I bought this one several years ago at a consignment shop. I hated the finish on the frame, but knew I could fix that problem easily. Here it is Before. It was done in a weird Shabby Chic attempt with blue in the crevices, but the carved wood frame was a nice one: Like you, I had to first figure out what would compliment the picture and work in the room . . . although complimenting the picture should always come first. I thought that an Old World look would work best with this classic print. I painted the outside 3 borders a deep rich brown. This is just acrylic craft paint, BTW. I then used a Raw Umber wash over the outer two, allowing it to stay in the crevices of the second border's carvings. I knew that I wanted the inner frame edge to be gold, so I painted that and then used gold Run-N-Buff on the border next to it. This was a good segue to the gold inner border, IMO. I can't find the rest of my pics that I took as I painted and then antiqued the frame, but here's one of the last steps in my process. After this, I just antiqued the gold inner border with a brown antiquing wash and it was done. The bottom line is that you can use the small bottles of acrylic craft paint, glaze and antiquing medium to easily get what you want on pretty much any ratty or wrong colored frame. I had enough art already on our walls but, with our high ceilings, I wanted to hang something over the doors in our family room. I found the plates after that to hang on either side of it. They're not that orange IRL, but more of a soft amber color. The camera's flash bounces through the glass, off the cream wall behind them and always makes them look like that in pics! Lynn

valinsv- Another Aura fan here, I painted my kitchen cabs, pantry cabs and bookshelves in Aura and they look great and have held up well. There is a definite learning curve to Aura, it sets up very quickly (especially when you heat with wood and your house is warm and dry - yikes), so be prepared for that and don't rebrush, just paint and move on. The self leveling feature is just amazing, it really does self level, and it's ready for a recoat in an hour. I disagree with the above posters who say sanding is not necessary when using a "good" primer, I use "good" primers but *always* sand first and between coats, when painting furniture it's a necessity IMO. Full disclosure: we live in the boonies, have a kid and canines, aren't clean freaks and are hard on stuff, so I prime, sand, tack and paint at least 2 finish coats (over the primer) so everything holds up well. Invest in good brushes, go to the paint store (not a hardware store) and try the brushes to see what feels good in your hand. My fav is Corona (especially the Cortez, it's great for cabs and furniture), but Wooster and Purdy also make good brushes. Get a straight and an angled brush, clean them well, keep them in their holders and they will last a long time. Painting furniture and cabs is very rewarding, and you have a beautiful collection to work on. Good luck- sandyponder

Does your fabricator have a recommendation? What is the rest of your kitchen like? I am sorry that I can not remember do you have cream cabinets or stained wood. Do you have stainless appliances or something else? What about the faucet you are going to use with the prep sink? Does it match the others or is it going to be ORB? If you have stainless in your kitchen you can go with a SS sink no worries. But if you love Silgranite you might consider one of these colors... What do you love? Copper, SS, Silgranite, Kohler white, Whatever you love will work. No worries. If you want me to give you an idea, I would go for a round hammered copper sink with ORB (oil rubbed bronze fauceets and matching hardware) ~boxer Here are some links on copper sinks from GW http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg022326183582.html Show me your prep sink http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0123080710854.html Paramount Granite Sink Close up of Blue Pearl and sink Dimensional Stone Granite Leader Chicago Kohler Fete kitchen sink Butterfly granite and sink Red Dragon Granite and sink Tolca Granite Copper sink Glass! Yes it is a glass sink This is From Garden Webbers's kitchen Reno Flying High Here is a link that might be useful: help with sink color

The thing with yellow is that it "blows up" the more surface area it covers, am I right? I wanted my cabinets to "read" BM Fresh Butter. To do that, I could not actually paint them that color. You really have to Ignore the chip colors almost entirely and be prepared to pick a dirty yellow/more brown than seems advisable color. For me, that came down to Vellum. I also looked at BM Goldfinch, but it was just a bit too brown even "blown up." In the bright sunlight, the sink base cabinets really do read BM Fresh Butter to me, until I hold the chip up to them. Then, they don't. Yellow is the hardest color - also because the color takes several coats (often) to fully develop (so its a pain to swatch it). The cabinet color was the hardest part of my kitchen plan. When you see my mood board at the final reveal, you'll still see the Fresh Butter strip :-). I couldn't let it go (and the Vellum strip is just "meh").