Warning Warning Warning.....this thread could get funny!!!! (We've done the toilet decor thread before and it was beyond hilarious). Anyone want to bring up poop spray or shall we leave that alone????? :oP OK now really....I like art above a toilet verses towels in a powder room because I don't want to lean over the toilet to dry my hands. I prefer a small towel rack or ring next to the sink so you don't have to move away from the sink to complete your tasks there. I've had different things...a venetian mirror, oil paintings, Midevil writings. My current master has a toilet mirror (a handing mirror with a box area below it that opens to a velvet box for storage where I keep extra TP). I'm not of the opinion that you can ever have too much art :) Stack them on top of each other and totally fill the walls :) It's a great look for a powder room.

katybug, you mentioned you don't want it to look bad, so from reading what you are saying, I would much rather take the time and do it right than have to look at a room or wall all the time and never be satisfied because I was in a hurry . If you have knicks, gouges, scrapes, etc. the best thing to do of course is to mud it out; or even if you are going to do a finish with joint compound you are still doing work (unless you want a textured finish). So either way, there is going to need to be work from either way you choose. Just throwing out some of the possibles. Just doing a decorative finish over your wall imperfections with paint is not going to take care of the walls condition, unless you take some other kind of steps to correct what you have mentioned above. One thing for sure after I removed all that paper, I surely wouldn't put anymore up. :)

Hi phoggie, I'm in a bit of a fog as to what investment you have. You say that it's an annuity, but in my experience an annuity is a situation where you give an insurance company a pot of money, and they give you a promise that they'll pay you a given amount of money, usually at certain intervals over a period of time. Often made at retirement, and may be made to cover the investor, (usually the one who's retiring), and may be set up to cover a spouse, as well, often at a reduced amount (e.g. 60%), until death of the last of the couple. Sometimes there's a deal where the insurance company promises to pay for 10 years, 15 years, etc., for on occasion both spouses died within a year or so, and in the ordinary course of things, the insurance company would happily keep all of the remaining amount of money that had been paid in: they'd done as they promised. Some people were quite unhappy to hear of such events. When I sold mutual funds, one of our staff had client in another city who considered buying an annuity, at age about 80. He cancelled some appointments on the following day and arranged to meet the lady, her relatives who were interested, and the annuity sales person. When the lady and her relatives asked the annuity sales person what residue would be available to the lady's estate were she to die next year (or next month), the sales person said that there was no such provision: the insurance company would keep the rest of money. The rates of payout that annuity providers are willing to offer usually relate substantially to current interest rates, and are somewhat higher, in that the payment includes some of the principal, as it is gone at the end of the contract. Actually, it was "gone" at the beginning of the contract ... all that the person giving it up had was the insurance companiy's promise to pay the amounts that they'd contracted for. So few people want to agree to an annuity contract when interest rates are low, for once the rate of agreed payout is put into place, it isn't changed. People who made annuity contracts back in 1981 or so, when Canada Savings Bonds paid 19%, were happy campers, but no such rates have been offered in recent years. Then ... you speak of the value of your account shrinking as your regular accounting statements appear. That leads me to feel that you are invested in the stock market, whether through mutual funds or having bought stocks directly. On the other hand, perhaps you have bought bonds, whose current value fluctuates upward when interest rates drop, and vice versa. While one can sell a bond at any time, usually when interest rates rise, the value that someone is willing to offer to buy one's bond reduces. The bond will be redeemed at face value if one holds it to maturity (assuming that the issuer is solvent). So, in my opinion, something doesn't seem to add up, with regard to what you're saying regarding your investment. If I'm in error, no doubt someone will set me straight. ole joyful

Nothing! Unless the mantel extends much further out on the sides than the side edges of the TV, my personal preferences would be for it to remain naked. Anything else that you would put up there would only be obstructive, and distract TV viewing. The new homes I've seen that have both TV and mantel always look best when they are unadorned.