Are you thinking of painting it, or doing a decorative finish to it ?

I think it's charm resides in the fact that it has the oriental design on it,

I like the simple shape of it. The stand and picture frames in the room are quite decorative so I would like to make this less busy looking. I dont care for the oriental design on it anyway.

How would you like it to look?

You could paint, faux finish, decoupage, glue objects to it .. the sky is the limit. What type of feel would you like it to have though? Do you have pictures of the room or objects/art it will sit next to?

zipdee, here is a picture, the stand will replace the candle sticks which are now in the family room. The feel I get in the room is sort of colonial/west indies.

{{!gwi}}

My first thought was to faux marble it to match the top of the stand you want it to sit on.

you could paint it gold to match the frames it will sit under and then you could use black(or some other color/s) paint or something and make a globe like rendering on it... however detailed/accurate you want it to be, depending on your drawing skill. can make it sortof abstract if that's more to your liking...

Set the ball in an attractive bowl or rimmed plate, with a couple of small objets d'interest to keep it from rolling around. If you're like me, you have something sitting in a drawer someplace. :)

I am liking the idea of spraying it faux marble, keeps it simple but elegant, thanks justgotabme

busybee, I dont have any artistic talents!

rosie, the black stand has a hole in it which keeps if from rolling around,

You could do all kinds of things with it, but what size is in in proportion to the stand? The stand looks very heavy and detailed - the ball would need to be at least as wide as the marble top of the stand for it to be correctly proportioned.

You could decoupage it with some scrapping paper that has the same motive, old maps, and the like. Add some interesting words into too and then maybe tea stain it to age the entire ball.

I also vote for decoupage... Michaels used to have a pack of decoupage paper that was different papers of black and gold... it would match the gold in your frames and the black in the fireplace.

I think it would look great with a faux old copper/verdigris effect painted on the ball.

How big is this ball, like a large bowling ball or a small one, it's hard to tell.

Paint it red, then gold leaf over it. Or paint it black and do silver leaf over it.

THAT is a beautiful room!!! What color are the walls?

Here is a picture of the ball on the stand. Is the scale ok?

elenkao, thanks, the color is Behr Harvest Brown, a mid tone taupe, the true color under the wall sconce.

{{!gwi}}

As I suspected, the ball is way too small to be featured as the sole item on the stand. It looks like the perfect size for a coffee table or side table.

Or it would work as a part of a grouping in a low planter with orchids and other tropical plants and greenery, for that British Colonial feel. Then that could be placed on the plant stand. If you do that, consider wrapping it with a textured fabric like a rough burlap, after painting a basecoat color on the ball to hide the oriental design. Or buy some of the hammered metal spray paints (I believe Krylon makes them) and do a copper or pewter or antique brass finish.

I thought it would be ok since the height comes up over the top of the picture frame and the dia is at least half the stand top width.

Any suggestions on what I could put on this stand. I would really like to use it in the room.

How about a plant? A fern comes to mind.

Would like something other than a plant since I already have two fairly big ones in that room.

roseabbey, are you sure this is not an antique worth considerably more than $1? I can't tell from the pic that it's modern. Before you cover it with glue or paint or burlap or whatever you might want to check on that possibility.

Sorry, meant lose the black stand, keep the ball as is but dispay in a looser, more casual, but maybe more interesting way.

How about a gazing ball with colors from your room or go a bit daring and bring in brilliant golds, terracottas and ambers?
Make your own gazing ball....easy! Not to mention you won't be putting a lot of $$$ into something that only cost you one buck.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lots of pics of Gazing Balls

susanka, its not antique

amity, that is a brilliant idea!!

Also this..

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.bugabooscreations.com/2009/09/decorative-ball-redo-with-little-modge.html

That is a great idea as well forboystoo, thanks for posting the link. Doesnt sound like it too hard to do either.