Many years ago, when I was a little girl and my hometown was still a wonderful community in which all of yours needs could be met without leaving its' one square mile, one of my mothers many purchases for us from the used furniture store down by the hospital on the river was this fireplace mantle. Back then it was more off white than yellow and the barn red insert was a faux black & white marble. It also came with one of those light-up electric log sets that had a tiny fan which blew strips of yellow, red & orange cellophane for that "cracking fire" affect. I loved it! I remember lying on the livingroom floor in front of it, in the dark, watching & listening to the "fire."
Fast forward to 2004. I'm 29 and Mom decided to get rid of the mantle. She told me if we didn't pick it up by the end of that weekend, she'd take it apart and get rid of it herself. And I knew she would. She was infamous for doing that when she made up her mind to get rid of something that was too big for her to move by herself. (How exactly she was able to take furniture and even a TV apart though, I've no idea but she did it!) Hubby and I brought it home that Sunday.
This mantle made three moves with Mom and two with us so far if you include that first move from her place to ours. Unlike Mom who kept it plain with only a mantle clock on top, I decorate it for the seasons & holidays. For some reason, it never dawned on her to do that and the first time she saw how I decorated it for Halloween, she told me she wanted it back! Today it's adorned with Summer fare (yes, I know it's still Spring!): Pink & white roses from my garden, sea shells from Sandy Hook, a garland of red, white & blue barn stars, a nest of dried Spanish Moss from Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, a few candles & other knickknacks. That small brown wood box with a lighthouse carved on its' lid is home to some of my mother.in.law's ashes. The electric log set is long gone and for the past couple of years I've placed large jar candles inside a John Deere firewood tub which give the soft, flickering affect of a fire when lit at night. That carved wood cane? Hubby found it after we moved here. You've seen the end of A Miracle On 34th Street, haven't you? :o)
This mantle has probably been in my life some 30 years now! I've no idea how old it actually is though I believe it's in the replica style of Greek Revival. I've always lived in apartments and it has always helped make them feel like home. The apartments I had in the ten years or so I lived without it never felt "just right." Funny how an inanimate object can become so much a part of us! I can't imagine our home without it.
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