Redecorating

 The card catalog, "Before."

Right before we had Malachi, my niece Nikki came over with her two boys, ages 1 1/2 and 3 1/2.
Nikki is very forthright, and she watched her boys getting into Nate's guitars,
my Japanese glass fishing floats, trays full of shells, 
and other myriad decorations.
She said, "Wow, Laura, you are gonna have to change your whole house when the baby gets here."
So, the time has come.

 The card catalog, "During."

 The card catalog, "After."

 The coffee table, "Before."

 The coffee table, "After."

 The sofa table, "Before."

(By the way, for those who read my last post, this table cost $3 at a garage sale.

 It needed black paint to be house-worthy.)
   

 The sofa table, "After."

Some of the antlers ended up on the mantel.
I like how they echo the waves of of the ocean in the clipper lithograph behind them.
The fishing floats in mint julep cups remind me of ice-cream cones.
Their amber, blue and green also pick up the colors of the ship picture.
The frame on the lithograph was my anniversary gift from Nate.
What still bugs me on this mantel is the fake ivy in the urns.
I want to get rosemary topiaries, probably in the same urns,
but I don't want the bother and expense of real plants.

The book is Two Years Before the Mast, which I haven't read yet.
Nate's mom got it for me at a thrift store.
I love to get rid of stuff,
but it's hard to resist old hard-covers.

Decorating advice from Malachi:
Almost always,
Less is more.

(This advice also applies to how to dress babies in 91-degree heat).