One of the glass faced cupboards. the other one is exactly the same on the other side.

It's wonderful! It's hard to say for sure without a pic from farther back, but I would say the top of the frame should be just below the black brick directly above it.

I don't think of myself as having ocd tendencies, but I'd have to line up the shelves in those cabinets. :-) If you don't want too many things to display, sometimes a plate or platter standing on edge can fill a whole cubby and not look too cluttered. I always like books, too. Even a stack, with or without a smaller item on top. Either or both of your pots on the mantle would look nice inside, too. Sometimes keeping all the display items in the same finish/family can keep it cohesive and less cluttered looking - like all silver or all copper, etc.

Is this far enough back?

I was thinking a pic of the whole wall including the cabinets. But try taking a couple of cans of soup or something and balance (carefully!) the art on top and see how you like that height for hanging.

And I know I never shifted around the shelves yet but since I had different height things I wondered if that would still trigger the OCD :-)

Hi again :-). Do I need more stuff on the shelves? The picture on the counter is being moved so please ignore. The Chinese lunch box and glass framed wedding picture will stay however. I like mixed metals but I'm not sure if this is too mixed up?

The art piece is lovely - and I think it needs to be somewhere else. I think you'd be better off with either a rectangular piece hanging horizontally, or several smaller pieces. The large square painting feels off to me.

Picture is two cans higher.

Please excuse the yellow wire going across the fireplace we are getting our system moved to another location but it will be another two weeks for that to occur.

Hi Carrie thank you very much for your opinion. :-).

Anywhere else and this picture would not be a focal point in the room which is what we want because we both enjoy looking at it. I'm sure we will eventually Tire of it and I will change to a different shape picture above the fireplace mantel.

Just as an aside would it help to get two other pieces to go on either side of the picture I have now?

Does raising the picture help to you at all?

Or is it simply a matter of having the same distance top and bottom and both sides to your perception?

I only see one can higher (using two cans)?? I think I'd try about one more can higher (only maybe use something that won't be hard to balance - like a tall tomato juice or coffee can - although no one probably has those in their pantries any more)!

Try grouping 3 things in a cubby, then maybe a whole stack or shelf of books for some relief. Maybe the watering can behind the pot next to the map vase with the spout toward the vase? Do you have any plates, trays you could stand up in back of one of the cubbies with things displayed in front?

eta: too many little things on the mantel. Maybe try the big silver thing on the left cupboard up there for a start.

Can you take a pic like you have the painting now, from that farther perspective?

Hi again hope those pictures help and hope the clock gives the same feeling as a stack of books as I really don't have very many books anymore I purged it was great. :-). I'm not sure if the book is a third thing or not? I don't have a third thing for the shiny Copper Pot to the left on top. I'll keep looking as I'm unearthing things I decided to keep but had not unpacked yet.

Can you take the large picture in the right hand cabinet and place it elsewhere as, when I see the entire view, that one pieces is hogging for attention and they beautiful art should be the star. Also, will the cab doors close, can we see them that way? Is the art an oil or a print?

The cabinet to the left is definitely a work in progress. my husband is making me a stand for my lion door knocker and I'm not sure if I have too many animal pieces. If so I'll change them to the right hand side. I'll switch things around I mean. plus I have nothing stacky on there except for my one case at the bottom right-hand Shelf. Things are not in threes either.

I think it's an actual painting it doesn't feel really textured to me though. I am I admit it completely clueless when it comes to art I just see something that I enjoy and I purchase it. I know I'm not supposed to have that many pieces on the mantle I'm just trying pieces that I come across and am going to edit later. Opinions as to what works best on the mantle are appreciated as well thank you.

Thank you for everybody's help :-).

Switched this spout around because I did miss read olychick's comment

I actually like it one can high like shown. How does it look to you in real life? I like the 3 brass pieces together with the larger pitcher! Just don't center the front piece exactly between the other two; pull it forward and maybe just slightly to the right?

It's fun to see all the things you have to choose from to display. I think you'll just have to try things and see what pleases you. The one thing that I'd say is that most of the things are pretty similar in size and visual weight. A couple of groupings is okay, but don't arrange everything in threes. It would be best to find a couple of larger things to go solo in some of the cubbies. And, again, I'll suggest one cubby full of books, either vertical on the shelf or stacked. And edit, edit, edit. You don't want them to all be full of things because then nothing will really be noticeable, it will just become a jumble.

