Rustic Inspired Living Room Refresh- ORC Week 8

Have you ever wondered how to refresh an antique mantel? My process involves scraping, sanding, washing and waxing!

How is it possible that it is week 8 of the One Room Challenge (ORC) already?! Actually, it is actually week 8 & 1/2 since they extended the deadline due to the Memorial Day Holiday!  And even with the extension, I didn’t get quite finished!  But, I am further along than I was 8 weeks ago!

This antique mantel has been the focus of my efforts over the last two & a half weeks.  In hindsight, I probably should have tackled this part of the project first since the mantel is the focal point of the whole room refresh!  I worked on it when I had a chance.  We did make a trip to Texas during this period to help a friend and see some friends and family members.

If you have been following along on my One Room Challenge journey, you know that a friend of mine found this amazing mantel in Round Top Tx in mid March.  She sent me pictures of the 4 mantels she found and I just fell in love with this one!

After keeping the mantel safely stored in the back of my van for several weeks, I finally asked my husband to help me get the mantel out of the van.

The first step was to scrape off as much of the loose paint as possible.

I still had more scraping to do , especially on the top. At some point, someone painted the top of the mantel with latex paint.

My husband found a different scraper and started helping me.

Once he got most of the latex paint off of the top, I got my hand sander out and went to work.

It was a little hot and humid and my goggles kept fogging up but I managed to get the top sanded.  I also used the scraper on the front of the mantel and got almost all of the yucky brown paint off of it.  Once I was done, I washed the mantel with an oil based wood cleaner and let it dry.  The next step is to wax it and get it ready to be placed in the living room.

Goals to Help Create a Rustic Inspired Living Room Refresh!

Although the fireplace mantel is going to be the focal point of the refreshed living room, I had several other goals for this project.

1. Donate the couch that we don’t use.  My Great Aunt left behind two couches and we really only use the one in the gathering room
2. find a better way to store/organize my “stuff” so that my large pieces can be used more efficiently
3. recover a footstool so that it goes with the room decor
4. make room for a work/dining room table
5. chalk paint the four large pieces of furniture in the living room.

How Did I Do in Meeting my Goals?

The couch is still sitting in the living room.  I drug my feet about getting it posted on Facebook marketplace and didn’t get it listed until this past weekend.  Since it was the holiday weekend, I didn’t get any response.  I think I will call GoodWill or one of the local charities and donate it this week.

I did get two of the four pieces of furniture painted.  I still plan to paint the remaining two.

waiting to be painted:

And I am still working on getting all my stuff organized.  It seems to be a never ending process for me!

I did get a slipcover for my ottoman but didn’t take any pictures of it yet.

It was a lot of fun participating in this challenge.  I learned several new things over the course of the project.

Thank you for following along with me!

A Little Background About Me