BBstx,

I would not install more lighting, tho I like your point about bringing in more gold. Majolica is a super idea! I like it, it is pretty easy to find, and I would use it in the future. I have 4 majolica on the wall in Maine. It would also be a way to add more green, a little shinyness, and it makes sense in a DR. Off to look ....

mtn, if your objection to the picture light is the installation element, there are battery powered picture lights with remote switches.

Could you bring the majolica plates down from ME and use something else in ME? [Trying to shop your house(s). I understand not wanting to buy because of possible future move. I’ve just found out there is someone who has been looking for a house on my street for the last year. My moving timeline may be getting moved up precipitously.]

BBstx,

OMg, do you want to sell now!? Wait, aren't you in the midst of redoing things!?

It's more that we have a lot of lights in the ceiling, all on one switch. If we added a light, the existing light would shine on the new one.

The plates in Maine are more toward aqua, I am thinking green. You can just see them here in back on the wall.

BBSTX - too busy? I think it is pretty close sto scale

You asked BBSTX, but I'm liking that !! Mix of stone, wood, metal, gold, green looks very pretty! Such a cozy spot.

Hmm...that is pretty busy. The asparagus plates get lost against the rocks, I think. I like the strength of the green plates, though.

I like the landscape painting. I would prefer a frame with more gold and a little larger. A plein air frame similar to the one below would be appropriate for a landscape. Then something on either side of the painting to fill in the space. Maybe the green plates?

In the alternative, do you have a larger painting somewhere that you could use there?

https://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-simplon-plein-air-frames/. I’ve bought frames from Dick Blick and they are good quality. Plus, their customer service is superior. One frame came in with a small dent. Customer service promptly sent another by FedEx.

Alas, I don't have a larger painting I could use -- even this one is "stolen" from my office. It shouldn't be reframed because it is delicate/valuable.

Let me fiddle around.

I love the plates! Just as you have them....

Some possibiliies:

Plates w painting:

How have I never seen this fireplace?! It’s amazing!

Thinking of one of your pictures, candle holders, and vintage snuffer:

https://www.chairish.com/product/2069454/vintage-etched-brass-candle-snuffer

Or:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/937250846/vintage-bell-shaped-brass-candle-snuffer?

ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=brass+twisted+candle&ref=sr_gallery-1-24&frs=1

These are gorgeous, but I can’t tell the depth of your mantle ...

https://www.chairish.com/product/2964098/vintage-1950s-striated-green-stone-candlesticks-a-pair

I love old twisted brass candlesticks, especially with rustic/stone ...

https://www.chairish.com/product/2538086/solid-brass-barley-twist-candlesticks-a-pair

Plates w misc brass on mantle"

Can I beg you to buy this? It would add warmth and charm and potential buyers would smile when they see it. Plus, it is darn sweet.

(even though this says it was listed 10 weeks ago, it just showed up the other day as new,.)

If I were def staying, Jojoco, I would probably look for an oil with those colors. I agree it is gorgeous and would be great in that spot. But it doesn't fit the "can give it to Goodwill without a pang of guilt test." : ) (Just checked, I only have 26" and it is 29" high). Whew....

Jinx, you were posting brass just when I was!

Oh, I love the sheep painting! Our neighbour pastures his sheep on our property and I could watch them for hours, they are so mellow. I think if I told DH that I wanted to spend a little over 3000.00 Canadian on a sheep painting, he would tell me to look out the window!

I'll change my name to "Goodwill"

Ok, I get it. Our po had an antique model ship on our mantel (which is almost identical to yours.) They also hung a musket in front.

I am the outlier-- i am not feeling the plates here. I imagine an interesting objet d'art or some funky found vintage item in wood or antique brass or even copper.

It's such an interesting fireplace! I believe I've seen the dining room in pictures before-- but never this end of the room. Your home is so full of lovely surprises!

I know you don't want to embrace the rusticness, but the stones veer towards Ralph Lauren rustic. How about something like this for starters?

No to the asparagus plates. I do agree that a larger painting, different frame would look good.

JINX!!! YOU ENABLED ME. LOL (I just bought the bell shape candle snuffer.)

