Quick mantel redo

Hey hey! Well, the birthday week continues with a little something for a couple of you. From HomeGoods. Whaaaat? (Said in minion voice.)

Yes.

HomeGoods asked me and a few other bloggers to share how a few small changes can change up a space in our home. My challenge was in the bedroom – their survey found the bedroom is the No. 1 room in the home that negatively impacts people’s mood. Interesting! They challenged me to change up a spot in our bedroom just making small changes. This was hard for me – no spray paint, no tweaks. Just decorate.

Thing is, I love our bedding (from HomeGoods, shock) so I needed to focus on a different area in our master. I walked into the store and found my inspiration right away!

The space I wanted to focus on is the mantel – earlier this year I changed it up with some Goodwill art:

Soooo. I like it at first. It was dark and moody and it reminded me of a special place for my husband and I. But within a few weeks it just got…well, dark and moody. ;) And I love those floofy things off to the side but they were kind of weird up there.

Soooo. This is the spot I changed up. Instead of floofy things I went with classic candlesticks:

I saw that beautiful box with the navy blue accents and knew it was perfect. (You can see my navy blue lamps here.)

The other side is filled with items that were already up there – I just pulled in a navy blue book to bring some of that color to that side:

I changed out the orchid pot too to a darker one (just switched it with another orchid). By the way – see those blooms? Yes, I successfully grew an orchid that rebloomed. GOLD STAR for me. Although I have no idea how I did it, I just noticed one day it was blooming again. Soooo.

I’ve talked about my method for accessorizing a space before and I followed that here – variety in heights and pulling similar colors in throughout. It seems to work.

I also picked up a throw because I clearly don’t have enough throws as it is (that’s sarcasm if you can’t tell):

Isn’t that beautiful? It’s so soft! By the way, the settee and the pillow, both from the HG a while back.

Oh, and I almost forgot the most important part! The part that inspired the whole redo, the big mirror:

Ack! So much better! Eventually I’d like to place some DIY art above the settee but for now I just removed a few of the frames that were up there and love it simpler like this – it can breathe now. :)

By the way, a smart designer once told me not to use mirrors above fireplaces, (because they reflect the ceiling) and for years I fought hard to follow that advice. But I’ve since realized that they’re fine – quite lovely actually. It’s hard to fill that space above a mantel and sometimes a mirror is the very best thing for it. I take it all back – put a mirror up, it’s OK. :)

You’ll notice that these walls aren’t the new wall color yet. That’s because 1.) I’ve been lazy and painting the tall walls sounds as fun as walking on hot coals 2.) I’m still not 100 percent I’m going with the color I picked out.

So there’s my update with a few accessories – it took me all of 15 minutes to change it out. For me that’s a record.

The best part? Two of you get $50 to spend at HomeGoods. I’ve got them right here burning a hole in my desk. So to enter just comment here – have you been to HomeGoods? Did you hear singing the first time? (Every time?) What’s your favorite purchase? Answer any or all or none, just leave a comment (with your email address!). :)

AND if you are so inclined, you can repin from this link and if I get the most pins I’ll get another FIVE $50 cards to give to you all. YES. So there you go. HomeGoods happy, it’s a thing.

P.S. I am having issues with the photos on my blog – they are so crisp and clean for me and then I load them into Blogger and they get dark and blurry. Trying to figure out what the issue is, bear with me!

Disclaimer: I received a gift card to complete this redo. Love of the HG is my own.