Click! Take a pic!

OK, first of all, you peeps are stinkin’ funny. I loved reading your comments on the last post! I was cracking UP.

Secondly, to anyone with a child under ten years of age, I now officially apologize for the “Say click! Take a pic!” that will now be running through your head for the rest of the day. So sorry. Or not. It’s funny.

So one of my favorite tips when it comes to decorating is taking a picture of whatever you are working on as you go. When you take a picture, it allows you to flip through the different versions of the same space in seconds.

There are so many times I’ve moved something around and then moved it back and tried another way, and I just can’t figure it out because my mental image of the last arrangement is long gone. This is yet another example of my DOCD(Decorating OCD). You will find more examples of that in a second…

So when I went to redo our mantel in the family room, I only had one criteria – I didn’t want to spend any money. I had already looked at various stores and couldn’t find anything I loved to use on it, so I knew I would have to use what I had.

I told you back on this post that I was trying to break free of the symmetry when I decorated our mantel:

I’ve never decorated this fireplace with the suggestions in that mantel post because it’s so very deep and not wide, like a normal mantel. But I got to thinking, why not decorate it that way?

I wanted to keep the large woven platter thing because it filled in the space well. So I started working around it. I had the cloche on the little table in this post and put it on top of the Southern Living cake stand that had been in the basement. Then I added some glass jars from Joann’s in a grouping on the side to see how that worked:

I LOVED the cloche, but the jars were just too short and the glass wasn’t exactly working.

I tried raising them up with a book:

But that just made them look even more weird. If they weren’t glass this may have worked better.

So then I moved on and grabbed some urns from over the kitchen cabs and tried those:

LOVED how they brought out the colors in the cloche filler. But they still seemed a bit too short, and the urns just didn’t feel right in the family room. Maybe it’s because they had been in the kitchen so long? I dunno. But I wasn’t feeling it.

So I scoured the tops of the cabinets some more (yes, there’s a plethora up there -- if you don’t like it, sue me). I had a couple chunky, tall candlesticks on top and I started a thinkin’. They may work perfect!

I loved it!:

The dark tones work with the iron work, which I love. I would love to use something white up here, but it would just disappear into the background. It is simple, and it has texture and variety.

I love how the candles worked perfectly to pull the colors out of the filler:

 

AND I can actually light them on the mantel, unlike way up high above the cabinets. Brilliant, eh?

Here’s where the DOCD comes in. I needed something to fill the spot on that little table where the cloche came from – this is how the evil decorating ball gets rolling.

I started with a stack of faux books with a vase on top:

I liked it OK for a while, but I’m trying to lighten things up in here and this was just a whole blob of dark.

So I tried a white finial on top instead:

Too bright.

I found some woven balls at Tarjay the other day for $1.24 each on clearance and couldn’t pass them up. So I just tried a tray with those inside:

It’s not exactly the color that I wanted, but I do like it. For now, this one is staying:

See? That’s why I love pictures – instant gratification. You can see the changes immediately!

Next up, the foyer table. Up till today the candle holders still had Christmas in them. Yes they did. Not lying. I finally got rid of the holiday decor and dumped it in the PIT THAT IS OUR BASEMENT. (Breathe.)

I tried moving the books around and couldn’t figure out what I liked best:

 

Then I remembered what has bothered me about this spot forEVA. I got the beautiful Ballard Designs print at my one and only trip to the outlet in Ohio. It was glorious.

Let’s pause to listen to the birds singing…

OK, onward. The print is much wider than the foyer table, and that’s always bugged me. If I had a longer table for that spot, it would fix things, but I don’t. And I was in the midst of DOCD and I had to work with what I had.

Lately this spot has bothered because it’s ALL the same color:

So I switched them out! And I think I am loving the changes!:

Even though the mirror is still wider than the table, it still works better. Much better. Lurve it. All of these changes cost me ZIPPO. Lurve that even more.

Is anyone still with me?

Crickets.

Umkay, well for the five still reading – next time you’re stumped, trying taking a picture. It really does give you a fresh look on the space.

And if the Diego song isn’t going through your head yet – click here.

Buwahahaha!! Have a great weekend!