Pillows and plans ...

So, I mentioned a few days ago that I had purchased two fabric fairy prints for my daughters at the MD Renn Faire last fall. I finally got around to making pillows out of them. I wish I could do more, but I'm no seamstress. My pillow sewing skills consist of sewing 4 straight lines, inserting stufffing and hand sewing the pillow shut. So, here they are ...



I was also given small pillows when I was in the hospital when each of my girls was born. My grandmother made the blue cover and I made the pink. They look a little plain so I was thinking of sewing mother-of-pearl buttons onto each one in each girl's initial. The inspiration came from a pillow I saw that had a TON of mop buttons in the shape of a heart. I wish I could share it, but I can't find the picture! Anyway, here are the covered pillows.



Onto other projects ... We have a basement fireplace. I've always thought it was an eyesore. The basement isn't the brightest and the giant dark red fireplace wall just made it that much more gloomy. Here it is before we moved in a few years ago.



I've never been one to suggest painting brick fireplaces solid white, or any other color for that matter. I think it ends up looking so dull and in some cases it seems as if it ends up stained with soot. Plus, my dad spent YEARS stripping layers of paint from a fireplace they had in their old house. So, I started thinking of some old brick houses in the area that look like they were once painted but the paint has peeled leaving them looking worn. I decided to lightly brush the bricks with paint to "age" them. The bricks seemed to be reclaimed anyway, so a little extra paint added some character without being so bland. I'm so much happier with it now. It looks brighter in the picture and shiny but it isn't. (Oh, and don't mind the gate. Babyproofing!)



The "bricks" to the left near the ceiling are actually a faux brick panel that disguises (poorly) our electrical panel. I have yet to come up with a solution for making that look better.

Now that I'm happier with the brick, I want to do something more with it. I have this old frame ...



There's a picture I took in London in it now (have other plans for that picture and other sepia pictures I just realized I had from that trip that I'll blog about later). I think I have a better idea for the frame. I'm going to paint it white and distress it and I'm going to have a mirror cut for it. I'd like to hang that over the fireplace. To the right of the fireplace, I was thinking of putting something like an old gate or maybe a large candleholder but those are just ideas. I have to see what I can find.