Mantel Display

So you know how one project leads to another which leads to another and so on....
Well, that is what happened with my dining room buffet.
Kevin has a small train collection and some of them had been sitting on this buffet along with some other decor.  But I wanted to decorate the buffet for Christmas and be able to use it as a buffet during out New Year's Eve party.   I took off the trains and decorated the buffet for Christmas
:

But now I had to find a place for the trains...

I decided it would be nice to display them on our fireplace mantel which looked like this:

 I had several pictures of the kids just sitting up there.

But if I wanted the trains to be on the mantel I needed a place to put the pictures.
I have a fear of putting holes in walls so after using the Command hooks for my towel hanging project (mentioned HERE), I decided to try the Command picture hanging hooks.

 
I used the ones specifically for hanging pictures with a sawtooth hook, even though my pictures didn't have the sawtooth type hook, it still worked.  For the large picture in the center, I did  use a regular ol' hammer and nail to hang that since it was heavier.

Here is what the Command Strips look like on the wall waiting to 'cure' before adding the pictures.

I like everything to be symmetrical and to match, but Kevin likes asymmetry when it comes to hanging art.  So he talked me into this configuration of pictures.

 I didn't like it so the next day I changed it to look like this:

Ah, much better.  Still not totally symmetrical but it brings more balance to my life.  So glad I used the Command Strips which come off cleanly (they didn't peel off the paint and it's just flat paint on the wall).  That is why I have a fear of putting holes in wall, because I like to move things around.  I'm already thinking of what else I can hang with the Command Strips.

And here is the mantel with the trains on it:

Notice I didn't put the trains up symmetrically either.  Kevin's artistic asymmetrical-ness must be wearing off on me.

So now the dining room buffet looks like this.
Needs a little something don't you think?
Well, that's a whole 'nother project and who knows what that'll lead too...