After my slight error of judgement in my last post, I thought I should rather redeem myself today that not all my decorating decisions end up with a smug boyfriend mouthing, ‘I-told-you-so’. Sometimes, in fact, they end rather well.
Remember this post? I So Wood: Decorative Logs (Part I)
No? Well, I’m not surprised really. Way way back in January, I discussed the possibility of filling my fireplace in my lounge with a bunch of these sexy things.
Ya see, I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with the horrible hole in my fireplace since we moved in. I’ve created vignette after vignette and could never seem to get the balance right. It just looked awkward.
Installing a proper fireplace is most definitely on my wish list but it will cost us hundreds of pounds to get the look I want and right now, our priorities are elsewhere. So I consider this an option to buy time until the day when we finally get around to putting in a real working fireplace. Which, considering our to-do list, probably won’t happen until 2014.
So it’s only taken me 10 months to finally just take the plunge and order up a bunch of logs.
Here’s what it was looking like in preparation for the delivery. I painted the concrete slab white as it was, well, concrete coloured* and rather stained and ugly. I also added the ceramic artichoke finials (from Homesense) to add a punch of colour and replace the candle holders that used to be there.
*That’s totally a colour.
There are a couple of companies that make decorative logs but I decided to order them from The Little Log Company. The quality of wood was beautiful. I ordered the Spruce and Scots Pine mix (they’ve got a few different kinds to choose from) and they even stain them to order. I had mine stained Walnut but they have lots of different stains to choose from and you can even mix and match colours.
Here’s what it looks like now.
The wood is beautiful – all perfectly lovely with the odd one having a bit of a natural split. The wood is smooth and solid too – no splinters off these puppies. They were expensive for what’s essentially just some logs but you can see that you get what you pay for. And what you don’t pay for as well (ie BUGS AND CREEPY CRAWLIES. Arghhh!)!
There’s also a nice little calculator on the site that allows you to figure out how much wood you need based upon the size of the space you are filling. Handy. Although getting them to fit without big gaps was a little like putting a jigsaw together when you’ve lost the box to see what it’s supposed to look like at the end. I’ll probably be taking them out and reconfiguring them to see if I can get them to fit better (or I might just leave it to W, he loves shit like that).
As you can see, I had a few little logs left over so I left them piled up on the hearth.
I love the way it looks now and it’s added a lovely textural element to the room which I think warms up the space even without a fire!
Oh, and this is about as Halloween as I get around these parts. Saying that, I love it so it’ll probably stay long after Halloween has ended.* I got the gold skull from Urban Outfitters.
Update: About 10 minutes after completing this post, W told me he really hates the skull. Sigh. Can’t win for trying around these parts.
There are a few more changes to come in the living room which I’ll be sharing soon, mostly around getting in some extra seating! Not only to replace the black chair that is now living in the man cave, but on the opposite side of the room as well where W’s old coffee table resides.
I know we’ve got other projects on the go at the moment but these kinds of items are more outright purchases and well, I’ve got a couple of good reasons to spend a few quid now to get the room complete.
A couple little announcements around those reasons are soon to come too ;) Stay tuned.
In the meantime, what do you think? Have you ever used decorative logs that were only meant for pretty and not actually for burning?
*This is not a sponsored post by the way. I’m just a happy customer.
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They are lovely, we have an open fire in one of our living rooms and a wood burning stove in the other. I keep the logs in a basket, I like the logs covered in moss sitting on the top of the basket. Love your new look with the perfect logs, I hate the thoughts of spiders getting into my living room from my log basket but such is life in rural Ireland where we need to light the fire and keep the
Hello dear, it looks beautiful and makes it look stylish but cosy too. you have such a lovely home and an eye for detail.xxx
it looks incredible, red! my logs have never looked this pretty so you have inspired me to aim higher.<br /><br />i would prob be snapping photos of the fireplace all day long.<br /><br />smiles to you.<br /><br />michele
Perfect! So much better! I may have even suggested that a long time ago when you asked for critiques of the room. I like the pops of turquoise as well. And I CAN'T wait to are your new seating options!
I actually love this! It looks so stylsh x
Looks great! And nice to see this in real life rather than just on Pinterest :-)
it looks fabulous I really love the blue finials against the natural colour of the logs
i like the gold skull tracey haworth
Ooh that is FANCY. I love the logs in there. Totally off to check out that site.
Do you think its weird that I'm currently lusting over a pile of logs? Me neither. Those are fab my dear!
fantastic! Thanks for the source, Im trying to do this with our own wood at the moment, but I might need a back up!<br />Love how yours looks. Happy Holidays!<br />xo Nancy<br />Powellbrowerhome.com
Looks great. Can I ask, is there still a space behind the logs, only we have a 'horrible hole' that is a half a metre deep that needs filling and I was wondering whether I can get away with just buying the shorter logs to stack at the front of the hole. I was also thinking about the possibility of adding a false-wall type thing halfway in the hole to back the logs up against. Thanks in
Yep, there is a space behind the logs (as you can see, the hole is deep but the logs are shorter) but you can't really see that at all when it's filled up. The logs are stacked fairly tightly so they don't collapse but you can always take a bit of MDF and glue the logs to it so that they are more stable :) xx