Y'all are so sweet. My goodness and what cool photos! I love putting old stuff in my garden. Its a container garden in a little fenced in courtyard. I have old tarnished silver oval platters hung on the wall like mirrors, and I buy old salt and pepper shakers for cheap at antique or thrift stores or on vacation and put a wooden skewer with a paint chip stapled to it in one of the holes and use them as plant markers (Go Sharpie!). They're nifty and some can become pretty cool little garden statues with a purpose. And they're two for one technically! Plus they're cuter than plastic sticks and gives you something to do with all those pretty, colorful (and often waterproof) paint chips you have leftover from that one project. I think putting different items in your garden or among your plants is kind of like jewelry for your garden. Gives it character and makes it fun to look at while you're waiting patiently (or not so patiently...)for the seedlings to really fill in and become plants. Like the post Marcia! Thanks, Sarah

I have an old wooden box that has Shredded Whole Wheat Biscuit with the address also written on the side sitting beside my husband's recliner being used as an end table...2 six pane windows with the glass replaced with mirrors hanging on the wall..an old wooden shutter just leaning against a wall..haven't decided what to do with it yet...found it floating in the lake... I have 3 wall shelves made out of boards from an old chicken coop from when I was young..several pieces of different sized drift wood decorated and hanging on the walls..an old bird cage hanging from the ceiling..a fruit crate I nailed to the wall(bottom against the wall) that I use for a shelf, with old bowls sitting in it..I also just set one on the floor with a lamp sitting on top.. a log that was also found at the lake that is hollowed out that I set a hanging vine planter in sitting in my living room...and the last project that was just finished before xmas, we cut small trees for curtain rods and wrapped grapevine all around them and made wooden brackets to hang them with, these are above my dining and living room windows..and then I hung little wooden and rustic stars, hearts and angel ornaments from them. Vicki

bigdoglover: The floors are 3" planks, 3/4" thick rift & quartersawn oak with a natural oil based stain (stain finish). The R&Q cut produces more of a straight grain with flecks. We love the look. graywings: I see your point also about all the wood, but it does need something as the side view is completely visable from the kitchen. I'm going to try to balance out all the wood look for a larger rug in the FR and a few more upholstered chairs. Usually the kitchen table is covered with a table cloth, but I had removed it for that picture. shesharee: I think the current trend is going towards what we have now. It certainly gives much more flexibility with the TV to not completely encase in furniture. I see the big honkin' ent. centers being dumped on CL all the time. Right now I'm trying to track down the paperwork for the console with the specs on it. Hopefully DH can find it.

Something I did in my guest bedroom while waiting for the perfect pieces of art was to get a photo calendar with pictures I like and buy some simple black frames. I had a set of four, looked pretty good. The one I had was Japanese watercolor art. Later, I bought two large beach watercolors. I love the beach and I found having beach pictures in the bedroom very relaxing! I like landscapes, but if you don't, then by all means don't. I had some landscapes in my bedroom, but moody ones. One was a cabin glowing with firelight covered by a huge amount of snow illuminated pink by a sunset. Just the perfect spot I would have liked to be and since the snow made it impossible to get in or out of the place, it just evoked peace and relaxation or me. To a Floridian it might have been a living nightmare, lol. Later it was a little homestead cabin on top of a hill, a woodcut. When I went full on beach in one room, I had the typical tropical desert island scene, which also says relax, no interruptions. Landscapes can be very abstract too, my friend's daughter does very abstract landscapes. I'm not trying to sell her stuff, just including a link because I think she does beautiful work and it's a good example of "out of the box" landscapes. Might be too casual for your taste, but who knows, http://emiliesart.blogspot.com/p/gallery-shop.html I also loved metal wall art, and botanical prints. I would love some kind of sculpture made to look like tree branches, but again, that's just me.