Hmm, those colors are perfect, Jojo. And they do bring in a hint of green too.. And, then might give me an excuse at some point in the future to buy some of the Juliska brown countryware that I love...

Tina, I love it! If I didn’t already have one (from DH’s family), I’d have snatched that up. :)

Mtn, I still want one for your mantle, though. :D

I have all those majolica plates except the platter, Mtn. Love them but not against that stone chimney breast. The transferware plates look better because their background color is lighter.

Maybe check thrift or antique stores for old gold frames. Then have a print you like downloaded to fit? Lots to look at

Hmm they are only 6.5" ... maybe add a platter. This is all to scale:

Too funny, i said to DH -- we need something long and skinny, like a rifle. (not!)

Funky, I see what you are saying, but I don't want something farmhouse. I want something anti-rustic. A fine oil with a heavy gilt frame would be great, but a nice one won't come cheap and I don't know if its something id want forever. Seems to me that plates are inexpensive (and even expensive ones are a lot less than a painting) and I know I could put them to use in the future.

Kitch, that is a lovely site.

The plates are part of the Spode Woodland bird collection. Lots of different sizes to choose from

:Spode collection

I love the landscape painting in the second photo with the gold frame - it appears to be a brushed gold frame rather than GOLD gold. The painting might be a little on the small side unless you can add to the visual weight with vases or bowls. I'm not fond of the plates, there's already a lot going on with the background stone and the fireplace screen and the multiple plates adds to the activity -- - perhaps a large platter instead?

An oil landscape would be my first choice.

Maire, thanks. The frame is ~ 100 yrs old, so a bit faded perhaps. The mantle is only 4.75" deep, so hard to style in a way that adds visual weight.

I did look at Audubon reproductions ... I've always liked those and we are besieged with Blue Heron here. They are fine but not sure I love them. Maybe I would with a nicer frame ..... These are just from a framing app on the web; the bottom two would be matching in size.

Maire, I agree that would be best , but as I said above: I think our horizon here is <5yrs. And the last thing i need is more stuff, since whatever we do our next home will not be this large and I have.so.much.stuff. So it should not be anything so wildly expensive that my heart sinks when I give it to Goodwill.

I like the 2 Audubon pictures.

I also like the Audubon pictures! We have two large ones in our bedroom and I thought it was a temporary solution (they came from DH’s former study) but I have not tired of them. I also think a nature subject that exists in your own ecosystem is wonderfully appropriate.

I like the Audubon prints, too... except 3 and with a thinner, more delicate frame which would balance the rustic.

I’m not feeling the plates at all.

What you need is a cow painting. 😉Here, at two different price extremes:

Of everything shown, I like your original gold framed oil the best. It is a bit small but two or three tall skinny brass candlesticks on one side and maybe a snuffer on the other would be complete enough for me and beautifully elegant.

Bumble, I can hang it, which will make it seem bigger, and then try various things out on the mantle.

SueB, You know I love your cow. You may send it to me if it is so important for me to have a cow. Just message me for the address! Keeping in mind I want to de-rustic things, only a serious painting would work IMHO. But I don't foresee wanting that in the future. Plates, heck, just stack 'em up.

Audubon is timeless of course. Maybe if I found a killer frame ... TBD.

I'm still liking plates. I traded out my fish and added candlesticks. It does have a bit of a permanent ThxGiving vibe but I love the colors.

I do have another oil I could try there, but he is a bit dull and happy where he is now>

I liked the gold, of your first gold frame painting as well as the colors of the Ralph Lauren plates.
Your latest mockup looks good - but are the plates to scale? If not, can you find plates which are larger? Add brass to this? Two large platters side to side versus one centered? Another idea I had was a gold framed mirror but with antiqued glass - so that the reflections are distorted. Count me in as another fan of the screen, what a lovely fireplace!

Now, for a totally different direction...

https://www.mackenzie-childs.com/courtly-check-small-moose/34704-006.html?gclid=Cj0KCQiAvP6ABhCjARIsAH37rbTTdEySy3wVLQDF9BDD2ip-fLUg54-3ecuD7JdABdNCde4keLyG6ggaAskFEALw_wcB

And for the holidays,

Don’t know why this didn’t load....

