Antique Apothecary Jar Mantel Display

Fireplace mantel styled with 1890's antique apothecary jars. 

While the majority of bloggers are beginning to decorate for Christmas, I'm over here styling my fireplace mantel with my new collection of antique apothecary jars.  

Hunting and picking for vintage decor are fun, but there's something incredibly gratifying about stumbling upon an instant collection, especially an antique pharmaceutical bottle collection. 

I saw them online at a local auction and knew right away that I had to have them.  Old apothecary jars are getting harder and harder to find, with large collections and LUG (label under glass) jars being almost impossible. 

The auction lot was for thirteen LUG apothecary bottles from the late 1890s.  I was really happy to win the lot for $170, which after fees made each bottle about $15.  It may seem like a lot of money, but it was a steal for these rare and super cool apothecary jars. 

It would have taken me YEARS and a heck of a lot more money to find 13 jars.

I knew right away that I wanted to use them to decorate my fireplace mantel. 

I shopped my house for additional decor to use with the jars and ended up using an old Hamilton printers tray, a few books, antlers, and greenery. 

This apothecary jar mantle is hands down my favorite mantel display!  It's neutral, vintage, and includes a little bit of everything I love. 

    

How to Mix Old and New in Your Home Decor

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DIY stacked stone fireplace (where there was none!)

Well hello! I have a BIG reveal for you today! I worked so hard on this basement fireplace and I'm so so SO thrilled it's done. I'm excited to share it with you today! I took a ridiculous amount of photos so bear with me. :) 

I'll show you where we started first! We have this little bump out in our basement and from day one we knew what we wanted to do with it. When we finished the basement years ago we went ahead and bought an electric fireplace for that spot. It sat on a bench for four years. 😁

A few months ago we decided to have the fireplace built in since the whole space was torn up for the new floors anyway: 

Then I was craving a little more traditional look so we had the hearth added along with a mantel: 

Then it was time for me to do the rest! I knew I needed to stain the mantel and hearth before I tiled -- it would have gotten all over the tile otherwise. I sanded both down and then cleaned them really well. A wet paper towel does fine: 

I ALWAYS use a preconditioner for staining projects because it gives you an even finish when you stain: 

It takes just a quick swipe (I use foam brushes) and then you can stain immediately! 

I did two coats of Minwax dark walnut stain -- one of my favorites! I wanted to match the top of the wall of cubbies we have in the room: 

I know I say it a lot but staining is one of my favorite DIY projects. It's instant gratification! I always love seeing the details of the wood coming through. I like to remind you to make sure you have plenty of time to tackle your staining project -- you'll want to finish it all up at once and keep a "wet edge" while working. Otherwise you may see where you stopped and started. 

I usually let my stain dry for about five minutes but you can wait longer for a deeper stain. After that I wipe it down with a clean, lint-free cloth. Wearing latex gloves helps to keep the stain off of your hands! 

Here's the stain I used: 

Dark walnut is a deep brown that doesn't have any red tones -- I love it! It will vary a bit depending on the wood you use, but I always love how it looks. 

After the stain has dried, it's time to add the polyurethane on top to protect it and give it a beautiful sheen. Because I was working with vertical surfaces I used the Minwax wipe on poly: 

I applied it with a clean cloth and it goes on really easily: 

This stuff is perfect for spaces like this one where the poly would drip if you used a brush. I sanded down with a scrap paper bag piece in between coats: 

I shared more about that process here -- it's my new favorite way to knock down small bumps in between poly and after! Who would've thought brown paper bags worked so well? :) 

After it all dried I started the tiling process and I shared how to tile using stacked stone here. The large pieces were pretty easy, it was the smaller sections that I had to cut just right that took the most time. By the time I was done I may have cried tears of joy, ha! Seriously, I was ready to be done. 

But it's beautiful and exactly what we envisioned for this room for years!! We are obsessed with it! I added some Christmas touches to it of course: 

I took a ton of pictures in different light so you'll see a mix here today. I also ended up taking down the stockings and kind of like it with them down so you can really see the stone!: 

I'm head over heels for the dark wood combo with the stone -- it's exactly what I wanted! It's rustic but still feels modern: 

I had so much fun decorating this spot! It has completely transformed the basement -- literally it looks like a brand new space. When we finished the basement years ago and did our lighting, we made sure to add lights over this spot, knowing we were planning to do the fireplace wall. 

