The weather still isn’t sure what season it wants to be, but my calendar says Springtime.  We’re jumping in!

Our mantel is the centerpiece of our livingroom, and since the livingroom is really the center of our family life, I think of the mantel as the place where we first connect with the seasons and the atmosphere of our home.  Last weekend, I made a few subtle changes toward spring, and those changes began with the livingroom mantel.  I like to have little bits of natural materials all over the house.  Just small reminders that the divide between indoors and out doesn’t have to be so wide.

Before:

(I made this little clay pot in high school.  No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get it any bigger.  And the large pinecone is left over from Christmas.)

After:

(Our older son made this bird at a library program last spring.  It is made of natural clay and Spanish moss.  I love it!)

Before:

(Red wool and autumn-toned cotton are replaced by…)

After:

(…sage and lilac alpaca blends and green cotton.  The wooden truck gets to stay.)

And a beautiful addition:

For a few days now, the tulips have begun to bow their pretty white heads.  I think they look all the more beautiful as they seem to reach down to us from the mantel.  The bouquet stretches in a sweet, comical way.  I wish the tulips would last forever!

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