Thanks all of you! ...and especially for the picture Marie - I've found it very hard to find pictures of rooms with darker walls & ceilings than floors. I've decided, I think, to go with a blonding / transparent white wash for the walls to let the room ease off a little (it's currently all wood) and will let the ceiling and floor keep their oiled colours (they'll get darker with time I think?). The ceiling is going to be a tone or so darker than the floor but I'll see how it goes.. Our furniture is all ash and elm so it shouldn't float too badly. I appreciate all the comments - and the pictures!!

Mod Podge is the best stuff for decoupaging. That is pretty much what you will be doing except with a much larger piece of paper. If you do this procedure make sure you coat the completed item as well, not just what you would do to make it bond onto the wood or canvas or whatever material you are using. Have fun!

Love blue tiles. Depending on how much sun and how hot your pool gets in the summer should dictate what color it is. We live in Arizona, so cool blues work best. Our neighbor has brown tile and a dark pebble tech pool. Looks like a swimming hole and gets really hot - 94% water in the summer. They obviously didn't think it through.

You can of course have a furniture repair business add material and refinish. Or you can add a center accent piece of tile, or wood inlay. If you're going from a narrow rectangle to a square, you would need to disassemble the table anyway, might as well do something fun with it.