Thorn in my side...

My mantle and bookshelves in this new house have been my decorator's thorn in the side. I shuffle, take everything off and put everything back on, and do this and that and it never looks right. I was trying to make it look like someone else's mantle and that never works.

My bunco ladies came over and I wanted it finished before they arrived. I finally was true to myself using a set of guidelines from the nesting place and I think it turned out acceptable. I like it. I am sure I will change it in 2 or 3 months - or weeks - ( I can't wait for Christmas!) but for now this makes me happy. And I would not have said that a week ago.

Scale - There's big stuff and small stuff - and then some in between. I could probably use some even bigger stuff but I am going with what I have now. (I am NOT USED to these big spaces yet.)

Height Variations kind of also fit in here because big stuff and small stuff are different heights.

Layering - things in front of things. (That is a very technical definition.)

From 2010-09-14

Textures - plants, shiny, smooth, rough, glass, wood, metal - all different stuff.

Natural - the simple addition of the plant and few sticks that I picked up from outside made a huge difference. And you know you love the blackbird on the mantle (which is one of my favorite songs of all time.)

From 2010-09-14

Meaningful - there are several meaningful things - family photos (and don't hate because I have a few empty frames up and some with the people that came in the frames), a little red vase that I loved from my grandmother's home in LA, a pitcher that was my favorite wedding gift, an autographed E. Faye Jones architectural print that we got when living in Fayetteville, and a knick-knack that belonged to my parents. Those are all a few of my favorite things.

Essentially I just put tastefully together all the things that I love even if they didn't seem like mantle stuff and it worked. How silly was it for me to sweat over it all these months. Piece of cake. I think the largest lesson learned was that I need to forget all the pottery barn catalogs and blog sites and just be true to myself. I can glean from them, but I need to quit trying to duplicate.