Funky, I see what you are saying, but I don't want something farmhouse.

Understood.. but really, i was imagining something interesting, world market (not the store-- but literally from the "world market" than farmhouse. I don't have an example to share but it does seem like you're comfortable with the path you're following.

Since everyone's tossing ideas out, here goes - picking up on black/gold FP screen

Bumblebee:

All i did was take an orchid I have and drop it in my fave pot. I love the way the orchid looks against the stone! Of course, this particular orchid looks great on this particular day but they are so easy and cheap to buy that I could refresh readily. I also stole the lime tole cachepot from the living room. I would love to get another like it.... had it 20 yrs now.

The cachepot picks up my lumbar pillows:

Jojo, I did think about white ceramic antlers --- could be fun!

SueB, BTW remember the gorgeous needlepoint cow pillows I posted when I was looking for LR pillows? I ordered a bunch, but sent them all back. They just got lost, were toosmall. Our sectional is unusually big and the pillows i have now work better; one of them is almost 34" square!? I cannot find super big ones "off the racK" so Ive been stuck. I kind of hate the ones I have but my girls give them a thumbs up so they cant be too bad. Of course college students are not exactly the right target demo.

Yes, I do remember those pillows. I have to say, I recently got some new velvet pillow covers from PB that I just love. They’re sooo soft.

BTW I think we need a whole room pic of this dining room. I love that you can fit a whole leather chair at one end...?

Maybe try layering one of your larger pics behind the small pic? I like the touch of green.

ETA: forgot to say, I love the horse pic!

I love the painting and the orchid, I think it's perfect!

You really don't need us because that looks absolutely lovely! 🤍 the color too.

Bumblebee, I do too! Esp in person, the white orchid against the stone, is both elegant and fitting for a room that, as ai said, screams "converted porch". (I don't actually know if it was).

Kitch, very good idea to "layer it;" and the second layer can be almost anything but will add heft. I may have something in Maine in the basement. Could even use an empty frame. Or maybe combine ideas and layer it with a gold framed distressed mirror!

I have to say, i may still order those plates Jojo suggested ... for the table! There's an idea! They would be perfect layered over my white Wedgewood countryware.

SueB, My DR is a long thin rectangle... it is 28 feet long and a bit under 12' wide. I bought the PO's long rectangular table and chairs, because my things were too formal for the space. I did relatively little to it, other than painting the muntins either Revere Pewter or Hampshire Gray, can't recall, so they would blend in better w the greenery in the view. I did at one point divide it into a sitting area w my outdoor wicker, and a cramped dining area for my round Stickley dining set, but the rectangular table just feels better. It's always been an awkward space. My staging/refresh consultant suggested adding a seating area so I stole 2 chairs from elsewhere, and a few other minor changes. I'm waiting on a slipcover but will post when I think I'm done. Meantime here are a few showing how the PO styled it (can you tell I just found an old Shutterfly album?)

Arapaho, Yes I do need you guys! Iwas going with that first set of majolica (i had bought it actually, then cancelled) until Jojo showed me the light. I have a mental block thinking that natural things are not busy, but really my fpl is very busy! The stone, timbers, screen.

And several people suggested just adding visual weight to the painting I had. I've now found a few ways to do that.

As always, you guys are terrific!

Shopping ticker: I bought a new antelope tole cachepot to replace the lime one I stole from the family room to put in the DR. I also bought a second lime one so I that I own a pair. I really wanted a white one but stopped myself. The site also had some cute sale items and I bought some of that miscellany.

Love their stuff: https://jayesstudio.com/products/color-block-round-cachepot?variant=32061730160742 Check out the sales, too.

Here is the DR as my PO had it.

Here is a DR "way before," ie when the PO lived here. No changes to the room except painting the window muntins a grey-green. Bought the table and chairs from them but nothing else.

They had a white leather loveseat by the fpl. Oh and a couple of plants. Yes it's a jumble but this was then, and still is now, my fave room in the house.

The first pic is a rare photo where you get a pretty good sense of the view (always hard to photograph a room that shows the view), only the pond looks closer than it is.

What a unique and beautiful room!