Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Paradise Lost and Home Improvement

Wow, I have had a busy couple weeks but it's been great!  I've been stitching some but have turned my attention to a couple house projects lately that I've wanted to do.  So first, here's a quick progress pic on my Paradise Lost. 


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I finished up the cloud and then moved on to the banner.  I'm now going to work my way down the right side saving the middle for last (I can't wait to do all those fun animals)! 


I have a friend who is a contractor and he does awesome finishing work!  I hired him to come put up some crown moulding in my dining room (remember that sampler wall?) and to re-do my fireplace wall. 


Here's a photo of the fireplace wall before: 


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It had kind of always bugged me that my builder used bathroom tile around the fireplace and the paint on that mantel was so thick it was always sticky.  I think this looks OK but I had dreams of doing something much nicer!  So, I bought a new mantle and a bunch of stone.  My friend prepped the wall the weekend that he was doing the crown moulding so for a week my living room had just cement board on the wall and every time I looked at it I'd get so excited about what was to come.  So, after a full day of adding stone and the new mantel here is what my fireplace wall now looks like:


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Doesn't it look so much better??  Now I just need to get some paint on those walls! 


By the way, that picture above the fireplace works in that spot but I have Anniversaries of the Heart all kitted up and ready to start and would really love to have it hanging there.  With the stone I'm not sure if it "goes" anymore but I'm going to stitch it regardless and if it doesn't work there I'm sure I'll find a good spot for it around here somewhere! 



12 comments:

  1. The new fireplace wall looks fabulous!
    Nice progress on PL too.

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  2. Nice progress on Paradis Lost! And the fireplace -- wow, what a difference! Great stuff!

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  3. I love the fireplace, Jen!! It turned out great!! PL is looking great too! :)

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  4. Paradise Lost is so pretty and I love the fireplace!!! AotH would look so great there :-).

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  5. WOW....thanks for posting the fireplace, it looks amazing! So nice to SEE my son's work....again Thanks for sharing!!!
    Jo

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  6. Great progress on PL!!!! Wow wow how great does the new fireplace wall looks now!!

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  7. Your paradise is beautiful!!
    Greetings from Debby,
    www.crossstitchstyle.blogspot.com

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  8. I love what stone does for a fireplace and love it when it covers the whole wall. It looks great. I bet AotH will look gorgeous, just think of location when picking the frame!

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  9. I think your AOTH will look beautiful there! It will be a good contrast to the stone. And your PL is looking fabulous! You are rocking along on it.

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  10. Quite useful information you sharing with us. And I personally like your all tips on home improvement. This fireplace wall looks so beautiful.

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  11. I love what you did with the fireplace! My husband and I just started doing some renovations in our home, and one of the things we did in addition to redoing the fireplace is putting in some spiral stairs. We love them. Thanks for sharing!

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