How about growing something on it? You could make or buy a trellis (or several) and grow clematis or roses on it. If you're in a zone with cold winters, you can choose something evergreen like ivy (this doesn't even need a trellis). I can't really tell from your description how much sun this wall would get, but you'd have to choose your plants carefully depending on the light. http://img4-3.sunset.timeinc.net/i/how-to-books/00/wall-panels--l.jpg?400:400 How to make a cheap, functional trellis: http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/how-to-make-a-cucumber-trellis/index.html

Not interested in plowing through all of those issues with you, other than the interrelationships between plants and insects. Any plant that is not pollinated by wind or water has a relationship with insects or animals of some sort. Some of these interactions are extremely specific......an orchid that disguises itself as a type of wasp so that the insect will mate with it, collecting pollen structures (look up pollinia) in the process. Some Stapelia have flowers that look and smell like rotting flesh in order to attract their pollinators. Bees, of course, are attracted to flowers by sight and scent and are rewarded for their pollination by large amounts of energy rich pollen and nectar. Plants, all of them, can be said to conform to a fundamental law of evolution: Form Follows Function. Nothing about any plant occurs without a purpose. They have evolved to take advantage of insects, a vast number of birds, and mammals. There are plants which have seeds that must pass through the intestinal tract of a fruit bat in order to germinate! About mycorrhizae....since nearly ALL plants (90-95%) make use of or rely on mycorrhizal relationships with fungi in the wild, I would assume that Sansevieria does. To research it further, look up the family (Asparagaceae) relationship.

I've read, and loved, so many books, including The Metamorphosis. I've read and enjoyed Fyodor Dostoyevski and Louisa May Alcott, Stephen King and Edna Ferber, to name a few. My late husband had a large collection of sci-fi, which I read when he finished each book. Janie, it's nice to hear from another Heinlein fan. When I think of all time favorites, two come to mind. One I read when I was a child, Miss Hickory, by C.S.Bailey, and one about a child, Ray Bradbury's loosely autobiographical Dandelion Wine, specifically the chapter about the grandmother's kitchen. The latter is the book I've re-read most often, because it reminds me of my own beloved grandparents.

There are a couple of issues that I don't see being addressed: 1) It's possible that the ends of the valance are also glued in place. If so, removing glue residue and trying to restain the areas to match will be much harder than suggested. 2) The areas on the cabinets on each side that are now covered by the ends of the valance may be a different shade after years of not being exposed to sunlight. If so, staining these areas to match the rest of the cabinet may also be hard. I'm not trying to discourage you, but simply trying to prepare you for the issue that stain matching may be more of a challenge than making the holes disappear. Instead of spot-staining, it might be easier and better looking in the long run to mount a simple, low profile 3/4" trim strip covering the area that will be newly exposed and running it from top to bottom on the two flanking cabinets (so it will look like an intentional design element). It will be easier to blend the finish of this trim with the rest of the cabinet than to deal with trying to make the isolated, exposed areas match the old finish.