Cluttered or Clustered? or The Minor Adjustment That Made Me Stop Hating My Winter Mantel

Earlier this month I posted a peek of some clearance goodies I picked up to help with my winter decorating. I finally got around to it…BUT, I wondered why I was getting an unsettling feeling every time I walked by my mantel. I had mostly shopped the house and used items I love and use often…but something was just off. After a few days I realized what it was. It just looked too cluttered! I enjoy a collected look and am fond of layers, but this is the look that was bothering me (in fact, it must have bothered me so much I couldn’t get a clear photo, ha)…

Here is the “after” shot. Can you tell what I did differently?

That’s right! I didn’t remove or replace a thing!! The problem was that I hadn’t grouped my groupings close enough so that it just looked like a bunch of individual items strewn across the mantel. Now this is a grouping…