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What is on your mantlepiece ?

26 replies

ggirl · 03/09/2013 23:27

is it symmetrical?
mine has a clock and a plant
I want it to look uber stylish

OP posts:
bsc · 03/09/2013 23:30

I don't have a mantel Sad

bsc · 03/09/2013 23:32

But on my fantasy mantel, I would have:

2 candlesticks (modern ones, probably natural wood)
A clock
A little holder for letters/cards received from friends/relatives
Some lovely little objets, not sure what, as I never buy anything like that because we have no mantel!

It would be mainly symmetrical.

ggirl · 03/09/2013 23:35

sounds nice, I had candles and they smoked and made the wall black
have painted and not sure about candles again
maybe in a hurricane lamp thingy

liking the calling card holder idea though! Mine would be empty

OP posts:
ihearsounds · 03/09/2013 23:41

When I had a mantel piece, I had nothing on it. Stuff on it, means more stuff to clean and more things to move to clean under. In the end the mantel got removed. Another thing less to clean.

Ujjayi · 03/09/2013 23:59

Mine is a mixture of symmetry and asymmetry........!

I have two lanterns similar to these which are really for the garden but we bring them inside too. There is an Ormonde Jayne candle (gorgeous), a small bronze sculpture of a woman's torso by a local artist and a couple of white wooden votive holders.

I love candles on the mantelpiece as the light bounces & reflects on the mantel mirror, making the room very cosy. My style is very Scandinavian and simple.

AuntySib · 04/09/2013 00:35

Lamps ( 20's lady lamp, Habitat flower lamp) Small clock. 3 cherubs ( reminds me of my babies) . Sometimes flowers.

EdwiniasRevenge · 04/09/2013 00:44

Hmm.

Couple of photographs. Placed symmetrically, but one is landscape the other is portrait. That bugs me.

2 lamps. Symmetrical.
2 candles. Unused. Symetrical.

And then we have a random assortment of

Letters that need to be kept.
Safety pins
Hama bead creations waiting to be ironed.
Hama beads that have fallen of the creations.
A barbie shoe.
2 and a half pairs of earings
2 hair elastics
A bottle of nailvarnish
Nail varnish remover
A button which has come of an unidentified clothing item.
A lego friends creation from the daily mail (which I acquired without funding the daily mail)

And thats just what springs to mind...
Probably a lot more when I look.

lostblonde86 · 04/09/2013 00:45

Currently I have a can of polish, one of hubby's watches and two very tall glass vases (which don't look right at all), we only moved in yesterday Wink so trying to work out what to put on it, thinking a bit of shopping tomorrow

ZaraW · 04/09/2013 05:38

Couple of photos I took in Kenya, ikat design jar, brown antique glass jar, small clock and brass incense burner.

GrandstandingBlueTit · 04/09/2013 05:41

The bedroom one is cluttered with my perfume bottle and DH's aftershave bottles, my make-up, moisturiser and a couple of old photos (as in, of our parents when they were young) propped up. Nobody besides us and the kids sees it.

The living room has a humongous mirror over the mantlepiece, so not really room for much else. There is a small pottery figurine of a woman's torso that I bought directly off the potter. She doesn't have a head nor arms and she's pale blue. It's a beautiful shape, and was apparently done as a prototype for a much larger one. There is also a very small pottery plaque with a art deco motif on it from a building in my home town. That sits in the middle, and the small torso on the left.

In the kitchen, I have a large, round bottle-green pottery plate (platter?) on a stand, and a couple of little pottery bottles to the left, one neutral, one red. And then a small, very fine pale, off-green ceramic bowl that my Dad gave me as a gift, to the right of the platter.

I love 'pieces' / objets / whatever you want to call them, and love grouping them together. Mantelpieces provide an ideal place for these. We have had a series of earthquakes recently, and amazingly, none of this stuff fell off!

evelynj · 04/09/2013 06:16

Ooh, just updated mine as was too sparse. Mainly symmetrical-large black candlesticks at end then at mo-small vases with pink roses in, (different small glass/crystal vases with 3 roses in one & 7 odd in other), then different White photo frames (one portrait, one landscape), then 3 White votives-one medium, 2 small then beigey type mantel clock in middle.

