I rarely would want to make these a design element so I would need to see your space . As for the pieces themselves I can't think of why they would not work.

Thanks, Patricia. I agree that most of the time I just want the vents to disappear, but in about 5 (10%) of my vents I think that won't be best (3 are on stained wood, and two are pretty prominent, in a craftsman style house. I could go with ORB metal (a little more expensive, and a little more obvious against the wood). But I've never seen the laser cut wood in real life, and worry how it stands up in practice (like you, I can't think why it wouldn't, but I'm not a pro!).