Finally I found some nice terra cotta sorta paint that has dark stuff in it, so the surface looks like brick and it also has gold, or pyrite sprinkled in it so it has a textured surface as shown below.
Oh well, at least you can see the paint is not just a solid color.
I took down the dignified painting and put back up my beloved and wildarse looking Tule Elk antlers. Yes - I like to decorate as if I am living sometime between the Jurassic and the 19th Century frontier. It is not everyone's taste but it is mine. Nearby, the dining room has high back rattan chairs with a round glass table - somehow the whole mishmosh looks alright together, perhaps because the rattan isn't too far off from looking rustic.
The little mat in front the fireplace is new. I put it there because... uh well... been burning a lot of wood this winter and one or two logs flew out the fireplace, making a couple of eensie black mars on the wood floor. Now with the mat down... I imagine the sparks will set the mat on fire and the house will burn down? Well, that isn't the plan exactly - I'm hoping the mat burns and not the floor.
Also on the list of 'finally completed household challenges' is that I changed around the doorknobs and locks in the garage so now the back garage door actually locks and has a key. It used to just have a crap slide bolt. Also I installed a cute door latch on the inside dining room door. It is brushed nickle and will match the knobs on the Front & back porch French doors that are to be installed tomorrow.
More pictures after the door installations are completed.
Haven't posted any of my photos since the robbery. It is nice to very nearly be back to normal - or as close to normal as I'm likely to ever get anyway.