saturday shopping -

"shopping the house" at least - for this mantel makeover result:

A winter storm came through and left an icey, wintery scene.  So, I did not leave the house/yard today. ;)  I walked outside to take some photos, but I did not stay out long because I still have yucky cough/cold stuff.  Thankfully, the power did not go out - just a few flickers. 

After sleeping in (rather late), I ignored my to do list today, cleaned up, and helped my mom some.  I bought a lamp at Kirkland's Friday night; a cute "D" monogram  on the shade prompted a change in my bedroom.

And then my mom said that I could work on the mantle in the den.  It only had a red plastic strip covered with lace on the mantle, leftover from Christmas.  Above the mantle, a gold/brass trim mirror hung between two empty sconces.  Serious help needed. :)

Off to shop -

I went to my extra bedroom and pulled two things out from under the bed.  From that, I used one item for the mantle - the center photo (me and the siblings.)  The photo is actually mine, but I promised to frame a 10x13 like this for my parent's Christmas present LAST year (2008 - not 2009.)  My mom did not pick out a frame, so I told her that we could switch.  I would give her my framed photo and take her unframed photo.  Fair trade I think and that completes an iou. 

I loved how the photo looked on the mantle.  So, we stripped everything from the mantle and on the wall above it.  Then I started with the center frame and added to it.  My mom had the black candleholders in the den with a red frame for Valentine's Day. (These candleholders came from my grandparents' estate - the praying hands also.)  A third red candle is needed, but it works for now.  I pulled the praying hands from my parent's bedroom; they helped secure the frame, which is just propped there.  The smaller black frame also came from my parent's bedroom - I covered the photo in it with a family snapshot.  After that, I still needed one more thing. I played around with several options and finally pulled another black frame that had a photo of me (which I changed to a different one of me.)  The photo balanced the red candles and that completed the mantel redo.

Check it out here - I cropped from a photo taken about 2 weeks ago.
Before

(today it did not have that photo in the before)

and now the improved -
After

Some dusting after I took this photo also.

(faded, edited photo shown here to cover flaws)

Overall - much better!
And something that will make me smile when I walk through the house.
Smiles are good -