weekend recap: sweet shutters

Napoleon Dynamite's definition of sweet. Like, saaaa-weet shutters. I made a secret decision not to spend any money this weekend, because I maybe want to save my monies for a Hobby Lobby stock-up-for-fall trip. Maybe. But then we just had to go to the Habitat Restore to see if they had any plywood for another project. And they happened to have these shutters and they just spoke to me. They spoke to me, I tell you.

I've been spending a lot of time trying to figure out what to do with our mantel. I've always had a painting hanging over it - a wedding gift from my in-laws. I love that painting, but I wanted something a little more unexpected. And it looks better in the dining room here anyway :)

But in all of my "mantel decor" google searches, I didn't find a single thing that I loved so much that I wanted to copy it I felt inspired. It was either too traditional or too modern or too bold or too boring or too not me. [I did, however, make note of several Christmas mantels. Yesssssss.] So I stuck with my lantern and some greenery, and my spray-painted mirror. And I told myself that I could live with it.

I didn't hate it. It just didn't feel bold enough - it felt too pastel and bland compared to the rest of what I have going on in here.

But in all of my mantel searches, there was one thing that kept jumping out at me: two, vertical panel-like objects [i.e. art prints, shutters, molding] placed side-by-side on the mantel. I love it. I gravitate toward symmetry but this isn't candles on either side of a mirror and I love the non-traditional twist.

So when I spotted these two weathered and worn black shutters (for $6 each) perched in the corner at the Habitat Restore, my mantel vision finally came together. I stood there, staring at the shutters, imagining them in my living room.

I imagined them decorated for Christmas [never a good sign] and I even tuned out the creepy Habitat worker man who told me that they were "Charleston Green." No, honey. That's black, but thank you. And please leave me alone so I can figure out how to string Christmas lights around these.

Oh, I just love them. They COMPLETE this room. This pic doesn't even do it justice, but they're perfect.

Pitter-pat, pitter-pat.

I'm linking up to a partaaaay: