Homefront: Peacock Mantel Decorating

Here is the peacock embroidered art I won at a charity auction for $6. The woman who brought it, was probably in her 70's, and told me her great aunt had made it many years ago. She is also the one who also brought the red boots I won. We were kindred spirits, I suppose. What time period would you place this design?

One lady told me the art was hideous, and I must have bid on it just for the frame. I told her that I liked things that have a bit of character, and enjoy finding ways to use things that others find "ugly". So, it's fortunate that I was resolved to say my piece without offending, or being offended.

In any case, I think the peacock is adorable. It looks perfect in my home. I would rather have a home pieced together, one little find at a time, than one that was designed quickly by buying matching mass produced accessories on a store shelf in a single afternoon. (No hate to those who do that, just not my thing at this point~ though of course, I do have some new store bought items myself.)

 Building my collections over time is therapeutic, builds great memories, and lets our home evolve naturally as we do. It is also a lot better on our budget, the environment (b/c  reusing old items cuts down on production waste of new ones, and garbage on throwing away old things), and I don't have the guilt of supporting loose regulations on pay and working conditions of impoverished employees overseas.

Okay, back to decorating! Here, you can see how the mantle arranging evolved until I felt it was just right,( it took about 5 minutes of my life). Both nice and plain, but once again, going against my "remove one item" philosophy, I decided more is more, so that's what I did, and I have no regrets.

Do you have any decorating philosophies that drive you at all, or am I just insane? Before we move, I will have to change this mantle up one at least one more time. I'm going to miss not having it.