Do any of you have random, what some might consider decorative, alcoves in your house? There might be one in your entry way for perhaps a vase with some sort of stick thingys. Most commonly, I seem to find them above fireplace mantels, for what I think was originally intended for a television.
BUT.
WHAT IF I DON'T WANT TO PUT A TV OR VASE WITH STICK THINGYS THERE?!?!
The best "Before" picture of The Cave that I could come up with.
Obviously, we have one. Above our mantel. And its massive. I mean like 4 foot cube. We have come to lovingly call it "The Cave". And its been a decorative crux of epic proportions.
I mean what can you use this space for, if not for a TV? A statue perhaps? Ya know, since I'm really into statues. I even thought I could line the bottom with a mattress and make it a bed for when guests visit.
Realistically, I just wanted that thing covered. However, I didn't want to invest a lot of money. We're renting right now, so not only can't I mess with the structure, but I don't want to invest my time and money on customizing something that I can't take with me when we leave this lovely home one day.
There were a number of different ways I could go about covering it. But I knew I was onto the solution when I happened upon these huge mirrors at Hobby Lobby that were 50% off. A harmless committment that ended with me having fun shopping for a mirror. I was even hopeful, this would solve the problem entirely.
After placing the mirror. I loved the look but hated that I still had about 10 inches of The Cave showing on each side.
Something more had to be done.
I had a lot of "light" going on with the cream walls, mirror and white mantel, so I knew I wanted something darker with more texture, which quickly led me to dark, grainy wood. In order to make it slightly more interesting than a few boards hammered together, I wanted to add some sort of creative element to it. Nothing overpowering, so I thought the two-toned stain with a very simple aztec design did the trick. Plus, it ended up tieing in nicely with this IKEA rug I have in the room.
So far, I'm quite pleased. I decorate and re-decorate my mantel almost every day trying to figure how what combos work best for my new solution, so we'll see. In case I ever got sick of the aztec design, I thought it would be nice just to flip the panels over for a simpler look...buuuut I totally messed up the back sides, so that's not an option unless I want to make two entirely new panels. :)
You're so creative and talented.
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