Ever get a bug up your butt about something and just not be able to shake it? Usually this happens with thinking about a big meeting at work or what to wear on a first date. But yesterday? That bug was about my fireplace mantle. I'm in a mood to redecorate some of the house (or rather, amend what Puff already had as decor when I moved in) and for some reason, our lopsided and uninteresting mantle-scape just really got under my skin.
I researched the best way to decorate it and found the rule of "three and one." I really liked it... group 3 like items at one end (photos or candles, etc.) and then one large item at the other end (large photo, floral arrangement, etc.) I was so excited to see the possibilities I could come up with, that I actually left work 15 minutes early and rushed home to play Ms. Mantle Decorator. It didn't go as planned. So, I need your help. Suggestions, thoughts, comments, websites to visit, etc. They're all welcome. I need your help!
This is what we started with...
My biggest issue is that it seems unbalanced and uninteresting. OK, who are we kidding? My biggest issue is that our "statement piece" is a frickin' cheap, gawdy looking vase from China. And I hate Asian decor. (And no, it's not the Slutasian's fault, although that doesn't help.) But I can't get rid of said vase since the MIL brought that back for Puff from an actual trip to China. Not to mention the large photo of me and my dad is a photo my step-mom took, which I don't even like. And in the pic of Puff & his mom, he looks fat. (Sorry, babe, we've gotta work on getting a new pic!) So, all these things combined just make me hate it!
So, this was my first favorite option. (Trust me, I took like 20 photos of options!)
The vase is from our bedroom and it will stay there, but something with some height seemed to make me hate the whole thing less. Plus, getting rid of that ugly vase helped too. But that little Indian fella there in the center, he's not big enough to be a statement piece. He's cool, but he might need to find another home in the house someplace. (He was a gift from a friend's trip to India. I'm starting to think perhaps I'd like to buy my own stuff from my own vacations and not get gifts from places, since obviously these people don't know our taste!)
This was my favorite attempt out of sheer frustration...
Ha ha ha... because everyone needs a Dallas Cowboys gnome on their mantle!
And this is what I ultimately left it looking like.
I don't like it. And the rest of the night, whenever there was a lull on our TV shows, I would stare at the thing and it would make me angry. I'm not sure why. It's just a stupid mantle. But we don't have any "statement" pieces in our house that I can move from someplace else. Plus, with how the pineapple sconces are positioned, it makes it awkward to have anything tall at the ends of the mantle. So yes, please send along any suggestions you've got!
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