before & after living room plus a new holiday tradition

This was our living room before...

One year later.... The height of the moldings on the walls were designed to incorporate our wave and pier photos taken by surf photographer Tom Servais.

We collect sand from every beach when we travel.

The long mantel gave me plenty of room to add a new family tradition.  24 days until Christmas.  Each day my kids take turns opening a small gift counting down to December 25th.  They are so thrilled, but I think it may have been more fun for me to find 12 little gifts for each of them that were meaningful and without spending a small fortune.

The entire mantel, built in bookcases and white brick was inspired by a photo in House beautiful October 2009.  The room was designed by Aaron Home and the title was, "You'll Never Get Tired of Keeping it Simple."  It was perfect!  Our contractor added a few things that made it look more traditional, but what I loved about it were the clean simple lines...so it went back to the original plan.  I have always loved white brick and we were able to use it into a few areas around our house.

                                             Aaron Hom design as seen in House Beautiful.