I love it now & can't wait to plan update for Christmas.

I've always liked the idea of having summer & winter art/photos. Some of the current photos are beach ones so may update to winter ones to add variety!

Anyone do anything special on the Mantel for Christmas?

MinesAPintOfTea · 04/09/2013 06:19

I have a selection of wooden logic puzzles, one of the base stations for the phone and the library books.

LifeIsBetterInFlipFlops · 04/09/2013 06:35

A beautiful chiming clock inherited from my grandparents, photographs of different shapes and sizes.
And usually a tiny Lego piece and a dressmaking pin found adrift on the carpet.

KosherBacon · 04/09/2013 06:37

4 pictures (purposefully arranged so as not to be symmetrical, 3 candles and a polished brick made of wood that we got for our fifth anniversary. Oh and a box of matches for lighting the fire hidden behind a picture.

ggirl · 04/09/2013 12:17

interesting , I may go symmetrical and see if I like it.
evelyn-your mantle sounds huge to hold all that. Love doing mine for christmas but it never turns out as nice as I want it to be.

I have a rather naff clock form homebase on mine atm , would like one of the many carriage clocks we got for wedding gifts but unfortunately no longer have ( we got 6 !)

OP posts:
evelynj · 04/09/2013 21:12

Haha, not at all huge but has been so sparse for ages that it's pretty homely now. I'd love to look at loads of mantel photos-there should be a website for it!

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 04/09/2013 21:16

A stupid amount at the moment:
picture of dd1
ditto of dd2
ditto of dd1 and dd2 together
3 awards
5 congratulations cards
one handmade pot with pinecones in
one handmade pot without pinecones in
2 candles
dp's childhood football award
one handmaid pot with small felt people in
one pottery Converse hi-top
one coaster (Sex Pistols)
one pot of a Clinique freebie thingie from a magazine
a watch and a hairslide

It clearly needs sorting out!

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 04/09/2013 21:17

Handmade not handmaid. Gah.

VerySmallSqueak · 04/09/2013 21:19

Mine is not symmetrical - I'm not so keen on symmetry.

Currently I have a wooden carving,two glass tealight holders,a tin tealight holder,a morrocan-style tea light holder,a lamp,and a pottery offering from DD2.

RedPencils · 04/09/2013 21:19

Clock
3 candles
A wedding invitation
Photos of DCs

miscellaneous crap shoved behind the clock that I pretend isn't there

Silverfoxballs · 04/09/2013 21:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 04/09/2013 22:03

Big clock in the middle, I wouldn't have chosen it myself and it doesn't work but it has sentimental value. Few small photos in frames either side, a few fir cones at one end, a little tiny wooden box containing Nintendo DS games at the other and two coasters as it gets cups put on it quite a lot.

Rarely change any of it, but at Christmas the photos go away and a large gold metal wire Christmas tree goes on it with all the cards in, we haven't really got anywhere else to put them and it looks festive. Last year I put a big cut glass vase full of red and gold baubles at the other end.

Mintyy · 04/09/2013 22:09

Conran shop clock in the middle, 2 traditional pewter candlesticks with white candles at each end, 4 pieces of porcelain pottery made by a friend of mine, a small dark Mark Rothko print propped up and all of dh's birthday cards.

Kezztrel · 04/09/2013 23:02

A tile with a fox on it, a tile with a scene of birds on a bird feeder, a silver bird ornament, a knitted woollen hedgehog, a string of silver butterflies, some framed butterfly brooches, and some wooden toadstools.

I like animals...

Kahu · 05/09/2013 05:41

A big mirror propped up against the wall in the middle (must hang it some day), 2 glass cylinder hurricane lamps (one big, one small) with pillar candles & a stone native carving of a bear (we call him Walter) on the left.

On the right, a big pha phaelo orchid and a square mercury glass vase with a votive in it. It's a huge mantepiece & it looks a bit bare really.

However I have finally managed to obtain a decent photo of both DCs together so I think I will print it in B&W & put it up there in a nice frame. That's the plan anyway, DS is 3 years old & I still haven't printed his baby photos so it will likely continue to look bare for some time...

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