This is our..... mantle

This is what the mantle and fireplace looked like the very first time I walked into what is now our house.  The house had just gone on the market that morning, but they had obviously started packing because the house was pretty sparse.  I got the feeling that a lot of the decorations that were out were not what they typically had up/out.  I definitely got that impression with the mantle.

A few weeks after we moved in, I took both kids to Hobby Lobby while Michael was at work.  We bought this to hang above the mantle.  It was loads of fun to walk around the store with it sticking out of the itty bitty little shopping cart as Elliott twisted around to try to play with it while strapped in the seat (side note: WHY are Hobby Lobby's carts so damn tiny?!  It is infuriating when they sell such huge pieces of art).

 

It had been hanging above the mantle for about 23 hours when I found this Santa picture at Kirkland's.  Then it went into the garage and waited for the holidays to be over. 

 

I hung it up again after Christmas, but it just wasn't working.  The round Santa picture was so perfect in that space, and it was hard to find anything to go on the mantle that would work with the scroll work piece.

 

So.  Back to Hobby Lobby.

 

I bought a mirror, just like this one except round, not oval.  It was very heavy and I had to hold it under my right arm while I pushed the miniature shopping cart with my left arm because Hobby Lobby's carts and too. damn. small. 

 

I loved the black mirror and it would have been perfect, had it been exactly 1 inch smaller.  Back to Hobby Lobby to return it.  Back to Kirklands to look for something different.

 

I found this round mirror made out of a million other round mirrors there.  Michael hung it, but I wasn't sure I loved it.  I had already vowed that I didn't want to spend money on new decorative things for the mantle and instead wanted to make something we already had work.  I raided every other room in the house, but nothing fit.

So, we went to Home Goods to look for a new black round mirror.  We found one, but it was $150.  Sorry, that's about $100 too much.  I was about to give up when I spotted this awesome red clock.  Perfect for a mantle. 

 

And then I found this lantern.  And all of a sudden I was breaking my vow to not spend any money. 

I spent some Christmas money (so technically it was a gift, right?) to buy those two things.  And I'm glad I did, because I'm kind of obsessed with the mantle.  Mostly it's the red clock. I think it looks nice with the pictures hanging on the wall too.

 You just have to ignore the Toys R Us display underneath it and pretend like you won't step in a bucket of legos on your way over to admire the red clock.