Ahhhh, Simplify

After we returned all the tubs of Christmas stuff to the attic, I left the mantel bare for short time. Every year, I am amazed at all the holiday decor we've amassed. What's even more amazing is that I actually use most of it.

After the holidays, it takes me a while to recover from the over eating, over socializing, over thinking, over worrying and over decorating.

Now that I have had time to catch my breath, I've simplified the mantel in our family room. It started with this:

This homemade box was a garage sale find from last summer. The wood is rough and splintery. Late last fall, I was working on a couple of other painting projects and decided to put some paint on it--doing something between a dry brush and full coat.

I liked the way it looked after simply slapping on the paint, so I left it that way.

It sat in the garage without a handle until this past week when I brought it in and added burlap ribbon and filled it with pine cones--some that I had salvaged from my live Christmas wreaths when they were past their prime, and some I painted myself.

I added some other wintery looking items to the mantel. The linen-covered French books are unusual and have a special story that I can share in another post. 

The little bird is a terra cotta votive holder I found at a garage sale--for 25 cents. It had potential, but I didn't like the terra cotta look, so I gave it a light brushing of white paint.

The beautiful painting over the fireplace was created by my husband's great uncle and given to my husband's parents as a wedding gift in 1947. When we brought it back this summer after moving his parents out of their house, it was in nasty condition--dull from years of dust, warped from the moisture in his parents' basement and flawed with a couple of tiny spots of chipped paint.

Here it is in its glory after we had it restored. It's a perfect backdrop for the winter mantel.

The stars I crocheted for Christmas still work with the winter scheme and add just the right amount of twinkle to the vignette.

Make it a great day!

Linking to:

Nifty Thrifty Sunday
Sunny Simple Sunday
Motivate Me Monday
Cowgirl Up!
Mod Mix Monday
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Tweak It Tuesday
All-Star Block Party
Time Travel Thursday