$2.50 Mantle Makeover

Dear Minnesota, I love you. I have been breathing your fresh clean air and walking on your soil since Sunday. It is now my last night..and soon I will return to the corn fields and flooded swamp land of Iowa. Don't worry Iowa, I love you too...but there is just something about Minnesota...

While here, I am staying with my bff (yes, I kinda feel 12 when I say bff but it is true, she is!). Jane and I have been friends since 5th grade. We got along for the most part through the teen years only really butted heads a few times...but when did our friendship really flourish? I would say it started our senior year. Then we ended up going to the same college, and she lived in a dorm room directly under mine. She did wonderful in college...I, however, was overcome with "I am out of the house-itis"...partied a little too hard, socialized more than studied...and ultimately was pregnant by the end of October...but that is another story for another time. Back to Jane...she would be considered my bff because she has been there through every single phase in my adult life, whether it was my young single parent phase, moving around a lot phase, broke as a joke phase, married phase (wait...I don't think I can call marriage a phase because it is lifelong for me).

Jane is a successful business women. Works in a great job for an NBA team. Has lots of friends. Lots of travels and adventures. BEAUTIFUL shoes, gloriously full closets of clothes. Impecible fashion sense. Yet...she is still down to earth. Great friend. Someone I can see once a year and pick up with right where we left off last time.

Now..what you have all been waiting for...getting to the title of the post: $2.50 Mantle Makeover. Jane is busy busy busy and is a bachelorette. Jane's refridgerator looks like this:

Pickles, milk, water...and leftover Chipolte

Lean Cuisine's and popsicles
(In all fairness, Jane's mom recently stayed and did clean out her fridge...however...this is what I would expect to see in the fridge of a single busy working women)

 So this week I have been sleeping on her comfy couch, and staring up at her fireplace. It is lined with candles and picture frames. EMPTY picture frames, which I understand have been that way for awhile. But Jane is busy...who has time to worry about printing pictures or decorating, right? So I did what any friend would do. Actually...not just any friend should do what I did...because if someone came into my home and re-arranged while they were there I might actually not like it. But knowing Jane....I think she will be in good spirits about it. Oh yeah, I am blogging about this before she even has a chance to see it. oops.

This is before: Candles and blank picture frames.

This is after.

No drastic change. Totally removeable if she hates it.

But...now there is something in the frames until she has time to add pictures...AND it adds a little spunk of color.

Can anyone guess what I used to fill the frames? I will tell you tomorrow...promise.

Here are a couple that were on a shelf that were empty too: