Give me an A.

Over the holidays, my mom got new carpeting installed in the family room. Obviously this called for some change in the room decor. First, we rearranged her furniture placement using floorplanner.com which I also mentioned in this post. This new floor plan maximized the long, rectangular space to open up the room and make it appear larger and more balanced.

Second, we needed to address the challenge of having two focal points (the TV and the fireplace), each on opposite sides of the room. Per usual, the TV trumped the never-been-used fireplace. So, we needed to figure out a way to downplay the floor to ceiling stone focal point to prevent it from competing with the TV. To do this, we treated it more as a functional piece (as suggested in a previous post) by using the mantle and the hearth as shelves for holding my mother's endless supply of mystery novels and Jodi Picoult’s. 

Finally, there was an empty spot on the mantle that I thought needed a painting. The trick was that it couldn’t draw too much attention and needed to complement the basic functionality decor of the rest of the fireplace. Here’s what I did:

To make, you need the following:

• Canvas, primed (any size - I used 18"x 24")
• A thick piece of paper (used for the stencil)
• An exacto knife and scissors
• Black acrylic paint
• Small, thin paintbrush

Create your stencil. I drew an “A” for our last name in a standard stencil typeface. Cut out the pieces you are looking to “fill”. 

Tape the stencil to the canvas and start sketching out what you are looking to include. I used locations and phrases that were attached to family memories. 

Finish “filling” your stencil and remove the paper. Touch up where needed.

If you’re looking to hang the photo, try using a smaller canvas and affixing a thick satin ribbon to the top and secure with a nail. The end piece will be personal, chic and a tad nostalgic.