Mantle Schmantle.

K, I get sooooo frustrated organizing all my doo-dads and knick-knacks and what-cha-callers. I do and re-do my shelves and display areas all the time. I cheat and look at how other bloggers do it and copy them. Shameful, I know. But I just don't feel confident about it. I'm kinda heading for a more simplified style these days. For instance, I LOVE Layla's Lettered Cottage. But 4 of my 6 kids still live at home, 2 of which are still little guys doing this kinda thing, not to mention the black fella there.

Anyway.

Let me introduce you to my mantle. Blog Guest, this is my mantle. Mantle, this is my Blog Guest. I'm all for pleasantries.

This mantle is part of a monstrous corner brick wall fireplace, and it's a beaut. That's sarcasm.

Anyway, I'm open to suggestions on improving what I've 'done' so far. The vintage mirror I painted and came with a dresser I got on craigslist for 40 bucks (painted and re-sold separately), everything else was Dollar Store, Hobby Blobby clearance, Salvation Army, and found items I'd had around my house for years. I bought the grapevine wreath at Walmart for $4 yesterday.

I'm ok with it for now. My teenage daughters were all like, 'liking it ma. really cool.' (and it was said in lowercase, just like texting/facebook/myspace.) I'm kinda excited that I can change this seasonally. Never done that before, but I've been so inspired by blogger decorators who keep things fresh by changing up vignettes seasonally. Major talent out there, but don't take my word for it. Get thee to:

Twice Remembered