A most magnificent mantle

It's finally here, it's finally done and I am so, SO excited!  After the search for the wood, all the searching for a carpenter, and the long wait, my fireplace mantle is finally finished!  Would you like to see it?

First, a reminder of what the fireplace looked like before:

Here is the big, beautiful fireplace; it's just missing something...

The giant cedar plank I found on craigslist.  Someone was selling the planks for $100 each.

I had the plank for over a year before we found someone to make the mantle.

And now, after a three day creation/installation process, here is the result:

Isn't it incredible?

So, after the final coat of shellac was applied to the mantle wood yesterday morning, I spent a couple of hours cleaning the floor on my hands and knees, to get all the installation dust and dirt up.  Once the floor was clean, my son and I went down to the garage and (finally!) brought a rug in, then moved the final furniture into place.  (We carried up a sofa and two chairs that have been in the garage for the past two years, just waiting for the messy projects to be completed to be brought in.)

After two years of living in a living room project-in-process, it finally looks like a living room! I still have to hang pictures on the walls and do a few small things to get the room absolutely complete, but it's probably 90% there now, and it feels great!

This is the first room completed to the point that we've brought in a rug, and somehow the addition of a rug just makes a room feel finished to me.

So enough talk, here are a few more pics of the new mantle:

We had a big storm last night, and it just felt so cozy in the living room with all the candles lit.

I splurged on this great vintage blow mold duck I found at a consignment store for $16.

Then I ordered a light from Amazon so I could light him up.

I think he's the perfect lake house mascot.

My son gave me these beautiful flowers last week for my birthday.

The vases and vintage fairy lamp are from Goodwill and antique stores.

I have been a bit enthusiastic with my lake house duck theme, but I tried to keep it to an appropriate level...

Everything on my mantle was purchased secondhand and inexpensively.

The wooden duck is from an antique store, the duck vase (can't wait to fill it with flowers!) was from a thrift store and little duck candleholder came from an estate sale.

Note the beautiful worm holes in this mantle wood.  

Here are my candleholder and bunny from Goodwill, the vintage egg vase is from an estate sale.

The daffodils and forsythia are from my yard.

Happy spring!

So there you have it.  All done.  I was so happy with my beautiful finished mantle I even forgave my contractor, who did a wonderful job and gave me exactly what I wanted in the end.

And now I have the perfect focal point for the room, a giant mantle with plenty of space for photos, candles and flowers.  It's so much nicer than what we have back at the home/house.

It's just absolutely perfect.

Incidentally, my husband is not here this week.  He's coming tomorrow night, and I have not shown him any photos of the finished mantle (or room) and he's not allowed to see this blog either.  I really cannot wait to see his reaction.

Thank you, God.  With this room almost complete, I am super motivated to get all the others finished quickly.  Now on to the next one!