Vignettes

I've been reading Happiness at Home by Gretchen Rubin.  Gretchen dedicated nine months to concentrate on the factors that matter for her home such as marriage, time parenthood, etc.  The first chapter of her book discusses possessions and she talks about how possessions can both overwhelm us (if we have too many that aren't meaningful or useful) or can bring us happiness.  She talks about how she made "shrines" around her house to display possessions that were meaningful to her.  It got me thinking about the "vignettes" that I have created around our house and how they reflect our personality and are meaningful to me.  So I thought I'd share a few of the things that we have displayed on our enterment center, which is the focal point of our living room.

When we first bought it, it sat naked for several months because I didn't want to go buy things to fill it up.  Then one night I decided to raid the garage and realized that I had plenty of fun and meaningful mementos to decorate with.  Here's what I ended up with.

Right side of our entertainment center

My husband I both studied marine biology in college and have a deep connection with the ocean.  So we have quite a collection of field guides and other marine-related books.  We also both love old chinese fishing floats.

The shell is my great, great aunts and the books are a collection of some of my favorite coffee table books.

The box and sea glass were from our wedding and the shells were collected over the years on our many walks on the beach.

Here is a collection of some of my favorite books.  My son loves to pick flowers for me so I got this bud vase to display the flowers he gives me.  It makes both of us happy.

The second shelf has another box and sea glass from our wedding as well as the abalone shell that served as our "ring" pillow at our wedding.  And last but not least more coffee table books.  My mom used to give me coffee table books in various subjects that she knew I loved.  I used to keep them stored in the garage because I thought they were too beautiful to get rid of.  Now they have a home where I can look at them.  The top book is one of my favorites.  My dad and I took a trip to Paris and visited the Orsey while we were there.  We both really loved the art there and the book reminds me both of our love of art and the wonderful time we had on the trip.  The "rock" on top of them is actually a whale vertebrae that my husband found.

Left side of our entertainment center

So there it is. One of places in my house that display the possessions that are full of history and meaning for us and make me smile when I look at them.