Changing up the Mantel

 I have not fallen off the face of the earth....just haven't had much time to blog lately.   I have actually had a bit to write about, it was just the ACT of writing that I was having a hard time with.

Soooooo,

Since it is the Holidays, I thought I would show you all my Mantel.  Yesterday, I picked up some auction finds, and I had gotten a group of 5 pieces of artwork. 

I was more into the frames than the artwork....because they were so gorgeous.  But there was a little surprise in one of them.  The painting (it is actually a reproduction of a Cezanne) was UNDER another print....which is probably more valuable than the reproduction.  2 pieces of artwork for the price of 1!

 

I really like the original print, and think it would be really sweet in a little girl's room...but the colors of the Cezanne, just so happen to work in my living room right now.  And I was getting REALLY tired of the grouping of mirrors that I had.  It gave me just the nudge and what I needed to get my Holiday Mantel DONE!  Funny how that works.  I need something "new" to get my bottom in gear.  Can't leave well enough alone! Now, I just have to find those silly stockings.

I am off to get ready for the day.  Have a good one.  Tis the Season!

Does this look familiar?

plus my "design" bag, and all of my park folding chairs.

yes, that table road shotgun!
(and halfway home I get a phone call that my child was sick at school, so I had to squeeze the poor sick girl into the car and make my way home....just a little blip in the auction trip!)

 The transportation of the goods.....on a recent trip to the auction house....without the trailer, a very messy car, and one child... I was surprised at just how much I had bid on (this was an online auction, can we say DANGEROUS!) 

Anyhoo, I just wanted to show you how a mom with one kid in the car manages to get all of her finds home....it is serious business!

This my friends is what my husband dreads when I pull in the driveway, because HE is the one that gets to help me unload it all....I KNOW he is secretly proud:)

To all of my "collecting" friends out there....does this look familiar????

Seltzer bottle love...

My bottles in the window in my living room. 

Another view.
I am still fiddling but I like the way it emulates the blue line in the print on the wall.

ecently I bought 6 vintage blue seltzer bottles at an auction for CHEAP!  I saw them at an antique store for $60 apiece a while back, and couldn't justify buying a bottle for that much. I would periodically think about those bottles, and how I would use them.  Now I am having fun moving them about my house.   I still haven't found the 'perfect' home for them.  Back to my fiddling tendencies:)  The blue is so pretty, the etchings are so cool.  Back in the day, these bottles were just every day objects...just bottles...  now we see them for the beauty in the color, the etching, the history behind them.   The craftsmanship in every day objects.

Here is some 'seltzperation'. Enjoy.

A tablescape that I found, I can't find the attribution:(

via beachbungalow8

via seltzersisters.com
(can you think of anyone that these might be appropriate for, I surely can!)
SCHMUCK BROS. I still can't stop myself form smiling when I see these:):):)

via kitchenisms.com

via Sundance
How inventive.  Leave it to sundance.

via 1stdibs.com 
These lamps are awesome, I DO like the french seltzers.

How would you use seltzer bottles? Where would you put them?