Hi I am new here haven't finished my profile. But I'd like to share and say the best way to make a piece you really love that does not really match, is to NOT to attempt to MATCH IT! Transform it into something that will become for yourself a piece of Art your granny may have been proud of you reviving it and maybe your friends will see it as a real conversation piece. So how about to go about it? We don't know your age, liking and you haven't added a photo of the entire room and table etc. Yes you can go the boring way and make it neutral. If your room can muster it you can go dark or you can light or bright. I am a colour lover. This is our show house in South Africa it is eclectic large yet has many cozy corners. http://www.flickr.com/photos/vicarious1/ but I live in a home in Canada that isn't less colourful. Depending your dexterity in painting you could go: DARK: Simply paint it all in black mat/ velvet or semi or high gloss finish and if you can make all the relief details in gloss or mat or gold or silver leaf. (not the concave) You could also paint it a dark gunmetal grey and decorate the entire front (over the ornaments) with gold or silver leaf applied in a very random and irregular manner. LIGHT: You could paint it any shade of white ( but plane white that is a no no) use any egshell with grey, blue, pink, beige what ever suits your eye and have all the relief only in aluminum paint or silver leaf or the sunken panels and leave the relief as the main body colour BRIGHT. You could paint it all in a rich dark China /mat/ velvet or semi or high gloss red with all the relief in gold, or bronze, copper any darker metallic leaf you can find. You could also paint it a rich Royal blue or even navy blue in a mat/ velvet or semi or high gloss finish with the relief in black or a deep mahogany red. If you go for a solid dark colour you could copy the top shape and cut out a stunning pattern wallpaper large scale flowers or tropical leaves maybe with some gold or silver in the pattern or a velvet finish pose it on the top and cover with a pane of glass that you can have cut and made to match with or without beveled edges the ticker the better depending your budget. You could then also wallpaper the concave areas with the same wallpaper. OR: Go totally daring. Get it out in an area that is safe spray paint it any bold dark colour and than plash several small pots of contrast colours on top and let it run down over the edge along the sides NATURALLY don't try to intervene and let it take its course. OR: if that is to bold take a few brushes and speckle it with different colours from several yards away. Make sure it all 100% dry than cover with one layer of varnish or if you know how to a layer of clear high gloss resin. OR: If you find yourself the soul of a painter artist get one large SUMIE brush or a large 2-3 " wide brush and with a half dry brush and paint some very large naive flowers or leaves all over the piece folding the petals over the edges and over the recessed panels etc You don't want strokes that are totally full, you want the base colour to show through. OR: You go to the flea market and find a bunch of old news papers mabye some that tell things you like or form your grannies time. Wallpaper the entire piece and then paint with mat varnish or gloss varnish and you could also chose crackling varnish that has a cracked old look. you can do that white over black, or black over cream ( sort of Chinese) UNLESS the top matches 100% anything in the room, it has the go! You don't want a totally off looking wood veneer finish that does NOT match anything else. If you want to go green have a glass cut matching and collect a solid stack of autumn leaves or dry flowers simply lay them out on the top and then crash it all under a rather heavy plate of glass (beveled edge would be nice) GENERAL INSPIRATION: Here is my personal Pinterest type of photo collection since 1995 there are many tens of thousand of pics collected over many years surfing the net http://smu.gs/XTJb6u there is interiors, Art etc and they go by gallery A, B , C of the same title +- 5000 pics per gallery "Rosa" is the word you want to type there once you are are asked for it.

I love my real houseplants, wouldn't have them any other way. I don't find it that difficult to water all of them, pretty much on the same schedule. If i could afford fresh flowers 2x monthly it'd be great. We can't but, we don't replace with fake. The best part about fresh is the part where my husband surprises me with them, occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, except he "thought of " me today and I don't care they were 2 for 5$ at the grocery store. It's the thought that matters, and it matters, alot.

I vote pink bliss. Two years ago I painted my (then 4) daughter's room a pink similar to the top and it was just too much. We've since moved and just finished building. Now 6, she chose pink again, but we went with a much softer pink. It's both lovely and won't be outgrown quite as quickly. Her room will be beautiful.

Ok I am having the same problem with mine. So I keep cutting it back until I see it green. There is white showing so should I keep cutting until I hit green? I have some that I cut that did have a hole in the middle. Will go out there and see if I have to cut them back anymore. I had covered them up with burlap but was having issues with my shoulder in that of a pulled muscle. I noticed there are new red buds at the base and further up. Cut it back a bit more and all the old leaves plus thin ones. Cut back on the sunny too. Don't have to do nothing with the shield rose it survived. Not one brown shoot on it!!!! And it is got lots and lots of new little green leaves opening up on it. Great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Got this one for Canada's 150th. Roses on it are beautiful and they even have a faint smell to them to.