I looked for some inspiration pics for you, but literally every cabinet I could find like yours was painted white or a light color, so the look was very different. It made me think to suggest maybe trying (just to see what you think) taping some light color paper on the back of one of the cubbies to see how it looks. If you like the look, you could get posterboard, paint it the color of your walls, cut it to size and just fit it on the back of the shelves to lighten everything up and make your items show up more.

These were two of the rare, natural wood displays I could find. I especially like the second one, but those are shelves going the full length of the cabinet, which gives you other options for arranging.

Thank you so much for the examples! I will continue to fiddle with the placement of items in that cabinet and look for some books. :-). I notice there are shots of orange/red in the second cabinet. I might try something like that except for with blue. Thank you again.

Cabs looking good, but no futzy little things on your fireplace mantle. The painting is the star!

Love the art and wondering if you could remove everything else on the mantle and try putting the bronze duck with the beautiful blue color and set it at an angle looking towards the left straight, place it to the right of the art. Very close to the duck put the brass item that resembles a sail boat and in front of it put the tiny duck up. These are all things found in nature and would enhance the picture due to the colors. I may be wrong, please humor me.

Hi. Olychick I really do like the picture at the height it's at in real life too. It looks great to me. :-).

Thank you 1 pinkmountain. I find a mantel extremely glaringly bare when just the picture is there. So I'm trying to find the right thing for the mantle. I might not and that's okay but I would like to try. :-).

Will give that a try yayagal and post a pic. thank you very much for the idea :-)

Here's Olychick's suggestion of putting the little container in front of the big one and over to the right a little bit. let me know if that's what you had in mind. I like it from my perspective.

This is 1 pink Mountain and yayagal's suggestions. Did I get this right?

love the idea of the birds and sailboat on the mantel. I'd leave the birds on the right and try the sailboat on the left, tho....It looks odd to have them trailing each other. And maybe turn the duck, just a tiny bit forward so it's not absolutely perpendicular to the wall.

In the cubby, I'd still move the front pot just a little to the right and forward a bit, if possible so a little more of the spout shows.

Here it is pulled over maybe too far to the right I mean the little pot in front of the big one. Also my kitty cat is in place.

Funny! You could remove the cans now that you know how it looks! When you get farther back, like in this picture I do think the items on the mantel are too small in relation to the size of the fireplace and art. The duck looks great, if it were the smallest piece. Could you try the tall silver piece up there, just for scale?

Like the kitty, but there is still way too much stuff in the cubbies, I think. Could the square box on the top shelf go under the pitcher in the cubby with the map vase to make it appear a bit bigger?

I'm not sure if I'm on the right track but I did get some books up on both sides of the fireplace.

Like the books additions and the kitty on the kitty book! Try the box under the pitcher instead of the map vase :-) Maybe another book between the ducks and remove that other thing next to them. Is the polka dots another cat? If so, maybe pair it with the other on the kitty book and remove that other stuff on the kitty book. Edit, edit, edit. Still too much stuff!

Attempt number 331 million. I'm a little bit slow on the reading so sometimes I miss things. Thank you again for your help.

Here are the shelves all even as suggested by Olychick way back when. I'd forgotten that I read that :-)

Please disregard the pots and lion door knocker on the very bottom as they are being moved.

I'm looking for something to go on each side of the painting still so this is not a finished thing.

I have a similar mantle against a brick fireplace. I found larger, solid colored, more structural things worked best on top. Smaller more detailed things just got lost against the brick, particularly without a strong color contrast. YMMV.

Love your built-ins and the things you have on them. Some gorgeous pieces!

Sorry for the picture heavy page. :-). I have trouble expressing at certain times in words. So the pictures attempt to speak for me.

Thank you Deborah for reminding me of creating the more soothing lines that I'd forgotten that Olychick told me about

Olychick not sure if you're following this but you have helped me immeasurably. I have gone back several times over what you have said and that has been greatly appreciated and keeping me or editing.

Yayagal I found this at a second hand shop. I guess it didn't suit the other person's decor or something like that. I was happy to pay the under $100 for it as it really makes me smile. Thank you for the compliment on it.

1 pink mountain thank you the compliment on my tchotchkes. I kept only my favorites when I purged many many many many things. Thanks also for your help with understanding why the smaller pieces don't work very well. When I'm up close to the fireplace I can see the pieces I love it's very hard to understand why they shouldn't be there. We are now looking for something more solid and structured but not sure what maybe some thick blue or black candle holders?