Thanks BDW, we enjoy the porch, too. I always call it the 'porch' and DH corrects me. "It's not a porch... it's a deck!" Funny man.... but he built it so I 'let' him name it, lol. We spend a lot of our time sitting on the porch swing watching the cardinal and hummingbirds. I've attached a pic of our birdie having his breakfast this morning. I found the little chicks at the dollar store, only it's not a true dollar store. These cost me $1.29 for a mama chicken and four baby chicks. This post was edited by sunnysa on Thu, Jul 3, 14 at 9:03

Eandhl, that sounds a little bit like a christmas ornament? Am I visualizing it correctly? Bumblebeeze, Deee, Yes, if you don't have kids youve probably never heard of it but duct tape is big! Thanks for the link. Deee -- all the traditional stuff I can think of, I don't think they will find too exciting. ANd without language skills to give in context, not sure ... Bumblebeez --- beads, great idea!!m ooh and glitter! Maire -- yes, i thought I should do that too. Patty -- I see your point, but perhaps they already do enough of that. ANd frankly it takes more skill to pull that off! At this point, I am thinking I will give my school contact a choice of four from: Origami (my son is really good at this so I think we will def do this) Duct tape pencil flowers (my one daughter has done these and they are cute and functional) Beading Marbleized paper, maybe for bookmarks Snowflakes with glitter Baseball hat painting Thumbprint painting Thanks all!

I went looking for images of those elements. Ribbed glass panels in cabinet doors is easy enough. Here's one in a bathroom vanity: Ribbed glass (or ''seeded'' glass) is also often found in period light fixtures: As for marquetry countertops, if you asked most kitchen cabinet makers for such, I imagine they would gape blankly at the gabbling woman. But there are plenty of companies doing stock and custom hardwood marquetry inlays using CNC laser cutters. Here's the thing - they are doing it in floors. Google ''hardwood floor inlay'' and see. Yes, many of the rosettes are infeasible for a 26'' counter, but look for the ''border'' designs - or create your own. Assemble a 26'' wide section of inlaid ''floor'' on a 3/4'' plywood substrate, encase it in Waterlox, and I do believe you'd have yourself a marquetry countertop. Another option - perhaps cheaper - is stenciling on hardwood, of which this is an example. And so is this What else? Beveled glass is readily available, as is chrome countertop edging, and any furniture or auto upholstery shop can cover a panel of 1/8'' plywood in soft butterscotch leather framed in silver studs (maybe not actual silver, but close enough). I don't know exactly what version of Art Deco you are headed for, or if you even like butterscotch, but the point is, you are not doing yet another white kitchen, you're doing something that isn't being done by the mainstream, so the ordinary kitchen sources are not making this stuff. Sure, there is cool Art Deco hardware around, but what passes for ''Art Deco'' kitchen cabinetry in the online catalogs is . . . disappointing. You are going to have to make it, or at least source it, yourself - and I think if you're comfortable outside the painted lines, you can. You'll find yourself hiring a floor guy to work on a countertop, hunting down the local hot rod upholstery shops, telling your cabinet maker to fit bathroom vanity faces to kitchen cabinet boxes - they'll still look at you like you're crazy, but you'll know you're not. Go for it, girl!

teacats, thank you to both you and your husband! We had to take the door off one of the narrower doorways to get it in the house from the workshop out back! Being that it's oak, it weighs a ton. denali, thank you very much! Cross your fingers for me that I'll do the inset panels without messing up! flyleft, thank you so much! Believe it or not, we're in northern New Mexico, and the original portion of the house is actually an early 1890's Vic with the Arts & Crafts fireplace, built-ins, windows, and other A & C details added in the early 1920's, we believe. Some areas in New Mexico have a lot of bungalows, particularly this town. It seems a lot of them were inhabited by employees of the SF railroad. Albuquerque actually has many nifty bungalows, as well. Brutuses, thank you! It's been a very busy summer in terms of the home projects, so I've not been on the board much. I'll post again when I really have it done. We had been using a small Ikea loveseat for a number of years, which was good for fitting in all the cramped rentals we lived in for so long. It looks like we're going to have to rearrange the LR a bit in order to accommodate this six foot long settee! funkyart, thank you! My husband is getting pretty dang good at woodworking, and it's been a great help budget-wise. We did spend some time working out the styling of the settee, and sort of combined different aspects of various designs we found into the settee. We think the house appreciates it!