More Fireplace Room Upgrades

So - I told you last month about our exciting new rugs and the dramatic improvement over the previous ones. Even though the old rug in the fireplace room was a total mismatch for our house, I tried to design around it - which totally didn't work. So, here's the new design plan, centered around the new rug.

1. A new mirror, maybe metallic
2. New wall art
3. Fabulous new rug
4. A few things for the mantel (here and here)
5. Fabric for a new chair pillow
6. Grey marble or limestone tile for the fireplace and hearth

Now that we have a new design plan and made big progress with the new rug - I made a couple more small upgrades to get this room shaping up.

1. New Wall Art
Spouso found this fun print at Etsy, which we both liked. Since it's rare for us to both like the same wall art, and it has a really similar color scheme to the new rug - I bought it immediately. I picked up a cheap, simple frame from Amazon, and then got a new mat from our fancy framing shop - and viola - coolness. We are slowly replacing a lot of wall art that was either print outs of travel pics or in very small frames, (or both), so this is a nice upgrade from what was there before.

2. A New Pillow
We keep one of the extra dining chairs in this room for seating - but it's always looked sort of crappy against the wall of nearly the same shade. Last year, after I made Christmas pillow covers, the bright red Christmas pillow stayed on this chair all year long, just because the contrast was so nice. Well -  I finally made a pillow specifically for this room using more of the same extra fabric I used on the cat radiator seat in the dining room. It has a zipper, so I can remove and wash it if needed (it's basically the same design as the toy bag, without the liner).

Wally models the new pillow and wall art casually. 

3. Wall Patches
There were two eyesores in this small room - one where the old thermostat used to be and the other where a chunk of plaster came loose when the kitchen wall came out and the house shifted. I just pried out the loose plaster, filled with mud, sanded smooth, and painted.

massive wall chunk

wall gets patched (and then painted)

So, clearly not finished - but making some real progress.