But this time of year I think I like it better with the lights off: 

The last thing I need to do here is put a dimmer on those lights -- we have them throughout the rest of the basement and I want that softer light here too: 

I'm just going to keep putting up pictures and saying things cause I worked my butt off on this project. 😂

The frames used to sit on the cubby built ins and I think they'll stay up here. Love how homey this spot feels!

We always put our flocked tree down here and it's usually decorating with green and blue ornaments. I went much more natural and neutral this year with white, silver and bronze ornaments instead. I'm obsessed with those colors on this flocked tree:

The hearth isn't super deep but it's the perfect size for accessories. You can sit on it too, but it's not deep enough to sit back really far: 

Stuffed reindeer butts fit perfectly.

Here's another look at the before of this spot: 

And here's how it looks today!: 

Here's another shot from a couple months ago: 

And that same angle, just closer: 

I have to clean up all of the tools and Nerf bullets and then I'll get a full shot of the room! :) 

Whoohoo, I'm so thrilled to be done with this massive project! We've spent every evening down here with the fireplace on -- we're definitely enjoying this space! 

If you have any questions about this project, please let me know! I'm off to finish up our Christmas decor to share with you later this week. I'm seriously just going to sleep all day long on Friday when I'm done! :)

I work with Minwax to share how I use their products in our home and they sponsored this post. I only work with brands I know and love!

Going vertical with storage (it always works!)

Well hello! I have a super quick, but SUPER effective organizing project today! This will apply to those of you who have children obsessed with Nerf guns. In our house the tiny little Lego pieces have (mostly) been replaced with the Nerf bullets that we find every-freaking-where in our house. 

Everywhere. 

😆

Our son used to be a huge Lego fan but as he gets older he's switched to Nerf. For every birthday and holiday that's his request. Our home has also become the place where his buddies house some of their guns too, so we have quite the collection. 

My son has been begging me to figure out a better solution for the storage. For a couple years we've had them in a bin in the little closet under the stairs: 

But this is how it looked on a good day. The games and the Nerf stuff got intermingled and most days this closet was a big mess. It drove me crazy and although he did try to keep everything put away, the bin wasn't working. There wasn't enough room and to get one out they had to remove everything. Plus we had smaller guns and accessories in bins in another part of the room, so things were all over the place. 

We found some ideas for Nerf storage that were fun and seemed like great options and all of them involved hanging them on a wall. At first we were going to do it in the garage, but I realized that would be a pain for the kids to run out and then take them down to the basement (where they play with them all winter). 

So I decided to move some things around and make this little closet work. And it is AWESOME! I moved the games to our storage closet:

We have empty shelves in there because of this major purge I did last year. Love. :) 

I grabbed some small pegboards from Home Depot and because this closet is not finished, I was able to screw them right into the studs. The end result? GLORIOUS: 

If you have finished walls you just need to screw some 1x2 boards into studs vertically and then attach the pegboards to those. You can't hang these right against drywall because the hooks won't go into the board. These pegboards are smaller and perfect for a project like this -- the bigger ones are so large and bulky. Each one of these was $7 and I believe they are two feet by four feet. 

I grabbed these hooks to hang everything: 

They are the perfect hook for the Nerf guns -- here are some that are the same size. I also ordered these locks that go over the hooks as well. They are great because they keep the hooks in place when things are taken on and off.  

Most of the Nerf toys have hooks but those that don't can just be hung by the handles:

I almost went horizontal and stacked the two pegboards, but then a majority of the bottom board would have been at the floor, so I would have lost hanging space. Hanging them vertically makes the bottom part usable. 

We took two of the storage bins and filled one with the accessories and one with bullets. Now there's no question exactly where everything goes when it's time to clean up the meeellions of bullets: 

Side note -- see the air hockey table there? Last year I added wheels to the end of it so it's easy to roll in and out of the closet for storage: 

One of my best moves ever, not gonna lie. ;) 

Our son is SO stinking thrilled with this closet and he's crazy proud of it. It's the first thing he shows friends when they come over. It's been a week now and everything has stayed organized...this is a record for the Nerf stuff! 

I know most don't probably have a dedicated closet for something like this, but if you are trying to find a good spot for these awkward toys, this may be a good option for a wall in any closet. I've also seen these done out in the open in toy rooms or family/basement spaces and it's a fun way to display and organize them. 

Every time I go vertical with storage I find it works so much better! And having them easily accessible means they are easier to put away! Hopefully this gives you ideas if you're dealing with the same Nerf problems. ;) Have you figured out a way to organize something awkward like these? I'd love to hear about it! 

Here's an image to pin if you'd like to save this idea for later!:

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