin she sent me that showed a stack of logs beside a fireplace with the ends painted. Thank you Pinterest. (sorry can't attribute to where it came from ... it was one of those stupid pins that doesn't seem to lead anywhere)
When I originally published this post a few years ago Elle Decor used this image.
I took the idea one step further and displayed the painter's palette that I used to mix my colours on. It's on a picture stand on the mantle.
If you'd like to get even more creative, you can print images on wood like I show you in this tutorial on printing on wood.
I just grabbed some old water based folk art paints I had in the basement and a cruddy Dollar Store brush.
I sat my feather covered ass down and got to work. An hour later it was done. Where did the hour go? Well ... 5 minutes can be attributed to mixing and painting the logs. The other 55 minutes involved staring at the wood deciding which pieces to paint which colour.
Looking back on this makes me sad for one MAJOR reason. A couple of years after this I finally succumbed to putting my television over my mantle because that was the most logical place for it. It's ugly. I hate it. But I also hate twisting my head in a circle in order to see the television. In the end practicality won over aesthetics.
It wood looked great, took no time at all and cost nothing. Where's that ass feather now you ask? Right in my cap.
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Hey! Loved your post on self leveling cement and then just kind of stayed on here reading! We used a projector to project the TV above the fireplace. It means if it's off you have no unsightly TV and if it's on you have a cinema experience!
I've considered a projector but this room is a bit small for one (the ceilings are only 7'3" high!). ~ karen!
Love the logs. You mentioned you gave up and put your TV above your fire place. I have been considering this as a remedy for this situation in my new house and thought I would pass this info along to you. It is the best of having beautiful paintings and your television in the same place. http://www.HVTVmounts.com.
If you want to make your TV less stand outie (it's my word and I'm sticking to it), try mixing it in with pictures on a gallery wall. I saw this somewhere, not pinterest. I gave pinterest up for art school because there isn't time for both.
Yes, that works great! It just wouldn't work in my room. Here's a post I did on really good ways to integrate a flat screen into a room. None of which work for me, lol. https://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/8-great-ways-to-incorporate-a-flat-screen-television-into-a-room/ ~ karen!
Sorry Karen, mostly I enjoy your ideas, at the very least they make me laugh. But this one....nope. Bare naked wood is more my thing.