A Streamline Moderne ashtray and a pair of brass birds on green onyx, neither one bought for what it was built to do. What changed when I stopped looking at them so literally.

A brass peacock fireplace screen found taped shut in a thrift store aisle turned into a lesson on what makes an antique screen worth buying, from its hinges to its silhouette.

My mantel already has its anchor, an Art Deco clock garniture in black slate and rouge marble. I went to an antique store in Venice, CA looking for what belongs beside it. What I found instead was the one rule that makes a mantel feel finished instead of crowded.