Sonicmom - The chairs feel like they did before they were painted. If you want smooth, start with a smooth chair (sanded if necessary) and apply maybe three thin coats of paint. If you want to decoupage, there will be raised areas and how raised depends on the thickness of your cutouts. If they're wallpaper they will be a little thicker but if they're tissue paper or napkins they will be thinner. CEFreeman, I have three terracotta pots I fill in the summer and keep in the garage in the winter. I did latex and spar varnish inside and out and they've lasted for years. The decorations on them I used acrylic craft paints. These were something I just threw together fast just to get some color on my porch steps. I'm thinking these would be a great Girl Scouts project for Mother's Day! The checks were done with a flat brush and the dots were done with a q-tip. I quit using the saucers because when it rained or I sprinkled they held water and were drowning the plants. Then I have two matching ones I painted the same and I think I did not coat the insides all the way -- trying to remember. They stay out all the time. They got wet and then froze, then thawed, then started to disintegrate. :( I need to replace them now but they each have plants in them and they're not small pots. The other mistake I made was hand painting a small detailed design on them. You can't see it from the street. Duh me. Anyone know what I should replace them with? I'm thinking plastic is what will endure the weather. Does this cracking up happen to all terracotta pots? I love that your creativity is going. Be sure to post pictures! Grlwprls - My neighbor lost her bird bath in the same winter I lost my pots. I'll tell her about your dad's secret, thanks! Thanks about the chairs, too.

Ooooh, maybe my window fabric needs to blend a little turquoise into the fabric with the green and brown and tan. Thanks for the glamour shot. ( obviously the lady in those shoes doesn't spend much time in a kitchen....holding the bowl like that isn't easy on the back, but maybe she has an NBA player off-camera to reach those upper cabinets!

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.

Can you add the fireplace (may help for re-sale) but make it so that you can still have room for TV on one side (either in cabinetry or on a console that flows with the fireplace)? That way the TV won't have to be on top of the fireplace. Or maybe your space is big enough to have the TV on the wall opposite the FP and then you can have 2 seating areas (one around TV with sofas, chairs, etc and one around FP with 2 chairs and small table). If swivel chairs can be placed across from TV wall (interior wall), then they can also be used in FP grouping for conversation. Just a thought.