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.

OH no I'm far from done. This project was actually multi room - included the bathroom, upgrading the "old" kids bath to more of a guest bath (cosmetic only), creating a "wall of closets" for a bedroom by opening the adjoining room's closet and re-doing the whole wall to be double doors for each closet, changing the adjoining room into a guest room (costmetic only), and remaking the old baby room into an office (cosmetic only). We have a few major ones left, including a total demo replace of a detached garage and finishing the basement. A couple minor including "lockers" in our back mud entry and refacing a fireplace. It will be years before a sabbatical! :) can't afford to do it all at once of course.

Jetted tubs are horrible to clean. Yes, you can fill them & disinfect with bleach but If you only use the jets occasionally I'm never sure if there is a buildup in the lines. So I rarely use the jets. Cleaning the exterior portion of the jets is also a bother as it is plastic and darkens from the iron in water no matter how much you scrub. Maybe other brands are better than mine. I would either go with air or soaking tub.

I had a garden for years but not the last two, due to low plant production. I believe my soil was the issue. Well now the “garden” is a bunch of weeds... so I do not want to plant there unless I put down some sort of barrier (Im going with a raised bed garden so I can more easily control soil quality). I want everything to be organic and heard landscaping fabric is not. I know some gardeners use food grade plastic but I haven’t found any in small quantities and it seems to cost over $50 - not every budget friendly! My questions are: 1) how deep should my bed be (typically grow peppers, cud’s, zucchini, beans and tomatoes) - easiest build is 10.5 inches but heard I should go with 12”? suggestions on what to put under my bed if building over previous garden? another option I heard of is to place raised bed over existing grass which will break down and be beneficial. Do you agree? Just afraid of getting lots of weeds again! Thanks for your help!