Last time you saw our bookshelves they were empty. Like, boxes and boxes of books and trinkets were homeless. On Saturday it was time to get organized and clean out a bit. I was actually kind of excited to go through some old books (sorry Twilight and Jodi Picoult) and make a donation pile. There is something nice about having things that kind of represent literature on our shelves and not I'msingleandwanttoreadbooksaboutfindinglove a la "beach books". (But seriously, don't act like you haven't read "Something Borrowed" and Jennifer Weiner books, too.)

I tend to enjoy finding places for things, but on Saturday I just couldn't get it all to come together. So far everything looks just ok.




I need to toy with the arrangement of books a bit more. But, that's actually not the point of this post. A few weeks ago when we were at IKEA we happened upon these lanterns:





We passed them up at the time, but then decided that they would be a good accessory for the top of our mantle. In our schlepping from house to house on Mother's Day, we passed by IKEA and picked up 3 lanterns. Let me tell you, holding an old-timey lantern in each hand necessitates all sorts of jokes. I busted out a killer Beauty and The Beast impression from when they storm the castle, and also one from a holiday concert we see at Harvard called "The Revels".


Once we were home we assembled our lanterns and placed them on the mantle.



I really like them, but I made no effort to "arrange" them. So, what are your thoughts? Stagger them with photos? Center them between the windows? Help!