Now we know how many cannon balls it takes to fill Nassau Hall... But seriously; LINDAC92—I respect your POV. And; YES! I have "visited" all those places. I'm also a graduate of The Art Institutes. I have seen some ancient Asian metalwork in the Smithsonian and even the other museums you cited, which still have much of their natural "patina" (define this as you will). My reference to museum curators was given as support of my point. (Which, being); that IF a metal worked piece is deemed to be a valuable original creation of someone such as PAUL REVERE, then the undertaking of any restoration is best left to experts. MANY fine items of significance are ruined every day by well-meaning individuals who attempt restoration but end up applying inappropriate or even harmful methods because they are simply ignorant of what they have in hand. Ultimately, when it comes to antique and/or vintage items of significance, I still maintain, that unless one is cognizant of any given piece's providence, and its real potential market or historic value, that any such undertakings are best left to qualified individuals. THE BOTTOM LINE: Admittedly, the majority of inquires on this forum are in regard to items of much less significance. Still, if an owner of an individual piece plans to keep it for their own personal enjoyment, they should clean it as they wish. BUT, if they plan to sell it to the collector market, it's ALWAYS best to leave it "as is".

A great drum pendant lighting solution to add elegance and grace to any room is a tuxedo pendant light. These feature drum shades that are made from jet black or pure white glass or fabric. The fabric versions have sleek and shiny fabric so it looks almost glass-like but is a cheaper option. At the centre of these pendant lights you will see beautiful glass crystals that hang gracefully to add a stunning appearance. We have several different sizes and styles of these drum pendant lights in our range for you to choose from to make the right choice for your room. Here is a link that might be useful: Drum pendant lights

I've been using large poster frames from Michaels -- as avesmor said, they are pretty cheap with the coupon. Mine are from the "Timeless" collection or something like that. They are black, but I am almost positive they come in wood tones as well. I recently bought several 24x32 size and they came in at around $15 after the sale and coupon -- I've found that Michaels is almost always running a 40% off this series of frames and usually has a coupon in the flyer for an extra 20% off wall frames, which brings the price way down. (Michaels also takes coupons from a smartphone so if you don't have the flyer but you do have a smartphone, go to their website and look up the current coupons! I would have thought the glass was plexi for that price, but found out otherwise when my ds broke one -- it's real glass. The frames are fairly sturdy (better than walmart quality) and have nice hanging hardware as well.

How do you use the kitchen? Are you good about keeping everything off the counters that might stain or etch? I'm not, but a compromise might be to put marble on the island. Less chance that dishes will get left overnight or raspberry jam ends up under the toaster :) What about a darker wood island with a marble top? If you plan to have seating that would take care of little feet bumping against the island...and it would really set off the marble! For perimeters, maybe the darker gray with the white cabinets (so you don't look like you ran out of marble and tried to match it). As for the backsplash... consider whether you need something durable, behind the range. You might want to add marble subway tiles around the sink or do something different for the entire backsplash. Just a few ideas...