I like them. Though I do agree with you, that if you were Samantha and could twitch your nose to do a redo, I'd match the grout colour to the tiles. But, I would definitely not do it over now! Linelle is right, and as others have pointed out, once the niches are jam-packed you won't give it another thought! You have no idea how much work and how much I fussed over the mosaic limestone back to my niche. Can barely even see it. In fact my sister just saw it for the first time, and as she has JUST finished re-tiling her BR by herself, she was totally closely inspecting ours. I don't think she even noticed the limestone in the niche.

Another way of softening or adding another dimension was done on HGTV awhile back. She painted one color (such as your black), then when that was dry spritzed the chandelier lightly with water. Then immediately lightly sprayed on another color holding the can out a bit farther than the usual 6" or so. Then when it drys it leaves not only other colors (like perhaps a silver or gray on black), but also an unusual old dimension to it caused by the water.

Since I'm a photo buff, I would use photos if I was keeping it indoors ... on a porch or something. I would get 8x10's blown up of my favorite prairie flowers or grasses, i.e., coneflowers, prairie smoke or grasses...turkey foot, big bluestem, etc. You could go either way and it would be a lovely piece of art. A pot of dried prairie grass would look nice displayed with it. But, if I were using it as a "garden" type item, I think I would try an old method...and I still have a glass print that I gave my Grandma many years ago. 1. Tape a coloring book page on 8x10 glass... use paints to trace the page, i.e., a kid digging with a shovel in a garden or a child smelling a peony, etc...use simple bk pages..maybe some older ones. You can use water colors and fill in the traced areas with paint. 2. Tear off a piece of Reynolds foil & gently wad it up...then un-wad it. Add this to the dry painted side of the glass. Tape the foil and glass together with whatever tape you want ... electrician's tape comes in many colors or duct tape. I would probably paint the tri-fold frame. Whatever you do...or maybe already did, please share a pic! Jeanne S.

dont know if you have a plan ... but see all those sprouts down on the bare branches... most likely.. this thing could be rejuvenated ... one thing for sure.. it could be thinned out and probably enjoy that also ... i would start with any branches that cross each other.. and are rubbing on each other ... unless someone here told me no .. lol ... ken