A New Mantel for Christmas

Does anyone have a home improvement project lying around undone?  Does it speak to you in your dreams?  Do you avoid that room because you can't stand the guilt?  Well, we bought a fixer upper (cosmetically, not structurally, thank goodness), so needless to say, there are projects like that in almost every room of my house.  

Some of the projects are tolerable, but some of the things taunt me, nay bully me until I feel bad about myself.  One of the biggest things are the empty lights fixtures above my mantel.  They were naked when we bought the house.  Funny story: One Christmas I packed my mantel full of decorations in attempt to hide them.  My dad was looking at it and said, "That looks so cool, but what are those red dots?  Are those berries?"  No, Dad, they are the exposed wiring.  

This is the only before picture that I could find-an artsy picture my brother's friend took.  See that spot on the wall above the mini chair?  It was there for 5 YEARS!

The planets aligned and I found a solution to the problem without breaking the bank.  When buying our Christmas tree at Lowe's, I ran over to look at their sconce selection.  FYI...wall sconces are very hard to find.  

Fast forward to 3 trips to Lowe's, 4 text messages to my decorator aunt (thank you Aunt Margaret for pointing out that everything I was looking at was BATHROOM lighting), and $32 for sconces, I have this:

The shades weren't made for the sconce, but I made it work.  It's just in time for Christmas and The Lettered Cottage's link party.  Now, I can finally go in the living room with absolutely no guilt.