Wow: Thanks, everybody, for the inspiration photos--they're gorgeous!!! Jim: Your dog wall art arrangement is simply stunning--very classy, indeed. :) I will reference all of these photos when I put together my own dog wall art arrangement in my study--and will be coming back to get your feedback, to be sure! :) I bought the bird pics. I made an offer to the seller (it was a "Buy It Now or Best Offer" listing) and he accepted! A couple of questions: 1) Do you think I should have them professionally framed, or just buy very simple wood ready-made frames for them? The latter option would be cheaper, of course. :) 2) How should I arrange them? I bought all five of them. Anybody have the time to photoshop them over my sofa? Yikes--Is that asking too much? Especially since lindy already photoshopped my chair fabric for me this week?

Thanks Rosie. That painting is a pleasure for me on so many levels - the crazy coloring, the "art" labeling, the primitiveness... I am way too constrained to create that freely. And then there is the personal - knowing all DH was going through at the time and his very surprising decision to try painting for respite. It inspires me. For the OP, reflect on what is appealing to you about those museum pieces you like. Crystalize that as best you can. Any gallery would be happy to help you discover works you love, for a price. If that price is prohibitive, try 'lesser' galleries, student art shows, resale shops, art fairs - just look and trust yourself to respond. Let yourself make a mistake or two, it's the only way to learn what you really love. And yes, framing can make all the difference.

I have thoroughly enjoyed browsing all the photos and reading the stories of your collections here. Such beautiful pieces and wonderful, touching stories. To see most of mine, you'd think my home was full of antiques, which is far from the real deal, but these seem to be most of my most interesting non-art things. However, some of you have given me some ideas for things I could do in the future with things I have stored! This is a small collection of silver vases, albeit in need of some polish right now. My collection of miniature tea sets. This started with my aunt giving me her much-used Mickey Mouse set she had used back in the 30's as a child and a then-new set when I was about 8-years old (the blue and white delft set). The rest is a mix of old and new I picked up along the way as an adult. I also have a lot of old hankies that belonged to my grandmother and great-grandmother, and yes I use them at weddings and funerals. They made some of them, including the tatting on the edges. Gallery hallway of family photos (old and new) To honor our home states (Alabama and Ohio) I started looking for old maps of our states and regions. This is one of Alabama and of the Eastern US in our breakfast room. The next one is an Agricultural map of Ohio. I think I've posted enough. Thanks for viewing. BTW, those clocks are awesome! And I adore that mirror, and I can't say enough about that belly cast!

I don't have a functioning camera right now to make an electronic photo file, but will remark that it is easiest inside a nice cabinet to use combinations of pex tubing and push to connect fittings such as Sharkbite brand (among many others) to avoid sweat soldering damage. All that is needed is a means to cut the pex to a clean flat end. Mistakes are easily remedied by using a different size piece of pex. Adapters exist to go from the pex to the fitting that dangling faucet hoses use. 3/8 poly line along with John Guest type push to connect fittings will be good for RO lines or such. Pex and poly are at their limit when used for pressurized water at boiling temperatures, so the hot water source in the house needs to be under some form of temperature control. A boiler type of water heater with potential for overshoot to 220 or so would be a risk in my view without a working moderator (required anyway by code). Some water chemistries tend to degrade the modulator so that needs to be kept in mind. My primary sink cabinet base includes garbage disposal and DWV plumbing, stand pipe for dishwasher hose, hot/cold feed for main faucet and to moderating valve for dishwasher (gets mix of hot and cold). Also there is the touch faucet control box, the fiber-optic garbage disposal control box, and quad electrical outlet. RO connection to both hot and cold sides of a pull-down faucet are present. All of the plumbing is mounted on stand-offs on the back or side walls of the cabinet base. kas