Help out the Decorationally Challenged

Totally made that word up just now.

Well I thought I did. But I like to google things before I lay claim to them. Sadly, I will not be getting credit for this phrase in any future dictionaries. Le Sigh.

However the fact still remains that I am completely inept at decorating. Mostly I just get lucky when something turns out nicely. And fortunately for me, my preferences seem to fall on the more eclectic end of the decorating scale. All that actually means is I can throw a bunch of "primitives" or "kitsch" (aka, junk) on a shelf or wall and it comes out looking like I did it on purpose.

I want some help though. Now that all the Christmas decorations are gone, our mantel has been bare for a few weeks.

Its quite pitiful. And I hate that stupid socket that is right there in the middle. Who does that? I should give a tour of all the messed up stuff in our house one day. The previous owners really did some dumb stuff to this house. Things we didn't really noticed because we were doe-eyed dum dums when we were house shopping. We fix them one by one but mostly we just wander room to room and yell in frustration "WHY THE EFF IS THIS LIKE THIS!!!! WHO DOES THIS!!! GAH! I HATE *insert previous owner's name here*!!!"

I had all this crap kitsch up there before the holiday. Photos, a vase with crappy fake flowers, some random knick knacks. I want to go with something different this time but I have no idea what I want. That's where you come in. Help me shop! The only thing that I would like to keep is the frame above the mantel. The only other catch is that the living room is small-ish. So if I put too much stuff up there it starts to consume the room and makes it feel cluttered and even smaller.

I need help! Do you have any suggestions? Or show me a photo of your mantel (leave a link in the comments). Pier One is calling my name. Maybe I will find some inspiration there.